It is Only First Grade

I am not in the best of moods today.  It usually takes a lot to make me extremely angry, unless you are my husband or kid.  Then I just get mad on a daily basis.  Other than that, I am pretty laid back.  I am a female. I complain about loads, but that does not mean I am mad.  I do not like the time to blink on the microwave.  I do NOT like temps above 75 degrees without an A/C.  I do not like clothing in neon colors.  Nails are one thing, but a full pair of jeans or shorts.... NO.  They just remind me of pink and yellow highlighter marks that hurt your eyes on paper.  Then people want to blow the color up and wear it on their extremely large ass. Why would you do that?

Then the neon colors make you think of teachers that you never really wanted to remember or the few that were actually good because they were nice.  A nice teacher.  Those are hard to find. I know when I taught I was not nice most of the time.  How can you be with 12 to 20 children calling your name all day or wanting to tell on someone for sneezing?  Lower grades are awful.  Middle school is pretty mild.  I did not mind that too much and was actually nice a lot.  There are rules for the kids for a reason (most of the time for a reason) and every kid will forget a rule sometime during the year. (So will every teacher.)

I get it.  I know my kid talks a lot.  He has stories, and has an explanation for everything.  He also has a sense of humor and finds many things funny in the middle of class.  He is not rude, mostly. He is just social.  I know it can be annoying in a classroom while trying to teach.  So learning when and when not to talk has been a challenge the past 2 years he has been in school.  He could be doing worse things.  The talking does not bother me much.  It is a good quality to have since he will be up in front of the class reading his stories from time to time.  I was always afraid to do that so I am glad he is excited about getting up  in front of his class for readings. 

 I have known a couple that will take away a few points for forgetting ones name on a test.  Mostly in older kids, but who knows.  Apparently I know nothing since my FIRST grade child came home today with his test from last week for me to sign and return.  I was happy to see two 100's then I came to his last test.  His spelling test.  He has made a 100 on every spelling test except for 3 I think.  Maybe four.  I know he has only missed one word since Christmas on these weekly test. I am very proud of my little guy. 

I was not informed that his name was obviously a spelling word every week as well as the words that are sent home to study weekly.  Seriously, his teacher just dropped his 100 to an 88 because his name was not on there in first grade?  First, I want to know which grade was actually recorded on her grading records.  Second, I want to see another spelling test where a name was left off causing the child to go from an A to a B.  It is first grade.  I know my child is not the only one to turn in a nameless test this past week or this year in his class. 

It is first grade and this is the consequence for missing a name at the top of a page where the hardest word on the test is noon? If my child is expected to have such high standards this year, then I expect the school to challenge him, not baby him with sight words from kindergarten.  I also expect a little bit of supervision upon morning drop off.  If a few teachers can not get off their asses to go guide the children into the building safely, then why is forgetting a name in first grade such a big deal?  That is a whole different topic on lack of safety that I will stay away from now since I have already thrown a fit on that issue with no results. Apparently I know nothing and need to walk my child to class every morning to make sure he is safe and remind him to put his name on everything so that he is more worried about his name than what is being taught that day.