The only way I can get my kids to match nowadays is to make them all run 25 miles at school. All four of them have finally earned a shirt for clocking 25 miles at recess and snack break. Sarah was the last one to make it. She felt really bad last Friday when she was the only one without a shirt. Then she missed 2.5 days of school this week because she was sick.
But she finally got there!!!
She finally made it back to school on Friday, just in time to complete a presentation her reading group has been working on for a month. They read the book, Lions At Lunchtime.
Then she completed a book report and did a poster at school.
She also looked up all sorts of facts about lions at school and included them with her presentation. I had no idea they were even doing this.
Her reading group also did clay molds representing a scene from the book. This a wildebeest trying to cross the river.
Gregory's reading group will be doing a play next week and Gregory will not bring home his part so we can practice, because I Don't Know Why.
I love all the neat stuff they are doing in their class in their reading groups.
Amanda's class doesn't have reading groups at all. For whatever reason, her teacher does not have them meet by reading ability and read level-appropriate books or do any book reports at all. I mean, like not once, and it's March.
I'm trying not to let that bother me, lest you all accuse me of being psycho, but let me tell you right now, there is no easy way not to compare teaching ability and style when you have all your kids in the same grade. I'm seeing it in real time. Like I have no idea what the other three were doing in first grade at exactly this point in the year, last year. So I can't remember to compare what Austin is doing right now with what they were doing last year. But when you see it on a day-to-day basis, it's right in your face.
If you have triplets and they are split, you are going to know EXACTLY which teachers are going above and beyond, and which teachers are just getting by. There's really no way around it, is there?
So, anyway, Sarah and Gregory are doing really super fun stuff with reading in their class and I'm happy about it. If all three of them were doing really fun stuff, I'd be even happier.
19 comments:
Those are cool projects! And who knows, maybe Amanda's teacher is making it very engaging and interesting too, just in a different way that you're not seeing from home.... You might have to go sit in!
But as long as Amanda is loving reading. I think that's what the point is at this age -- turning them into readers, which will benefit them all their lives.
Leslie
This is why I kept my kids together in school thru the 6th grade. All teachers are not equal and I wanted all of my kids to have the best teacher. I learned this the hard way in 1st grade when I separated them for the one year. One of my triplets learned so much more than the other two - it wasn't even close. Now that they are in middle school they refuse to share all classes - but one of them has a better science teacher than the other two. Even they can see it
I'm really struggling with this. They start kindergarten next year, and I think they have reached a point where they would be fine separated. They are in separate classes at church, and they do great. I worry about the disparity in teachers. I see it now at preschool. BKS teacher is that blah teacher who shows up, does her job and goes home. She does not connect with the kids AT ALL. She thinks they are absurd in some ways. She really needs to be working with adults. My fourth triplet is in the class younger, and he has such a great teacher. She LOVES those kids and is there bc she WANTS to be with them. The other 3 are being cheated. Next year I will request C not have the teacher BKS have this year. Mrs. E has really struggled with K bc he wants to connect, and she doesn't. She doesn't approve of their imagination. She tattles everyday when I pick them up. "We were drawing angels today and K made a DRAGON ANGEL!!!! It has big teeth and claws! He was supposed to draw an angel!"
"Well, he really likes dragons right now, so I bet it's a great dragon angel."
She disapproves of anything outside of her perception of correct and incorrect. It makes me sad. It's his picture. If he wants to draw an angel with big teeth and claws, that's his artistic right. I've talked to her all year about things she can do to connect with him, but the truth is, she doesn't WANT to.
I think being separate would do them some good, but in these early years I want them to love school. Besides, the charter schools I'm in the lottery for don't even have 3 kindy teachers. How would I decide who would be alone?
I understand, April. I'd put them together for kindergarten, period.
The benefit (for me) to having them separated is that I can see the teachers who are succeeding and try to keep the other(s) up. Unfortunately, keeping them together won't solve the problem if they all get a crappy teacher, or even a not-as-great teacher.
