I finally went and was the room helper in Ava's class this week. I have really wanted to do this all year, but my theoretical plans for easy childcare for Rhys while I spend an hour in Ava's class crashed and burned so I haven't done it up until this point. I will be doing it way more often now and am just going to have to get creative with Rhys.
Ava earns tickets and gets them taken away based on behavior in school. At the end of the week she can cash in her tickets for prizes. She pretty much never gets prizes. She always, always loses her tickets for talking in class. Last week she kind of laughed and said, "I lost a ticket today and I didn't even have any to lose!" Clearly this ticket thing doesn't have a big impact on her. The prizes that she has gotten often sit in her backpack for weeks so they are clearly not a big motivator for her. Thursday the tide changed. She didn't just lose her tickets. She lost the envelope to put the tickets in! I am not quite clear on how this happened, but she was upset. There were many tears shed over this low blow. She also said she was not allowed to go outside for recess the following day because she got in so much trouble. Again, not quite clear as to what happened to cause her to lose recess because that same day she got a letter sent home from the dean saying she had too many tardies and will get a detention with one more...
So anyway, I go to Ava's class on Friday. I mentioned the envelope situation to her teacher. I wasn't clear on whether or not the envelope was taken away or if she actually just lost it and couldn't find it. The teacher said she might have had it taken away but she would have to check. She did point out that Ava's chair was rubber banded to the table leg. She said that Ava can't seem to stay sitting in the chair. It is always out too far, on the side of the table, she is rocking back in it or she is not actually sitting on it and more like crouching on it. Her teacher says that she has gotten bruises all over legs from walking into her chair all the time. She said that she thinks Ava likes the attention from getting told to sit down.
I didn't even know how to respond. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to tell her that she won't sit because the legs won't stay still and her butt really hurts in those chairs. I know...from personal experience. Ava can sit still. She can sit perfectly still for hours on end if she is watching a movie or something. But she still can't sit in a hard chair. She barely does it at the kitchen table and usually falls off at least once a day. As far as the talking goes...until she is working on something that actually challenges her other thoughts are just going to keep popping into her head that just want to come out. Clearly there is a time and place for talking to friends and she needs to learn that.
By the way, I helped with the science center. (Centers are their other subjects, they work on them in small groups and do six a week.) They were experimenting with colors and what new colors are made by mixing them. They got to use eye droppers with colored water. It felt very scientific. It was also clear to me that not everybody is on the same level as Ava. I sometimes assume that her whole class is pretty much at the same place learning wise.
Me: Red plus blue equals what?
Student: 2.
Me: Nope. Red plus blue.
Student: 2.
Me: Ok, so if you take the color red and mix it with the color blue, what color will you get?
Student: Yellow?
He was really cute in his earnestness.
