Thursday, October 9, 2008

Parent Teacher - Let's tread lightly?

So, I just got back from the SEP I just had with Sam and his teacher. Jeanna, I'm totally with you on this one - Let's keep it real people! I want the skinny on what my kid has been up to when I'm not around to smack him on the back of the head. (I would never do that).

Well first, I need to do a little bragging. My seven year old boy reads at a fifth grade level! I can't believe it. Well I can. He is MY son after all. But still. Wow! His spelling- not so great. Let's just say his spelling is behind his reading. But he can identify all the sight words that he's supposed to know by the end of the year already. He just doesn't take the time to think about how they are spelled while he's writing. I think the story is flowing through his head faster than he can write it so he just gets close enough and calls it good. He is a fairly lazy child - again- He is MY son after all.

So we each set a goal for him to work on. 1. His teacher's goal is for him to finish his work on time. She says he's definitely smart enough to do it, he'd just rather talk to his neighbor or wander the room.
2. Sam's goal for himself is to try not to disturb others. I know he does. He's an only child who will do the lamest things to get other kids to look at him and give him their attention. It's really annoying. But kinda cute at the same time. He's just so friendly.
3. My goal for him was to be obedient to his teacher. If she says it's time for no talking then don't talk. If she says get a book out and read it, then do it. If it's time to stay in your seat then stay in your seat.

She said he was doing really well. He'd gone several weeks without getting his name on the board. Up until "911 day". What is 911 day you may ask.
Last week I got a call from the principal. She asked me if I had a minute to talk with Sam over the phone about something that had happened on the playground that day. I said yes. Then I hear this little,"Hi mom." on the line. He then tells me about his friend who brought his cell phone to school and while they were at recess he told Sam to dial 911. So he did and to his surprise someone answered and asked him what his emergency was. He promptly handed the phone back to the kid who brought it. The kid shut the phone hanging up on the operator. I asked him if the police came or anything and he said no. Well then how did you end up in the principles office? He said someone told the Guard Duty (which is the retarded name they use in Utah for the people who stand outside and watch the kids at recess). So I give him a little talk about how we only call 911 if there is a real emergency and that we don't do whatever our friends tell us to, they don't always have our best interest in mind. I get back on the phone with the principle and I ask her how she found out. She said, "Apparently, the whole 2nd grade knows about it." She used the word Guard Duty too. Why does that sound so wrong to me. She also told me that the cell phone had no service, but apparently the call goes through for 911. Something I'm sure that little punk who brought the phone knew when he told my poor unsuspecting dupe of a child to dial it. So Sam lost his recesses for the rest of that day and the next.
Two days later he came home with a list of all the things he did wrong that day, which he had to write himself and his teacher signed it and I had to sign it and so did he. Poor kid didn't get to play outside with his friends that day.
He's really not a naughty kid. Just really annoying. He's always happy and enthusiastic and really talkative.

But that's Sam and I'm not willing to medicate him just because he can't remember to use self control. We like his personality and We love having him in our family.

7 comments:

Holley said...

I'm totally cracking up and snorting diet coke out of my nose. That is hilarious...poor Sam!

I hate parent teacher conferences too. One year I wanted my goal for my younger son Wes to be "Wake me up from my drunken stupor in time to get him to school on time and do his homework without bothering me while I watch Gilmore Girls." We were having terrible car trouble and he was late like 10 times in 3 weeks and the school was not very sympathetic...of course this was middle school. This was also the season where Luke & Lorelai finally got together... that only makes sense if you're a Gilmore Girls fan.

Jeanna said...

I wouldn't medicate Sam either. He is a great kid. He is one of Uncle Harold's very favorites by the way.

I love the 911 story. A classic. One for the books.

Did we ever tell you about when Sav dialed 911? She was less than a year old. Randomly dialing numbers on the phone and for some reason, is able to dial 9, then a 1, then a 1. We had a visit from the Poh-lease pretty quick.

Sweet on the reading level. Hey, my teachers never tell me any of that stuff, I guess my kids are average, or their teachers are lame. Hmmm, I'll go with door #2 for now! :)

Becky said...

Dude I miss you guys. Sam is so cute, even though sometimes he is annoying...he's just being cute and we are just being crabby.

Anonymous said...

Guard Duty....I'm trying to remember what they were called in my day. P.S. I'm pretty sure that I'm still not up to a fifth grade reading level!

Studyvin Says said...

I don't like parent teacher conferences from either end--the parent or the teacher. Jordan is talkative in class also and he's not an only child. He was talking in class and got assigned sentences to write from his language teacher. Yea right assign writing as a punishment--how stupid is that when you're trying to encourage students to write?

Cote Corner said...

I know exactly what Kirstens teachers will tell us at her very first parent teacher conference.. "She's a social butterfly." I then will call mom and she will say that I had it coming! My teachers almost ALWAYS told mom that I was a social butterfly. I couldn't help it. My bros and sisters were gone and I needed some interaction! :) Sam is a cutie! That's awesome that he is ahead in his reading. What a smart kid!

Anonymous said...

I'm curious what your note meant.....are you unofficially announcing something?