So school isn’t going as smoothly as I had hoped for Emma. I was hoping for (and somewhat expecting) a smooth transition into first grade. After all (and much to my surprise), Emma had such an easy time going into full-day Kindergarten after being in a preschool program that was 2 1/2 hours a day, 4 days a week.
I can’t say I blame her. She has an extremely full schedule at school. Her therapists include special ed teacher, OT, PT, and vision. She is pulled out from her regular classroom into the special ed room for 1 hour in the morning and 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon. She sees OT and PT for 45 minutes a week. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it all adds up. And her vision teacher sees her most days of the week, I think. On top of that, she has her regular classroom, her specials (art, music, PE, computers) and now Spanish 2 times a week. And when I think what we could cut back on, really I don’t know what would be of least importance. They’re all important to me. Of course some more than others. But as a whole they do make up her experience at school. And they’re all necessary.
The last time she had a really rough time adjusting to her new routine was when she went from morning preschool to afternoon preschool. That baffled me because the only thing that changed was the time of day that she was there. Her classroom was the same, her teachers and therapists were the same, her friends were the same. But for whatever reason, she had a really hard time with her new school day. When that happened, it took her 3 weeks to get used to everything.
And what is happening now? Massive temper tantrums at home. Talking back, yelling, and using language we don’t approve of (nothing major, but things like ‘stupid’ and ‘dumb’ and the like). She’s being defiant and rude. At school she’s challenging the teachers and her aides. She’s not always following directions, sometimes talking out of turn, and she’s being difficult. This all might not sound like a big deal, but it’s just not her. And when the temper tantrums are seemingly non-stop, it’s grating. It’s hard to listen to. For me, it’s like nails down the chalkboard.
So what are we doing? We are trying to keep a very consistent routine at home for after school and night time. And we are putting into place a rewards system. If she behaves well in the morning (i.e. no temper tantrums, and obeying) then she’ll earn a reward. For example, 3 days a week school will sell ice cream or jamba juice. And she can earn those treats by obeying us and not throwing fits. Beyond that, I’m not sure how else to handle it. I’m hoping this is a phase and that she’ll quickly pass through this as well. And as we enter the third week of her new routine (4th week of school), I’m hoping this week is the week that ends it.
The “good” news is that I have heard from friends that Emma’s not the only one who is having a hard time adjusting to first grade. Other first graders are too. It makes me feel less alone. And at this point, I’ll take any suggestions or advice!!
Okay, I’m not sure if that’s completely accurate, but in my 3rd year highschool Spanish mind, it asks, “do you understand me?” I’ve had to ask that several times in the first 7 days of school. We have 3 Spanish speakers in our class. One of them doesn’t speak a lick of English. And yes, “lick of English” is, in fact, English. You get the idea.
So anyway. Do you know how hard it is to communicate with a non-English-speaking 5-year-old? Not easy, my friends. With my 24 (exaggeration, might be around 63) known words in Spanish, I can sometimes piece together a sentence. For example:
“donde estas tu tool kit?”
“necesitas tu snack”
“sietete” (courtesy of a bilingual student)
“(student’s name), venga aqui”
I think this is as sophisticated as my Spanglish will get. And I think I learn approximately 1/2 Spanish word a day. So perhaps I will become the bilingual one in the classroom.
I can only imagine how scary it is for a little 5 year old who doesn’t understand any English at all, to be thrown into a class where no Spanish is spoken (unless you count my 24-word Spanglish vocab). I do feel for this child. But as the teacher (and aide) who is supposed to teach this little one, it’s very frustrating for us. And, call me selfish, I feel like the parent has done a disservice to their child. Shouldn’t a student born and raise in America know a little English?? Any? OR if the student knows no English, shouldn’t the parent find a school that benefits the student? For example an English immersion class? While we don’t have one on campus (obviously), there is one school in the district. Perhaps I’m being unreasonable. Perhaps I’m not taking special circumstances into consideration (because I don’t know of said circumstances). But as a parent of a student who has her own set of delays, it is my job to make sure she is getting the right education, services, and setting, that suits her best. It’s just my job.
However, given the situation that we’re dealing with, we will survive. And my hope is that this student will thrive. And by the end of the year, I’m hoping this little kindergartner will have a whole big vocabulary of English words.
Wow. I can’t believe I haven’t written about this. Emma’s on a new medication! It’s kind of big news around here. Well, you know how she’s swallowing pills now (another milestone that deserved its own post, by the way). Since she started swallowing pills, we decided to try a medication that we once tried about a year and a half ago. This medication was wonderful. It gave her the focus and clarity she lacked( by the way I’m talking about an ADHD med), and it didn’t cause her to act (or feel) drugged or lethargic. I. Loved. It. Problem was, she didn’t love it. This pill came in a capsule form, so back in the day (you know, pre-swallowing-pills), we would empty the capsule and dissolve it with her other pills into Sunny D (which is, by far, the sweetest tasting juice I have found). This pill was so bitter, she refused to take it. She wouldn’t swallow the syringe with the dissolved medicine. Brett and I tried it. We didn’t blame her. The stuff was horrid. The most bitter and metalic tasting medicine you could imagine. Which begs the question, if you’re gonna make a kid’s medicine, please make it palatable. Am I right? Whatever. That’s another story.