As you know, I've been dealing with this, but we had a really good conference. I'm keeping my eye on things. If all 3 girls had been in that room, I'm sure she would've gotten lost in the shuffle. :(
I agree!!
We have one crap teacher and two good teachers this year. Ironically, if I was picking at the beginning of the year, I would have picked this teacher. It didn't take me long to see she is all show and no substance. Lazy. Glad I don't have 3 kids in her class.
The way I'm dealing with the disparity is I keeping telling myself, "They don't know what they don't know." Amanda likes her class and teacher, so she has no idea that she's not getting what Sarah and Gregory are getting. "I" know. I know because Amanda LIVES for projects and she would be in her glory if she could construct something and make a book come alive. So I have to tap down this inclination to go tell this perfectly capable teacher how to do her job. It's KILLING ME, but I'm doing it. I'm reigning myself in.
OMG, IT'S KILLING ME.
Or should I mention it? If you guys gave me the green light, then I might proceed. Only because I'm your puppet.
My small school district has 2 lower elementary schools( k-3) that feed into a single upper elementary( 4-5) then middle and high schools. Last year my twins had different teachers. My friends' twins were at the other lower elem in our district and were also separated. The differences between how MY school and her school programmed was INSANE and opposite. Both schools had HUGE K #s last year.. my school has 6 full classes and hers 5. Her school had 3 sets of twins.. my school had 3 sets of twins and 2 sets of triplets. Her school had teachers all over the map each did their own thing and you had one teacher who was a rockstar and her class was moving ahead and then you had another that was barely meeting the minimum standards... My school keeps ALL the teachers in each grade in sync with each other ESPECIALLY the grade that has all the freaking multiples in it. They UNDERSTAND that we parents are already dealing with other siblings, activities, homework, assignments etc. The teachers plan their programming in sync with each other so they are all running the same events, activities, crafts, homework etc around the same time.. I can count on one hand how many times they have had different homework papers. The teachers take turns writing the newsletter and then the teachers put their own personal name and any room specific info on it such as student of the week...
NO! Do not mention it to Amanda or the teacher. Nothing good can come from that. If she hasn't noticed and sulked because the other two are doing projects she hasn't, leave it alone. Why would you want to incite sibling rivalry, more than it exists? Amanda needed to feel more of her individuality, remember? She probably relates to her teacher just fine. It's hard to predict which teachers the kids will remember fondly and which they won't. You can't control that.
Ha. I made it to March without even mentioning it, so that's like award-winning, remarkable, unprecedented restraint for me. You. do. not. even. know. It's like I've almost had to tie myself down and cut my tongue out.
But I have to tell you guys, or it's possible I WILL DIE.
This is a tough one.
All the best ...
Regards,
Ruby
hey, i have special matchy matchy powers, look at my latest profile pic
I agree with previous Anon - don't do it!
and on another commenter note, is "Ruby" spam disguised as Pollyanna? freaking me out!
For kindergarten I think I will keep them together. It may be out of my hands since they place them according to academic ability. They are all advanced (according to every teacher they have had) so I guess they would be together anyway. Good news is for now none of them is being really stifled by being with the others.
One good thing at their preschool is all the classes, including the lower "grades" work on the same things at the same time like the same letters of the week, but do age appropriate worksheets and projects associated with the topic. In their case it's more about the enthusiasm and personal relationship with the teacher.
My daughters are in separate kindergarten classes, and one of their teachers definitely does more "fun" stuff. Like having each kid bring a cup up apple into class and using it to make applesauce, having them bring in their Dr. Seuss books from home and creating a store where they all have roles, making green eggs and ham, and I could go on and on.
Luckily, my other daughter adores her teacher, loves to learn and read, and is definitely engaged, but it's hard to see the hands on fun stuff only being done in one of their classrooms and not the other.
I do volunteer in each class and see for myself the differences as well. But I don't want them in the same class, so I guess this is just how it is going to be. Hopefully it evens out year after year.
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