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I assume most of my readers do not want every particular about Isaac’s school experience, but in the interest of family history, I will be more complete than I would be if I were just writing this post for casual blog readers.

The first day of school was August 17th.  We met his teacher the night before at a back to school night.  Her name is Mrs. Rader.  She has taught school for 37 years and this is her second time teaching first grade (she taught 2nd grade last year).  She seems like the kind motherly type which I think is a good fit for Isaac since he tends to be shy and scared.

School Bullies?

The first day was a half day so we picked Isaac up at 11:15.  He got in the van and started complaining right away that the van smelled like “stinky” (poo).  When he got home, he was convinced that the whole house stunk and he only calmed down after I let him spray air freshener all over.  I asked him lots of questions about his day and he had no complaints.  He said Anne and Emma were at his table along with some kids he didn’t know and that his seat was on the end.  He said that he enjoyed his first day.  Later he complained that a boy was holding him and trying to hurt his head at recess.  I emailed his teacher.

Within a few days he started reporting more incidents of kids picking on him.  He said a kid was biting him on his arms and legs and that another kid told all his friends to hit him and that someone tried to steal his lunch.  I became very concerned and called the school to set up a meeting with his teacher.  She called me back a few hours later and said that she had talked to the boys and that it seemed to be a misunderstanding and that she didn’t see anyone giving him a hard time, but she’d keep an eye on him.  Not knowing if he was making things up, I tried not to put any ideas into his head and I avoided questions about if other kids were mean to him that day.  He had a few days where he reported nothing unusual, but before long he started telling stories that made no sense.  He told me in a very heated voice that a boy in his class was trying to give him more math to do because the boy wanted him to stay at school for 100 years!  I asked if someone tried to get him to do their math and said no.  He said someone took his lunch bag, ate his lunch, then returned the bag.  His stories have become so outrageous that I can’t believe them, however, I am concerned about why he’s telling me these obviously untrue stories.  Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to spend some time in his class when my mom comes to visit so that I can get a first hand view of what’s going on.

Reading

I went into the school to pick up Isaac for a Dr. Appointment on Monday.  The teacher said she was really glad to see me because she was excited about Isaac’s reading and wanted to talk to me about it.  She had screened kids by having them read a list of words.  Isaac was one of six kids who could read all the words.  Those six took a test that gave them a reading level.  Isaac’s level fell somewhere between 1.7 and 2.7 (first grade, 7th month and second grade 7th month).  Without seeing the test, I assume that he was able to read some words at both levels, but did not read every word within that range perfectly.  Because his scores are sufficiently high, he has started reading books at school and then taking quizzes on the books he’s read so that he can earn points towards rewards at school.

This doesn’t really relate to school, but a few weeks ago I had sent him to his room to get dressed and when I went in to check on him, he was standing in his underwear reading a book.  I was very excited that he was enjoying reading enough to get distracted by it!

I’m also starting to wonder how he does in math since it sounds like the worst fate he can think of is having more math to do.  Perhaps I should spend some time working on first grade math concepts with him.