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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 4:50 pm
Only the elementary school, Teach. As far as I know ours is one of the few that does it this way here. My niece and 3 nephews go to 3 different schools in the same district and they don't do that. I know the jr high has a couple different levels of math and basic and regular english classes, but that's about it. My neighbors daughter (6th grade this year) was always in the advanced classes in elementary too and she's been bored to death this year except in math. Says the rest of the classes go too slow and are too easy. Just from talking to my neighbors, since I haven't had any experience with the jr high yet myself, it seems like they expect all the students to fall into the cookie cutter mold and all be the same level as far as academics go. I've got two kidlets who are so vastly different I can't figure out how they'd expect a whole school full of kids to be the same!
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Eris
Member
11-13-2003
| Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 5:09 pm
quote: Member Teachmichigan- Blame budget cuts, overemphasis on "standardized testing" (i.e. - cookie cutter assessment), and NCLB. Add to that classes w/35-40 kids (and 6 classes per day) and there is no way ONE teacher can individualize 200 different students' lessons; heck, we can't even afford computers that aren't 8 years old! It's most frustrating, and if there were is EVER a presidential candidate that will throw out testing, I'll vote for him/her no matter what! LOL
Oh I realize it is a lot LOT of work...and there is no way one teacher could make it happen. I know that the only reason my daughters teachers have been able to pull it off is because of the parent involvement. However, we-as parents-agree when we place our children in this program that we will be active and participate. We sign up for days/hours we can come into the class and help...we also grade most of the work. We get it one, maybe two weeks out of the school year because it rotates between the parents to do...this helps free up more of the teachers time so they can work on lesson plans and such. Sadly, I also realize that not all parents are this involved...or even can be if they wanted to. Ever since the Mr. and I split and I began working/going back to college things have been really hard and I hardly ever get to help out in the school anymore...I only have one kid too! I give props to anyone who does all this with more than one lol
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 6:00 pm
We've been pretty lucky with that. Most of the classes the kids have been in have had a lot of parent volunteering. This is the first year I haven't been as involved. Caleb's teacher has one room mom and that's all she wants. Dakota's I was doing good the first few months and then I got too busy and I just didn't have the time to go into class. We've got a good system down now where her teacher sends me stuff I can do at home like grading, filing, or putting together packets. It's not even that it frees up more time for teachers to teach and work one on one with kids, but the kids love to see parents come in. They give me hugs, show me their best work and tell me about their weekend. The funniest thing is though that Dakota's best friend (they were in class together last year, now Dakota and the girls brother are in the same class) their dad volunteers in each of their classes and the kids absolutely love seeing a dad come in. I guess cuz they're so used to seeing moms, dads are exciting.
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Eris
Member
11-13-2003
| Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 6:10 pm
Im going to be so sad when the day comes that I become an embarrassment when I walk through that classroom door rather that the hero...sigh....I know my days are numbered
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 6:21 pm
LOL, boys go through that sooner. I can actually watch Caleb cringe when he sees me coming. Dakota will still hold my hand walking across campus and run up and give me a hug when she sees me.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 6:41 pm
Thanks for all the info -- having parents grade papers doesn't work so well at the high school level. Tex -- we're a small, rural school so, while there is a "college" plan and "tech" plan -- we don't have "tracks." All freshmen and sophomores take the same English classes (unless they're special ed). At the junior and senior level we offer two to four courses that vary according to how college prep. they want. Math is -- well, Math! The classes are by topic (algebra, calculus, etc), not age or ability. Same w/science. Social studies has just one class per grade (American History, World Studies, etc.). We only have 2 AP classes running next year, and we offer about 6 different foreign language classes between Spanish and French. Soooo -- nope, not much differentiating based on abilities. On the positive, we don't have hardly any discipline issues since we're a small town. And my almost 7th grader must now have his "hugs" goodbye IN my classroom before he walks to the other building. None in the hallways....***sigh***
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 6:58 pm
Hehehe, Teach, I told her teacher when I started this year her best bet was to keep me away from the math. The only time she'll send that home is if she sends the answer key, and embarrassing to say, I do have to use it sometimes (and this is third grade math!)
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 7:18 pm
There is definitely an upside to being in a small town, it sounds like. It's crazy here. They have a 6 point grading scale to represent the higher level classes. The academic track (and it's not like a votech thing) is graded on a 4. scale so it's very possible you can have all straight A's and a 4. in academic and not be in the top quarter!!! and the competition is fierce! our school actually had 28 validictorians and 12 salutorians! talk about competition! it's frustrating in another sense. the state university system has started automatic acceptance if you are in the top 10% of your class. our kids are competing for entrance with kids from much smaller school and who have less stringent grading scales. no offense to rural schools but it's much easier being in the top 10 of a smaller school with only one grading system.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, May 25, 2007 - 7:18 pm
We're actually working toward a NO valedictorian/salutatorian system. We would have "academic honors" for those, but it uses a COMBO of GPA, ACT/SAT scores like many colleges use for admissions. We've had problems in the past w/students avoiding the "hard" classes in favor of PE to maintain their 4.0s. Ridiculous when you think about it, but true...and also a result of those "scholarships" that parents are loathe to lose. Shoot -- I had a parent tell me at AP night, that if her DD's GPA dropped below the 4.0 mark, it's an automatic $5K loss in one scholarship she's eligible for. There are times I think Cuba does it right by paying for ALL education -- college included!
