New School, 2 Teachers (Split Class) & Lacking In.......

Okay, I get that you miss his old school okay? So here's my answer.

Your child is plenty old enough to follow directions. He's old enough to see his classmates grabbing their reading bags and taking them home. He's old enough to ask why they have one and he doesn't if he doesn't have one sitting there waiting for him. If he didn't have the same thing as everyone else don't you think he'd notice?

So why wasn't he picking up that book bag and bringing it home like every other kid in the class?

The librarian is responsible for the books the kids check out. They scan them and know what age they're supposed to have access to and not. But technically stuff that's "tween" is for age 7 and up, the same as Y7 TV shows.

I'd definitely talk with the principle but I'd also take responsibility for my child. He's not 3 or 4 he's 7 years old and knows the kids were bringing home stuff to read. He should be focusing on his AR books and getting his reading skills built up. Those books should be in his classroom and available for him to check out to read then test on the next morning.

IF IF IF the books in the book bag are his AR books and he hasn't tested on any of them all year then I'd be yelling at that teacher and throwing a hissy fit like she's never seen before.

I do imagine there may be some AR books in that bag but he has to be reading and testing or his grades would be really really low in reading and you'd have noticed before. So I assume he's reading and testing during the day while he's in school.

I am glad he enjoys his after school care, I hope they have a great time and get to play a lot. It's fun to stay after school to play.

the bullying issue is being handled, albeit belatedly. of course, you let your kid cry himself to sleep for a month before you notified anyone, so i'm not sure you get to cry foul that they weren't right on it.
i never, ever, ever restricted what my kids read. i'm sure a school library doesn't carry '50 shades of grey', and by the time they were 7 i was reading tolkien, watership down and john wyndham to my kids.
i also think it's your responsibility to assist the teacher in staying on top of his home assignments. so yeah, she should have picked up on it before now that your son wasn't taking home books.
so should you.
i don't get why parents abdicate their roles as parents and expect the schools to take over everything.
khairete
S.

I would start with requesting an in person conference with the teachers to hash out everything that you missed coming in late to the school year. Talk about the homework, the reading, the library and the bullying.

Re: the reading, we never restricted the kids' book choices unless they were truly inappropriate. You may want to steer him toward other books, but it may also be an opportunity to learn things like "wow, my 7 yr old can read at a high level!" Our friend's son reads at a 6th grade level in 2nd grade. So maybe they are not inappropriate if he's really reading that far ahead.

ETA: I would discuss this with the administration. She admitted she doesn't supervise recess for 7 yr olds? What is she doing instead? I also think that if those are overall issues, you and other parents could approach the principal together, so that he/she sees you are not the only one worried.

You may also need to revisit the childcare options that allowed you to keep him at a different school, perhaps hire a PT nanny in the afternoon. I think his education is paramount. Can he be bussed or otherwise driven from the other school to this aftercare?

The bullying issue sounds like it is being handled by admin, although not in a timely manner, it sounds like they are dealing with it. Teachers often times don't see bullying taking place because the bullies are often times quiet about it, and the bullied kids don't advocate enough for themselves so that the teachers can start the discipline process. The principal is dealing with it, so I would wait and see what happens with it.
The library issue is somewhat of a non-issue in my opinion. The librarian at my childrens school sees hundreds of students each day. It is not her job to monitor what each one checks out and to see if it is age-appropriate. As a parent, if I see my kiddos come home with something I don't think they should be reading I either have them return it to the school the next day, or I will store it until the next library day.
The Home Reading package is on your son as an issue. My son has this as well, and it is his responsibility to make sure that he is keeping up with it, not mine, and not his teachers. The Home Reading is typically supplementary to other homework, and that is why it is the responsibility of the kids (my son is 6, my daughter is 5, and they both have this type of assignment at their schools) to make sure it is happening.
I can't imagine a teacher "forgetting" to supervise children at recess. There are days when teachers don't supervise due to other meetings or things that come up, but there are other teachers and aides that are there. That just seems odd.

Lol lol lol!
I'm sorry.
It just seems that you have my 12 year old's long lost 7 year old twin!
MANY boys leave school at school. Don't communicate well about assignments, routines, etc.
Instead of going on there with a chip on your shoulder (after all--your son has known about this stuff--he just didn't do it or communicate it to you) I suggest you keep in monthly touch with his teachers to check in on how things are going.
And TALK to any other parents you can to compare notes! Lol

what's the question?

I would make an appointment to meet with both teachers at the same time. so you are all on the same page. As far as the reading thing goes. If you have been reading with him he should not have been missing out on reading. and you need to put some of this squarely on your son as far as the homereading thing goes. he is in the class room every day where she says put your old book in and pick a new one lol.

a note on reading above grade level. if he is reading above his grade level then he needs to be able to get reading that interests and challenges him. that does not mean he should be reading "older level content" but you can get lots of age appropriate reading materials. I do not agree that a 7 year old should be reading the hunger games, divergent etc. however there is a huge difference in reading level between the magic treehouse books and say stuart little, charlottes web etc. they are a lot more wordy than the tree house books. look for series books to keep him engages. boxcar children, wayside school, hardy boys etc. there are loads of books outthere. I woudl meet with a childrens librarian at the regular library as well.

Apparently you can't go back to the old school. So you are left with finding a way to work with the new school. I suggest that dealing with undesirable events both you and the teacher share responsibility. I wonder if you're having difficulty because they feel that you are criticizing them instead of finding a way to work together.

Did your son start at this school in September? Did you go to Back to School nite or talk with the teachers at the beginning of his starting at this school? Did yo go to parent teacher conferences? Why didn't you know about the home reading? That is the sort of thing I learned at Back to School nite. Do you look in his book bag every few days? The home reading material should have been there. Do you talk with your son every night to learn what is happening? If the materials weren't in his book bag you wouldn't know about it. But why is this solely the teacher's fault? Why did you wait 2-3 months to talk with the school about bullying? why did you wait until February to talk with the school about the issues That concern you? Remember teachers have 25-30 students to monitor. You have 1 son. I suggest it's appropriate that you have responsibility with the teachers to know how your son is doing.

I urge you to adopt a way to express that you want to work with the school before you talk with the principal. What do you expect him to do about this? He did do as much as possible with the bullying issue. Why is what he did unacceptable? He's right. Even adults won't always remember what happened 2 weeks ago. Have you considered the possibility that the situation is more complex than the label, bullying, the not bringing a home reading bag or a teacher not having control of the class by your standards. I

I've worked playground duty as a volunteer. It is impossible to know everything that is going on when it's happening across the playground. We notice obvious difficulties. We rely on students to come to us when they have a situation that the need help with. Kids are taught to report problems to the playground supervisor's or their teacher. A helpful focus would be to learn why your son didn't do that. Have you considered that your son was more sensitive to the issue than an average child. The other child's action may not reach the level of bullying? Was your son able to describe what happened. Could you have taken the teacher's comment about not always paying attention as the way she operates on the playground? Or does she mean she sometimes forgets to go out to the playground? If it's either of those there are other adults on the playground. I suggest that all playground supervisors do not always pay attention enough to see that there is a problem because she is dealing with another student. I doubt very much that she doesn't pay attention on the playground.

My point is that all situations have 2 or more sides to what happens. Blaming others rarely solves a problem. And teachers are people with limitations as well as strengths. Each teacher is different. We need to work with the less than perfect people all our lives.

Sounds like you're upset about having to take time off from work. That is what parents do. I was a single working mother. My daughter has a spouse. We've both taken time off from work to deal with school issues as well as medical appointments.