02.05.2003 | 9:16 pm

Teacher: If you add 34,312 + 76, 188, and divide the answer by 3, and multiply by 4, what do you get?
Student: The wrong answer!

This was my dilemma today but in reverse. I was presented with a set of problems, with very few options of solving to everyone�s satisfaction.

I got to school at 7:20 this morning and was greeted with a phone call from a father. Now fathers are good for many things, but most often those things involve heavy equipment, power tools, or sports teams. Our problem today was simple. Be consistent, or just show some interest in signing your child�s reading log on a nightly basis. I was told by this father that...�He couldn�t ever remember having homework in first grade and that signing a reading log was a piddling detail!� You see, mom works the early morning shift at the hospital, and he can�t, won�t, or thinks it�s �woman�s work� to sign such a piddling thing as a first grader�s reading log. We were also having issues about his child returning library and classroom books. It seems as though child had five books out at the time we spoke this morning. Now these particular five books have been AWOL for almost a month. Because of this problem, small child cannot take out any more, thus rendering her incapable of progressing in AR or her reading group efficiently. Dad didn�t understand why this was such a BIG DEAL either. I stated that I had a very minimal homework requirement. I have homework requirements at the request of the school board and administration. I also pointed out that this is the time...this year...right now...when teacher can be flexible for child to develop good study habits and learn to be responsible for classroom assignments and materials. He spewed forth more LAME excuses and so I finally asked, �Are you saying then, that your child will not be returning a signed reading log or the books?� �Well, no, Mrs. B...I don�t know, we�ll see.� *grrrr*

I try so hard to be fair and accommodating to all sorts of problems, glitches in learning styles, family and home problems...and on and on. I just don�t get how signing a reading log so I can document homework completion is so hard. I guess the thing that is most *hurtful* is the notion that this parent thinks what we do in first grade is not important. That what I do is of no consequence. They don�t pay me enough to take this abuse!

The little girls in the class are beginning to play, �Queen Bee of the Hill.� The rough and tumble nature of little boy squirrels is easy to handle compared to the �Queen Bee� thing. Girls, at any age, can get down right mean, nasty and certainly catty, when the mood strikes them. It seems they all want to be �best friends' with Angel, and no one is willing to share. Some of the mothers are starting to get involved, in what really amounts to playground games. One mom even wanted to go speak to the principal today because she felt it was SO serious. It really, truly isn�t. I called each girl out into the hall today and got all the details of the alleged incidents and determined it was just a matter of choosing another game to play so everyone could be included. Then we had a friendly pow-wow in the hall with everyone. We all decided to try and include everyone, get along, and just play �hamsters� instead of �kitty and hamsters.� If you haven't guessed... the little girl squirrel who had been designated to be the �kitty� did not want to be the kitty. Hopefully the problem is solved.

Fourteen hours and a million frustrations later it is tonight. I came home to face laundry, dishes, and cooking. When I hit the back door, I knew I better not sit down till everything was done or I would fade into the woodwork and be a lost cause for the entire evening. Said tasks are completed. I am typing out my frustrations. I will watch Law and Order...and fade...out...

catsnapples~ in first grade and at life

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