Okay, so back to the present. The girl is swallowing pills! We thought, “hey, let’s give this old medication another try!” And we had precious few days before school started to get this medication in her system. So we tried. We waited for a few days. We increased the dosage (yes, this is all under her psychiatrist’s supervision). It started working better. In the first week of school, we had her taking it in the morning. She took it in the morning last time, though the doc warned us that this could cause drowsiness. Duly noted. After getting up every morning last week around 5:30, and falling asleep every chance she got in the car, we decided to switch to a night time dosage. She slept in longer. She wasn’t falling asleep in the car. She didn’t want to watch TV all day. She’s got more energy. And….(drumroll please)…she’s got that focus that we’ve been waiting to see. Hallelujah!! Now, we’re not holding our breaths here. She’s still getting acquainted with the school schedule. Things could change. But, so far so good! I only hope this is the beginning of a successful year in 1st grade!!
…to all the working moms out there. I only work 20 hours. And yet I failed to get dinner on the table once this past week. Or stay on top of the laundry. Fortunately the house remained somewhat tidy (ok, ok, my cleaning lady did come on Wednesday, but still).
I will recap. We had a great week. Emma loves first grade and she loves her teacher. Her teacher is awesome, very accommodating and super with communication! Yay! By far her favorite part of first grade is getting to play at the big playground. It’s a big deal, you know.
Mason had a great first week as well. He has the same teachers as last year since he’s still in the pre-K program. This is a good thing because they’re awesome! He’s making new friends, and he’s kept some friends from last year. I told him that he’s one of the “older” kids in the classroom so he has to be a good example to the younger children. And that he is!
I had a great first week! Okay, I won’t lie. We have some challenging kids. ”Diamonds in the rough” if you will. A handful of my new friends are a big rough around the edges. But it’s only the first week. Think of how they’ll be in the spring! I can’t wait! In fact, I asked the teacher (we’ll call her C, who is my college roommate) how long it takes before we are not constantly reminding and redirecting. She said 2 months. Eek. K (the other teacher in our room (they job share)) (can I use that many parentheses?) said 4-5 months. Double eek. However, I am enjoying this new position and having fun with it. I think it’s the perfect job for me!
Finding time to balance my workouts (okay, okay, what workouts?) and feeding my family at dinner has been the hardest challenge. I am going to be whipping out that dusty crock pot for my dinners. And as for working out? I do see my trainer once a week after work. But for those other days, I need to force myself out of bed around 5:00 or so. I can totally do it. I just need to. Even if it’s 2 miles in the morning, it’s something that’s important to me! Oh, and that notorious food journal that is a blessing and a curse? Starting it back up today. I’ll be honest…summer screwed up my whole routine.
Anyway, this is my plan for the next few weeks. To get those routines back under my belt. Oh yeah, and blogging on top of all this? It may not be 5 days a week, but I’ll still be here! I hope you stop by for a visit!
What are your goals once the kids get back to school?
Emma’s school switched to uniforms this year. They’ve also changed the name to include “Academy”. They’ve become “A Friend of Core Knowledge“. All changes that I like and that I think will be beneficial in the long run. Probably the change I’m most excited about is the school uniforms. When I was teaching, I wished we had uniforms for the students. I taught middle school back then.So many middle schoolers are into looks, fashion, name brands, material things. Of course it shouldn’t be that way, but it’s the age. I saw (and heard about) way too much bullying going on and while I did what I could to stop it, you can’t stop it all. I always thought having uniforms would take some of those issues away. There wouldn’t be so much pressure for students to have the labels that were “in”. For that matter, I thought teachers needed uniforms (i.e. scrubs), too. Seriously. It’s not always a tidy job! Anyhoo…back to the point.
Emma’s school is making uniforms mandatory. Older kids aren’t happy. Younger kids probably couldn’t care less. I’m wondering if I get to spruce up her shoe wardrobe now. The uniforms aren’t bad, really. They’re polo shirts in red, navy, or white, that the kids will wear with khaki bottoms. I think the shirts will have to be tucked in as a rule (belt shopping, anyone?). The shirts have a patch with the school name and (new) logo. Although the patches aren’t true patches. They’re similar to a poor quality fake velour. The texture that gives me the heebie jeebies. I’ll get over it.
This is a picture-heavy post as I’m SOOOOO proud of my little girl! On Tuesday, she graduated from Kindergarten! You may know that for us, any milestone is a BIG milestone! And one that’s celebrated. A few months ago, when we were in the throes of IEP‘s and in the back of my head, I really didn’t know if she should move on to first grade. It was a huge struggle for me…something that I thought about. A lot. After speaking with her teacher (also my college roommate!), she finally put my mind at ease. Yes, Emma needed to move on to first grade. This was such a relief to actually know. And to know that she would stay with her peers. Here are some pictures from our wonderful day!
