The Ladies and their Crazy Hair

Ian and Sam had crazy hair day at school, and Lucy wanted to get in on the action. She wanted green hair, so we painted the tips of her hair green, I tossed on some crazy crinoline tube hair thingys, and we went to school. Unfortunately neither Sam nor Ian wanted to actually have lunch with us, but we did pop in on them and say "Hi." Then, we ran a few errands and grabbed a few gifts, and headed home to rest and recover from our day out with crazy hair. Lucy loved her green hair, and now wants more green, or maybe blue, or who knows. "Mommy, when is crazy hair day next?"

Adequate Yearly Progress

Once again the issue of Adequate Yearly Progress and the Federal mandate to have all kids passing all state achievement tests by 2014 has popped up. Several years ago I wrote about how we looked past the tests at the school that my kids attend. As my kids roll up and out of one of the best schools around, I look back on what I wrote. Along with over half of the schools in our district, we once again failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress. We made it last year so the ramifications are less than they would be had we not made it last year, but something has to give. The idea of Federal waivers that will drive states towards holding teachers accountable for test scores (and towards Race to the Top which our state withdrew from), well, that's unacceptable. We can't hold teachers hostage and at the same time accountable for test results. SO much of my kids' day is already driven by SOL tests (that's what they are called in VA). Can't imagine what life will be like if there are waivers in place that tied the teacher's hands even further and they aren't allowed to actually teach? Sigh...

But for now I'll look back on what I wrote back in 2007, after only one year at our school. Four years later I would write exactly the same thing. And I feel much more passion for this school that does such a good job of bridging the divides that we see at other schools, that reaches those kids who are left behind at other schools, and looks at the whole child as a way to educate them.

October 05, 2007

Adequate Yearly Progress

I recently had a discussion with a mother whose child was in preschool and she was wondering where to send her kiddo for Kindergarden. She was concerned about the low scores and also the large number of kids on free or reduced lunch at the local elementary school, yet she'd heard so many good things about the school. There was a diconnect. While some folks in the area understand all of the dynamics of the Fairfax County schools, not everyone "gets it." I know that we didn't when we first arrived here, yet I find myself regularly explaining to family and friends why the test scores don't accurately reflect the education that my son is getting at this school. Here is a blog entry I wrote a few weeks ago in response to the report that Fairfax County failed to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress across the board, and also as an answer to the question of why we send our son to this school.

"The Fairfax County school system for the first time failed to meet academic goals under the No Child Left Behind Act, largely because many students with limited English skills struggled on reading tests that were given in response to a federal order, according to school officials and scores released yesterday." -Excerpt from the Washington Post; By Maria Glod and Michael Alison Chandler; Washington Post Staff Writers; Friday, August 24, 2007; Page A01

My child attends a school that did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) according to government standards.

My child attends a school that has not made AYP in the past as well.

My child attends a school where 45% of the students are not proficient in English.

My child attends a school where 54% of the students are on free or reduced lunch.

My child attends a school where he is a minority in many ways.

My child attends a school where 42% of the population participates in the English for Speakers of Other Languages Program.

But my child also attend a school where there are children from 40 countries that speak 20 different languages.

My child attends a school where there is true racial diversity - 14% Asian/Pacific Islander, 6% Black, 48% Hispanic, 26% While, and 5% Other.

My child attends a school where there were no serious incidents or firearm violations, and only two fights last year.

My child attend a school that has had more winners of the Fairfax County Teacher of the Year than any other elementary school.

My child attends a school with an outdoor habitat learning lab, a black box theater, a museum in progress, a state of the art communication lab where students produce their own TV shows and videos, a staffed math lab and a staffed science lab.

My child attends a magnet school for the arts and sciences.

My child attends a school that has a foreign language partial immersion program in Spanish.

My child attends a school that offers about 30 before and after school classes ranging from athletics to science to band to arts and crafts. These classes cover things like photography, healthy eating, drama, basketball, sewing, soccer, science experiments, and many more. These classes are open to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.

My child attend a school where kids are given a chance to learn, regardless of where they came from or what language they speak.

My child attend a school where he learns.

My child attends a school he loves.

My child attends a school that really doesn't leave any child behind, regardless of the adequate yearly progress that we do or do not make.

This was posted at Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman on August 26, 2007

Bailey's 5th Grade Chorus singing the National Anthem!

