He's being pulled out of his class every day for extra reading help. Mrs. Maddox said this was benefiting him as well and he wasn't missing anything in her class while he was away. Only centers and her reading with a small group of students.
She said she had to move him up next to her desk. She found he has a hard time following directions.... not that he doesn't listen, he just rushes through everything to be done. (Like his name. The boy will argue up and down that "Luke" takes too long to write. Tell him to write his first AND last name and he thinks you're asking for the impossible.) With him closer to her desk, she's able to make sure he's following along and stays on task.
Something the tutoring center told me and Mrs. M said today was Luke guesses too much on words. If he's reading a sentence and he doesn't know the word he'll just look at the first letter and say another word that starts with that letter and is shaped the same way. The tutor said she was impressed with this, but the teacher said he's not trying. Again, he's rushing and doesn't want to slow down and read the word completely.
He is also extremely messy. That has to do with the rushing as well. I struggle with homework because if Luke makes a mistake he hates to start again or rewrite something. The first time he had to put his spelling words in ABC order, he had arrows all over the page. It was crazy. But he argued with me to no end about how it made sense and why he did it. He finally rewrote the words, but it was not easy.... for either one of us!
Mrs. M said if she can't read his work, she makes him redo it as well. I asked if he gave her a hard time with the request and she said, "Oh, yes!" Let's just say I'm not the only one he argues, gets upset and even cries for when asked to write something neater.
Yes, he is left handed and watching him write I know he still doesn't get how far you space letters and words. He also tends to trail off the lines and stack his words on top of each other if he runs out of room.
She sent us home with leveled reading books that we can switch out as he finishes. I was also told the school is starting an after school reading program 3 days a week that if opened to 2nd graders, she would make sure Luke got a spot. Three extra hours a week working on reading with someone else would be wonderful. If you add tutoring time, that makes it 4 hours. WOW! And I've made it a priority to read fun books with him every day. That is hard to do when you spend so much time on homework, but he enjoys it. Almost every one of his teachers has told me that same thing in the last 2 months... Make sure he reads things he enjoys.
I still love this teacher. I feel so good about Luke being in her care and under her direction. I'm really glad Luke likes her as much as he does. Especially after I found out how tough she is on him some days. I'm still kicking myself over last year. I feel like the whole year was a waste for him. I should have asked more questions and not let her years of experience cloud my judgement.
The great thing about tonight was Luke and I spent time together. Gracie went to church and because we missed soccer I took Luke to eat somewhere. When he's not dripping sauce down his shirt or licking his hands clean, I love being with the little man. He's not one for giving details of his day, but he'll ask question after question if he has your full attention.
Gracie made me laugh out loud tonight as I dropped her off at church. She was to memorize a Bible verse for class tonight. She rattled off the verse to me and then said, "Jennifer 1:31".
You know.... Jennifer... the not so well known book in the Bible?!?!?!
Here is a picture of the flowers I got yesterday. I thought this shot was appropriate. :-)
I have to add this one because he really wanted me to take a picture of him.
1 comment:
Hi, Im Sgt Jeremy Gratsch's father. Im glad you found his blog and thought your comments are very touching. God bless your family.I thank your husband for choosing operation enduring freedom as his call. As a former combat vet I know what its all about
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