Tag Archives: 1st Grade

Zeke and Mayci’s Final Grades

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Zeke and Mayci both did fabulous this year. They both worked so hard and their grades totally reflected that.

Zeke
Language Arts – B (83%, 84% for the year)
Math – B (84%, 78% for the year)
Social Studies – A (90%, 83% for the year)
Science – B (89%, 86% for the year)
He got Satisfactories in Conduct and Health (Excellent for the year) and Excellents in Art, Theater Arts, Music, and PE.

Mayci
Language Arts – A (99%, 97% for the year)
Math – B (86%, 92% for the year)
Social Studies – A (100%, 99% for the year)
Science – A (100%, 97% for the year)
She got Excellents in Conduct, Health, Art, Theater Arts, Music, and PE.

School’s Out

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Yesterday was the last day for the 2022-23 school year. Now we have a 75 day summer break. In August we’ll have two in pre-k (at two different schools since Noah will still be in ECSE), one in kindergarten, one in first grade, one in second grade, one in third grade, and a sophomore and a senior in high school.

Fritz is all done his junior year. When he unloaded his backpack he saved a pile of stuff and said there was information about applying to college in there because that’s coming up quick. He took AP US History this year and while it was a lot of work he also learned a lot.

Adrian finished his freshman year. He loves DATA in spite of the long bus ride (his best friend is going to another magnet at the same school next year, though, so the bus ride will be a bonus. There were three or four fires set at their school the last few months so he did indeed learn what happens when there is arson. He said he won’t have holidays because he’ll be going to summer school for six weeks (taking art and PE so he can get all the appropriate credits to graduate because of iCSI).

Zeke completed second grade. I have no idea where he got play tennis for what he plans to do over the summer. He’ll be playing some other sports, but not tennis. He doesn’t know why he said that either.

Mayci finished first grade. Of course she said she wants to do her summer workbook this summer because she loves school and anything that looks like school. The year was a little rough due to having a completely inexperienced teacher, but we made it through! I just hope Anthony doesn’t get her next year.

Anthony finished kindergarten. It turns out the kid is crazy smart, incredibly ADHD, and a little bit lazy and stubborn (maybe more like a lot stubborn). If Nicholas doesn’t get the teacher Anthony (and Mayci) had for kindergarten I’m going to be sad because I absolutely love her. Then again, if he has the other kinder teacher we’ll have collected the whole set (when I said that once a principal said they should totally make teacher trading cards so you can collect them all).

Nicholas finished pre-k. By walker he means the way he gets home from school. I always love how little kids answer the what do you want to be when you grow up question. I’m sad that the teacher he (and Mayci and Anthony) had for pre-k is retiring this year so Joel won’t have her. The assistant principal said they hired an amazing replacement, though, and I’ll love her.

Noah has completed pre-k3. I love that he wants to be Noah when he grows up (and even very carefully spelled it out for me). He’s made amazing progress this progress this year and his teachers both said they hope to get him in their class again next year because they just love him. It’ll be nice when he’s in kindergarten and they all go to the same school and no longer have to get him on and off his bus and deal with a second elementary school, though!

And then there’s Joel who got to be the only one at home this whole school year. He got incredibly spoiled and has been my dad’s shadow (not sure who is going to miss the other more – probably my dad since Joel will be busy in school). I love that he said he wants to be a grown up when he grows up.

Zeke, Mayci, and Anthony’s Third Quarter Report Cards

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The third quarter is over and Zeke, Mayci, and Anthony have received their report cards. They all worked hard and are doing the best they can. Zeke’s learning issues are becoming more and more apparent, Mayci is continuing to excel everything, and Anthony’s behavior is under control thanks to finally figuring out the right medications and timing.

Zeke
Language Arts – C (79%)
Math – D (68%)
Social Studies – B (86%)
Science – B (88%)
Satisfactory in Conduct and Theater Arts
Excellent in Health, Art, Music, and PE

Mayci
Language Arts – A (97%)
Math – A (97%)
Social Studies – A (100%)
Science – A (94%)
Excellent in Conduct, Health, Art, Theater Arts, Music, and PE

Anthony
Kindergartners get 1-4 where 1 is not able to do it at all and 4 is completely mastered.
Anthony got a couple 2s in conduct and all the rest 3s. He got a mix of 2s and 3s in language arts and reading. He got a couple 2s and mostly 3s in math. He can rote count to 100 now. He got one 2 and the rest 3s in social studies. He got one 2 and the rest 3s in science. He got a 3 in health. He got a 2 and a 3 in music and a 2 and a 3 in PE.

Such a Long Year

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I have not been thrilled with Mayci’s teacher this whole year. I’ve given her a pass over and over since it’s her first year and she’s still learning. But she really crossed a line a few weeks ago.

Elementary kids here get snack time. I’ve never had a teacher care how many snacks or how much food a kid eats as long as they finish within the allotted time period. Mayci’s teacher, however, has a one snack only rule.

I found out because one day Mayci saved her muffin from the breakfast she got in the cafeteria that morning. She ate that at snack time and was still hungry so she pulled out the cereal bar I had packed in her backpack.