Guerilla Goodness

Guerilla Goodness: Sneaking up on someone, doing something nice, then quietly slipping away leaving them to enjoy their goodness. It's all about anonymous giving. It's all about sharing the spirit of giving with my children. And for me it's all about bringing a smile to a kid's face on their very first day of school. And no one told a soul...until now:

These four really left a lasting impression on loads of kids on their way into school for the first day of the 2009-1010 school year. Thanks guys - you did a great thing! And thanks to Patience for sharing a basic but brilliant way to affect change in the world.

Meeting the teachers

It's an annual ritual that we've jumped right into again this year. We met the boys' teachers today, and as it turns out two were married / changed their names over the summer so we know them already, one was new, and the last one we already knew. It's a good crop of teachers, and what's even more exciting is that it looks like it's a good crop of kids as well in all the classes. And that's a feat coming from a school that has tons of different class set ups. This year all three boys are in Spanish Immersion classes that are fanning out. This means that out of their English class (where they do reading, social studies, and something else I can't remember at the moment) seven kids go to their Spanish class. Then an additional seven kids come from another English class, and so on until the Spanish class is formed. (They do science and math in their Spanish class.) Anyway, looks like a banner year, and even after my big miscue, which will end up making more work for me, we're off to a good start. We actually don't start school until next Tuesday, but in my mind we are already there!

Math worksheets anyone?

My kids, in the midst of summer break, have asked for some math worksheets. They have spent their days playing Pokemon, Bakugon, getting muddy, and inhaling various books (they are already halfway done with their summer reading lists for the library challenge!), yet they want more. About this time every year they have asked for some math workbooks, and up until last year I went out and hunted down the appropriate workbooks for each of them - at a great cost. Those cool workbooks don't come cheap. So I went online last summer and found a glorious, glorious site where you can print your own worksheets - and TONS of them. They break it out by grade, then by skill. It is certainly something to look into if you have kids of any age - it goes all the way up through elementary school, but then also has generate your own pages, equation editors, fraction calculators as well as separate sections for learning rounding and factoring. Simply the coolest math site that you'll see for elementary school aged kids. And best of all - it's FREE! So, when your kids holler that they are bored or want something quiet to sit down and do, check out: http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/

(And no - I'm not getting any kickbacks for this - I just wanted to share a very cool site with you! If it were a trip to the Bahamas, then maybe kickbacks would be good, but I'm not so much into doing product reviews for anything other than sharing with my friends!)

My Kids' Teachers ROCK!

I have to get up early tomorrow - very early, so what am I doing up at 12:15 AM????!!! Well, I am sharing with you WHY I am getting up early - I appreciate my kids' teachers - more than you could ever know. My kids are happy - at home AND at school. Three of my kids can read (the fourth is only 10 months so we'll give her a pass on this part). My kids can count, in English AND in Spanish. And to be honest they can count up pretty darn far! (Again a pass for the little squirt - we'll just excuse her from the rest of this...even though she loves the boys' teachers too!)

Anyway, there folks spend a good chunk of time with my kids for a decent part of the year, and the kids are clearly well adjusted (well, except for the random comments), and are clearly happy. So it is definitely my pleasure to do what I can to show my appreciation for these teachers (and the rest of the staff to be honest) by helping set them up with food. And thus year, it's LOTS of food. We did breakfasts four days last week, and are doing a luncheon tomorrow along with gift baskets. Parents have really stepped up and are supplying a bunch of food, and they too are showing their appreciation by feeding the staff. But not all of them volunteered to be up early and show their appreciation at 7:45 am. But I shouldn't complain - my hubby - my dear sweet, doesn't function in the AM hubby was up at school last Friday at 6:30 cooking pancakes for the staff...

So now I can go to sleep. My kids' teachers really do rock, and I don't mind losing a few winks to share that with you.

Bueno Sol!

Ever wonder what a bunch of kindergartners (plus a few older kids) sound like when singing songs about the sun? Well, here you go! Sam is off to the right in a blue sweatshirt, and Ian, and enthusiastic as he could be with his signs still can't quite be seen - but he's plopped right behind a kid in the middle of the stage. Both classes learned a few songs and performed then at the Fiesta del Sol at their school! Enjoy!

Max's Violin

One of the cool things about going to a magnet school for arts and sciences is that the third graders get to learn to play the violin. After a full semester of learning all about the violin, learning how to take care of their violin, and learning the basics of reading music, the kids got to bring their violins home. Max was gracious enough to let me film him...



