Dew and Glue!

Today was a day! This post is mostly about behavior - the good and the bad:

One of my darlings transferred to our school about 4 months ago and has been a handful ever since. Little miss is very very very chatty. I could add about 50 more "very"s but you get the point right? I can't even get 2 words out without her interrupting with a story or a request for a drink or bathroom or to tell me the sky is blue today. Every other student in class is fed up with her because she is constantly disrupting class. She complains frequently that no one wants to be her friend or play with her, but that's because no one else could get a word in edgewise.

Well, last week her mama came to see me and we had a heart to heart. I explained how concerned I was that she wasn't able to socialize properly, that she was so behind academically even though she is bright etc. I encouraged her again to see a doctor about at least filling out a survey for ADHD. I also mentioned that if she wanted to, she could give her daughter some soda or coffee over the weekend and see if the caffeine made a difference at home.

On Monday, little miss showed up with a note and a bottle of Mountain Dew. The note gives me permission to give her some Dew in the morning and at lunch because mama saw some improvement in behavior over the weekend. So little miss got a cup with breakfast and a cup with lunch and had a pretty good day! I reported to mama that I had seen a change for the better.

Little miss came to school again today with a can of Dew and oh my goodness! I did not have to ask her to be quiet, stay in her seat or do her work at all today! At one point I looked around to see who I could clip up on our behavior chart and she was one of the few actually on task! During a phonics game she was the only good sport on her team, encouraging a teammate who had gotten a wrong answer with "Good job M! You'll get it next time!" My jaw actually dropped to the floor. By the end of the day, all of the children were saying "Wow, little miss had a really good day today, didn't she Mrs. K?!" I got to write another nice letter to mama, saying her daughter's behavior was off the chart today (that's as good as it gets in our class!).

Now, just in case I was unduly influenced by the knowledge that she was taking the Dew, I also asked the PE and Music teachers as well as her tutor and all of them reported a change in behavior, not knowing about the Dew. Then I went and looked at our timed math test that we take every few days. Little miss usually gets about 8-10 addition facts solved in 2 minutes. Today she got 16 in the same time! In 3 minutes for subtraction, little miss usually gets about 15 or so right, today she got 35! I am absolutely floored by the difference. Of course mama is still taking little miss to the doctor for an official diagnosis, but at least we will have a good rest of the year! I hadn't realized how draining it was dealing with her until I didn't have to for 2 days.

On the other hand, our new little friend from another state, hmm I will call him Glue Boy, had another not so good day today. Lots of not listening, getting into everything he shouldn't, including trying to feed the chicks stuff he found on the ground, running in the classroom and playing with glue. Remember, this is the little guy who came with straight A's on his glowing report card, hah! Well today when he got picked up, I was asked "Was he good today?" and I shrugged and said "We had some issues.", not wanting to go into detail with other parents and children still standing around.

 Glue Boy then gets told that he won't get to go to the movies this weekend and if this keeps up he's going to jail next weekend. Yes, jail. Totally serious here folks. Apparently the family has found out about some program called "Reality Check" where they can drop him off on a Friday afternoon and he spends the night getting scared straight. Of course, a bunch of other children were still all there listening, so I'm sure it's going to be the talk of the class tomorrow.

Jail?! For an 8 year old who just needs some discipline?! Who has just moved from another state and is adjusting to a rather crappy living situation?! Well hmmm I guess now I know why that other teacher was giving a good report - to prevent ridiculous punishments on the parents' part probably. But seriously, if you play this card when the kid is 8, what are you going to do when he's 15 and getting into real trouble? Now I have to come up with some super creative classroom management that is going to improve his behavior asap because I don't want to be responsible for getting him sent to jail over playing with glue or talking out of turn.

Oh yes, I had a meeting tonight for parents of children who were given the Maturation Assessment that helps determine if they're recommended for retention, Transitional First or first grade. Out of 40 children, only 5 parents showed up. Of course those were the parents of the 5 recommended for first grade. Anyone see a correlation?!

Hmmmm, rather a downer of a post tonight isn't it? To pep things up, and to thank you for reading this, I'll have a flash giveaway! I've created a bunch of new Roll and Cover addition and subtraction games lately, Rustle up a Response below and I'll choose 2 random commenters tomorrow night at 8pm to win their choice of one of my Roll and Cover games. Check out my newest ones:

 Dinosaur Themed Roll & Cover

Beachy Roll & Cover

 Pirate Roll & Cover

 

 Zoo Roll & Cover