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Friday, May 25, 2007 - 7:55 pm
that's why we have the graduated grading scale. the classes are weighted based on the level of difficulity. An 'A' in an PreAP/AP GT class is a 6.scale. If the kid is in PreAP/AP (what some schools call honors, it's a 5. scale. If he is in academic it's 4. So if someone is taking a blow off class to get an A, it would only be worth 4 points rather than an A in say AP calculus which would be a 6. a 'C' in an advanced class is a 4 point.
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Justavice
Member
11-22-2005
| Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 1:03 pm
Missed Deadline Headline: Magnet school grant runs out of time Application for $8.1 M misses deadline by minutes I do not have children, but this enfuriates me. Glad the adults are looking out for the children. (Insert eye roll here.) I guess they did teach them a lesson about turning your work in on time. And if you don't feel like reading the article, yes, the person who was responsible resigned.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 1:31 pm
Oh that sucks! We have several magnet schools here and they are wonderful. You not only hear about how great the students are doing, you see them all over town in volunteer positions (ours are high school magnet schools.) I had the opportunity to work with many of the student volunteers from the medical magnet school and those kids were so dedicated to the program, I can't even begin to understand how devestated they'd have been if they'd lost their funding over a stupid error.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 9:05 am
Dakota and I have been going head to head over heelies for awhile now. Last summr there was an article in our paper talking about the rise in injuries because of them where ER doctors were interviewed. I've also got a friend who's an ER nurse who has talked to us about it, along with mentioning that while she has no problem letting her son roller skate, bike ride, or skateboard, she'd never let him wear heelies cuz of the injuries she's seen. Her big thing (mine as well) is that when we send them out to do this other stuff, we remind them to put on their saftey equipment, but kids don't think about that with heelies and use them in places likes stores or school hallways, across parking lots, etc. Anyways, another article about it I stumbled across this mornign: Rolling sneakers blamed for rise in kid injuries
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Scooterrific
Member
07-08-2005
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 9:15 am
WG- I saw an article on the morning news about it. Raelynne wants them, too....I told her maybe for her birthday ... we shall see.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 9:58 am
Stall long enough and her feet will be too big. DS can't even get them if he wants them since they are only in little kids shoes (at least around here).
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 10:02 am
I saw a kid yesterday in the grocery store bust his ass wearing those things.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 10:52 am
A kid ran into me with his heelies on in the store. It ticked me off. I was wondering where in the hell his mother was while he was "heeling" around the damn grocery store. Argh. My daughter can have roller skates, NOT heelies.
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Scooterrific
Member
07-08-2005
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 11:13 am
Escapee, hopefully by the time your girls are old enough...they won't be all of the rage. Teach, Until recently, her feet were too small, but now....uugghh!
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 11:54 am
I recently read that heelies is the leading reason for emergency room visits for kids these days. I haven't got my son them and have no plans to! I want to keep him all in one piece. 
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 11:56 am
My kids will only wear Jordan's or Nike's anyway. Oh and btw, War your saying no should be the end of it.
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Mictay
Member
09-29-2006
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 12:01 pm
My daughter has A pair,not by my buying them,she traded another pair of shoes with her friend for them,she wore them A few times and I haven't seen them since!They are banned from school's here.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 1:37 pm
LOL, no stalling needed, she's not getting a pair. We considered it briefly, but we know Dakota too well. She's clumsy enough on her own two feet, but with riding her bike, skating or roller blading, she puts on her helmet and knee/elbow pads and she's not going through a store with the slick floors or a parking lot. Hehe, Mocha, Caleb got his first pair of Nike's for his birthday. He wasn't too thrilled about it at first, but then he realized they were name brand shoes and I seriously thought he was gonna sleep in them, lol. They both usually go through shoes so fast, either outgrowing them or tearing them up, that we never buy them name brand. He's been so funny about these though, brushing them off if they get dusty, wiping them if they get dirty, heck he's even keeping them tied! I've never seen him take care of something he wears this month. Darren and I were talking about it, I said considering he's been wearing them a week and they still look new (that's about six days longer than any other pair!) we may have to start buying him name brand shoes!
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Tess
Member
04-13-2001
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 2:43 pm
Sarah has them and only because she paid for 1/2. I was dead set against them but Dad said yes. <sigh> We have very strict rules, however. She can only wear them outside around our circle and the rules are the same as for roller blades. She may NOT wear them inside under any circumstances. It doesn't matter where "inside" is. She got them last year sometime and when she outgrows these, we're done with the heelie phase.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 4:01 pm
here's another article on it: Rolling sneakers blamed for rise in kid injuries
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Tuesday, August 07, 2007 - 3:06 pm
Bandaid warning: I bought some Nascar Bandaid brand bandaids for my grandchildren. Well Joey, my 2 yr old grandson loves those fake tattoos and wanted to wear a bandaid because it looks like a tattoo. This brand is waterproof. Even though over the course of 4-5 days he had taken 2 bath and 3 showers, that bandaid stayed on his little arm. Last night(day4or5), after his shower, his mom was looking at it and noticed a little pink around the edges. She took that bandaid off and not only did it smell like rotting flesh, it looked like it too. I don't know if he had an allergic reaction to the adhesive but his lil arm looks like he was badly burned. Yikes!
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