Sorry for the wiggles- I was serving as videographer as well as music stand. Guess we'll need to fix that second part. You'll notice that he's not using a bow yet. Sounds like the teacher wants to preserve her sanity and take things slowly. Then again she's like 11 months pregnant, so there may not be much of that left at this point. Anyway, not knowing anything about the violin I assume that they continue on with this until they get a decent feel for the strings and finger placement before they even introduce the bow. Hopefully we can maintain our own sanity when the bow comes home. As it is we have a violin AND a recorder at home that needs to be practiced every day...yeah..BOTH every day.

But, max is playing splendidly now, and we hope that he enjoys it. I think it's cool...but then again I'm his mom and pretty much everything he does is cool.

First Day of School: 2008 Edition

Like last year, Max wasn't very forthcoming about his first day of school. But he's in third grade now, with the same teachers from last year (dual age immersion program) so it was all old hat to him and we weren't expecting much info.

Max

Ian and Sam however, started Kindergarten this year, so we were hoping for more info about the first day of school. They were both very excited that morning - slightly more obnoxious than normal, but all set to start school:

Ian

Sam

We threw them on the bus with Max and sent them on their way.

And what did we learn from these three jokers about their first day?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Well, after a bit of teeth pulling we learned that they had recess...ummm...they ate lunch...OH yeah - they rode the bus to school (but we already knew that because we put them ON the bus that morning)...and well, that's pretty much it.

All three seemed to have had a pretty good day, and after gymnastics class for the little boys, all three were pretty much done. So, I'll chalk this up in the win column for the Phipps family. Not going to complain about three basically happy kids, exhausted from their first day, and full of little to no information.

And yes, like Max's first grade year I'm reporting a bit late in the game, so I can say that the second day of school was full of just a little more information. Pointed questions always help, along with the requisite note from the teacher! Seems that at least one of our kiddos actually did stuff on the first day of school. The rest, well, they're happy so no complaining here!

Believe

So this last day before the end of summer when all the kiddos go rushing back to school, take a peek at this video:

And remember, believe.

Open House

The boys had their school open house and it went as follows:

3:15 Park illegally in nearby neighborhood because the lot at school and the library next door were completely full.

3:17 Wave to police officer driving by checking for neighborhood decals and shaking his head upon realizing it was Open House at the school.

3:20 Encourage kids to walk faster, even though they were loaded down with all the thousands of Post It notes, Ziplock Bags, Glue sticks, and tissue boxes they had in their back packs so that hey aren't run over by fellow parents hunting for parking spots in aforementioned full lot.

3:27 Enter cafeteria, tell kids to go figure out what rooms we need to go to, and collect #1's good buddy for a sleep over. Visit quickly with unknown staff member about number of kiddos in my possession, wave quickly through crowd at familiar parents, and head upstairs.

3:30 Enter #1's class. Smile and wave at first teacher. Hunt up second teacher, grab packet and forms and furiously fill out. Husband enters the room - have him dump #1's supplies and gather children to hit next classroom. First teacher sees #1 and give him big huge hug.

3:37 Apologize to both teachers, hand back one form, and duck out so as not to miss meeting next TWO teachers before 4pm.

3:40 Arrive in #2's kindergarten classroom. Meet instructional assistant, ask for forms, sharing that there's still one more class to hit before this shindig ends at 4pm, and furiously begin filling out forms. Instruct #1 and his good buddy to dump supplies and tell hubby to take #2 to meet teacher.

3:45 See #2 looking around room tentatively, then see him smile at new teacher.

3:48 Apologize to teacher for bolting, hand over forms, and dash to next location, dragging four kids along.

3:48 Arrive across the hall at #3's class. Fill in first available form, then second form, then volunteer form (all located in different places). Meet teacher, watch #3 dance around then run in circles in his new classroom (that's always a positive sign). Meet Instructional Assistant who speaks Spanish to #3, which mortifies him completely until she asks him in English if he speaks Spanish. See smile creep back over #3's face.

3:55 Meet teacher and finish filling out forms. Announcement comes over PA - time to go. Volunteer to come in on first day and help.

4:00 Make way to front door of school, but stop to ask about bus situation in front office.

4:10 Visit with friends while #3 and hubby hit the head.

4:25 Everyone piles in car and waits for Mom who is still visiting.

4:35 Head to grocery store for donuts and snacks for sleep over. Donuts always make scary open house / first day of school jitters fade quickly.