Walking onto the stage with her classmates
Here she comes!
Receiving her certificate!
Such a big girl!
Proud mommy!
Proud parents! (Mason was there, but had a bit of a 'tude working)
Emma and Grandpa
Oma and Emma
Grandma, Emma, and GG
Emma and Mrs. Huguley
Me, Emma, and Christine Huguley, my college roommate!
Emma and Ms. Steier...the best aide EVER!!
Emma's sweet friends, Julia, Kayla, and Treasure
Mrs. Paul and Emma. Mrs. Huguley and Mrs. Paul job-shared...they were WONDERFUL together and they will be missed!!
Emma and her two teachers. What wonderful ways to start your education in school. We couldn't have been more blessed!
What special celebrations do you have for your kids at the end of the year?
I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed Emma’s kindergarten year. First of all, her teachers are amazing. Yes, one of them was my college roommate. But if I didn’t feel comfortable with her, she never would’ve been in the class. I knew it was going to be a good fit. And the other teacher was just as awesome. Her aide, Jessika, is a doll. I’m going to hone in on my persuasive writing skills in the next few days to convince the super-intendent of Special Education that Emma and Jessika are two peas in a pod. Don’t split them up! And I can’t forget her OT, PT, Vision, Special Ed teacher, Special Ed aide, etc. But the kids in the class…are all darling. I have requested twice now that the entire class be moved together into first grade. They are so sweet to my Emma, and I know it may not always be this way. But to the kids and their parents, I want to say Thank You!!
Emma’s kindergarten class is pretty much the cutest class ever. They did a choir presentation singing songs they learned in their Core Knowledge curriculum. Check our their performance of “This Land Is Your Land.”
After I wrote this post last week, I found out Emma was accepted into the summer program through DDD! It was wonderful news and I was SO relieved to hear it! Immediately I went through the directory scouting out options for Emma. There were only 3 options within a 30 minute radius. One option was not going to work. We had tried that option 2 summers ago and it was disastrous. Emma was at a nationally-known daycare chain and I was not pleased with the service provided. And I did let them know. Anyway, the other two options were about 8 miles down the road and 12 miles down the road. I called both places and was able to get into both the next day for meet and greets. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. The two directors were super sweet and very engaging with Emma. However, the location wasn’t warm. The setting wasn’t “homey”. More sterile and sparse. And not even that clean. More than that, I had the feeling that these were facilities for kids with severe delays. Many of them non-verbal. A few in wheelchairs. All of them much older. The ratio was great, though…someone to work with Emma much of the time. Better than a 1:4, probably. But it wasn’t good enough. I was frustrated…I thought that one of these places would be a great fit for Emma. But Emma is where she is…she’s verbal. She can express wants and needs. She is like a little sponge. And I want her to be challenged. I want her to have age-appropriate behaviors modeled. It made me sad…why aren’t there more options for her?Why was I doing everything I could for her and it still wasn’t enough?? I was nervous for the summer. I don’t want her to lose anything she has learned this year. I know, it’s not realistic. But it’s what I want. She’s going to need guidance and reinforcement. And, as all this was going through my mind cooking dinner (and, yes, drinking a glass of red wine), I got a phone call from one of our babysitters (who’s more like a family friend family) that she had quit her job and would be widely available to help us out this summer. It wasn’t a HUGE sigh of relief, but I felt better. And the more I sit and think about it, the better I feel. I will still do playdates, we will still get together with friends (Beth, I’m coming over!), she will still get that social modeling and interaction. And she will get the love and support from our sitter who will come a few times a week to help her. And that’s all I could ask for!
Today, at our school, anyway, is Teacher Appreciation Day. In year’s past, we’ve had Teacher Appreciation Week, which I think is more appropriate. These wonderful people deserve way more than one day, in my opinion. I have the highest respect for the teachers and therapists in Emma’s life. She is one lucky girl who is very very loved at school.
Today we bring cards, small gifts and flowers. I had Emma work on cards over the weekend. It was almost like pulling teeth…she loves arts and crafts, but hates to be forced to do it. But we got through it! The only problem I find is that I don’t have enough money! I need helpful suggestions. Not only we have Emma’s two teachers (they job-share) and kindergarten aide, but we have her OT, PT, VT, Personal Aide, Special Education Teacher, Special Education Aide and the list goes on! And then Mason has 4 teachers in his classrooms as well! They’re all so deserving of more than I can give. Which leads me to asking for help (of course, this post should’ve been written last week to get your advice beforehand!). I could do $5 giftcards to Starbucks. But how many drinks can you get with $5? Maybe 2, if you’re lucky. Here’s what I did, the therapists and aides not in her classroom will receive a single rose with a note of thanks attached. We got a dozen beautiful roses at Costco for a very reasonable price. I gave the 2 teachers and 2 aides giftcards and the therapists roses.
