Losing recess | Imamother

Chayalle

Fri, Oct 27 2017, 9:36 am

amother wrote:

Thanks. Yeah, it's definitely more important for him to learn strategies for remembering his stuff than to have consequences. I just feel like it would probably be too much to ask the teacher to not have any sort of consequence, clearly it's part of running a class. But I think your suggestions are reasonable- focus on helping him remember and extra homework the following evening.

OP, you are your child's biggest (and sometimes only) advocate. You should never be afraid to communicate with your child's teacher - respectfully of course - about your child's needs, and how you feel a situation should be handled.

It's interesting because one of my children had a very strict first grade teacher, and the teacher took her recess away one day (not for homework issues; she and a friend didn't come in at the first bell - they didn't realize what it was - and were made to stand in front of the playground watching everyone have recess the next day).

I called the teacher and politely inquired about the incident, validated the teacher's need to teach the kids to come in at the first bell (not that I agreed with her method) and told her that my child is very sensitive, and I need to ask her to communicate with me if there's ever an issue with her behavior, especially a repeat issue (this was not the case here) rather than take immediate disciplinary action.

B"H the teacher avoided punishing my child after that, though her overt strictness and control constituted a pretty tense year for my child. A few years later, I switched my younger daughter to a different class, to avoid having this teacher, and I have never regretted it (she had a warm, wonderful teacher that my other DD had in first grade, and often says those were her best teachers ever.)

I'm sharing this with you because I really feel communication between you and your child's teacher is going to be very key to your child's successful year in first grade. Please don't be afraid to discuss your child's needs, and be very firm and polite about a method you feel is not in your child's best interest - nor the teachers - I mean, taking away his recess isn't going to help the classroom situation for the teacher either.

Others have given excellent suggestions. I think if the teacher is on top of making sure he brings home the homework for a while, that will get him into a pattern. And if he forgets his homework, having him do it for the next day could work.

Hatzlacha!

Ruchel

Fri, Oct 27 2017, 9:47 am

Meh. You're looking to fight, so fight between yourselves Smile

I wrote

Yet it happened much more often in our times, and as a whole we weren't as sent to therapy or difficult.

My generation was far from perfect, I remember quite clearly and am probably younger than some of you bickerers. But I have never seen all these things I'm seeing for maybe less than a decade. And IRL never seen what I see on Imamother, "no offense". I won't be back, cheers!