Her teacher told her she could not have two snacks and to throw away the cereal bar. The cereal bar was sealed and could’ve gone back in her backpack and been her snack for the next day. But no. She was forced to throw it away.

First of all, wasting perfectly good food is very irritating. Second, she doesn’t know which kids are experiencing or have experienced food insecurity and will be triggered by having to throw away food (or even just being limited to one snack available to them at a time). Luckily Mayci was not phased but I have other kids who could’ve been thrown into a spiral if they were forced to throw away their food.

I had to speak up and let her teacher know why it was not okay and to please think about food insecurity and what her actions could do to a child. She chose not to respond.

Joel’s Registered for Pre-K

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The documents have been uploaded and the forms filled out and Joel is all registered for pre-k next year. This means in just about six months I’ll suddenly find myself with a lot of extra time with Noah and Joel in Pre-K, Nicholas in kindergarten, Anthony in first grade, Mayci in second grade, Zeke in third grade, Adrian in 10th grade, and Fritz in 12th grade. Sounds kind of like heaven.

Zeke, Mayci, and Anthony’s Second Quarter Grades

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Zeke works so hard in school. He earned every one of his grades with a lot of hard work. It’s amazing how hard he’s come over the last couple years. School comes easy for Mayci. She’s very smart and (when she doesn’t make careless errors) it shows in her grades. She loves school so much.

Starting in first grade kids get percentage grades for language arts, math, science, and social studies. They get E (excellent), S (satisfactory), or U (unsatisfactory) in everything else.

Zeke’s Grades
Language Arts – 88%
Math – 74%
Social Studies – 78%
Science – 83%
Conduct – S
Health – E
Art – S
Theater Arts – S
Music – E
PE – E

Mayci’s Grades
Language Arts – 95%
Math – 91%
Social Studies – 100%
Science – 97%
Conduct – E
Health – E
Art – E
Theater Arts – E
Music – E
PE – E

Kindergartners get lots and lots of grades on a 1-5 scale with 1 being well below grade level and 5 being well above grade level. Most of the grades given are 3s. Anthony is doing really well, especially in conduct which is something we’ve been working hard on since pre-k.

Anthony’s Grades
Music – all 2s
PE – all 3s
Participation – all 3s
Conduct – almost all 3s, a couple 2s, and a 4 in respecting authority figures
Language Arts – two 2s and a 3
Reading – an even mix of 2s and 3s
Math – mostly 2s and a 3; he can rote count to 29
Social Studies – an even mix of 2s and 3s
Science – all 3s and one 2
Health – 3

Such a long year…

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The saga of just how long this year can end up being continues. This time it was about the book Mayci wanted to check out from the school library.

Zeke has been bringing home Dog Man books and Mayci has enjoyed looking at them. So at one of their library days she chose a Dog Man book.

But her teacher didn’t want to approve her to check it out.

She told her it’s for 2nd to 5th graders, not first graders. Now, we do not police library books. If it’s too simple, that’s no big deal. Mayci has checked out plenty of Piggy Elephant books this year and they are WAY below her reading level. If it’s just right, great. They’ll enjoy reading it with no help. If they are too hard, that’s no big deal either. They’ll either get help with what they don’t understand, work hard to figure it out on their own, or someone older will read it to them. Policing library books is a great way to kill a budding love of reading.

Ultimately she let Mayci check it out. And Mayci read it in two days. She needed occasional help with words, but mostly read it on her own and enjoyed it very much. Especially when pictures included characters in their underwear or references to farts. Heaven help us.

First Quarter of 1st and 2nd Grade

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Zeke worked really hard during the first quarter of 2nd grade. School can be pretty hard for him so we’re all thrilled with how well he is doing. He got an S (satisfactory) in conduct, art, and theater arts. He got an E (excellent) in health, music, and PE. He got B’s in language arts (84%), math (84%), and science (85%). He got a C in social studies (79%).

Mayci’s grades were no surprise. She loves school and does her work easily. She’s a kid who finishes her week long homework packet all the first day because she wants to and likes doing it. She got an E in conduct, health, art, theater arts, music, and PE. She got A’s in language arts (95%), math (93%), social studies (95%), and science (97%)

It’ll Definitely Be a Very Long Year

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I do hope once Mayci’s teacher has gotten into the groove of teaching, she ends up being an excellent teacher. She’s just not going to get there this year.

She corrects every page of the homework packet. It’s a rookie mistake. No one’s got time for that and she’ll figure it out. But that means she corrects spelling in sentences and paragraphs the kids have to write.

Aside from corrections given days later won’t help the kid learn to spell properly, in first grade invented (phonetic) spelling is standard. It’s more important for the kids to get their thoughts on paper in sentence/paragraph form than for every word to be spelled correctly at this point.

So Mayci had to write about spiders and whether she thought they were creepy or cute. At one point she wrote “crepe” and her teacher put a question mark and then creepy underneath the question mark. Obviously that’s the word Mayci meant. At another point Mayci wrote “sacary” instead of scary. Her teacher corrected her spelling by writing “scarey.”

This is going to be a really, really long year.