sixth grade field trip

Two Fridays ago, SJ had his 6th grade field trip to Hershey Park.  My husband also got to accompany him, since he was picked as a chaperone.  

They left at 5:45 am from SJ's elementary school.  SJ was in a group with four other boys (Sammy, Strauss, Jack and JP).  SJ's aide was also assisting chaperoning SJ's group.  

They got to Hershey Park around 10:30 am. Everyone ate their packed lunches before they started riding.  

Some of the boys didn't want to ride the coasters, so either my husband or SJ's aide waited with the non-riders.  

My husband said it was fairly crowded, so they did have to wait quite a long time in some of the lines (60-90 minutes).  

They ate lunch and snacks at the park.  SJ had chicken strips and fries and countless lemonades in his refillable cup. 

My husband said the boys (and SJ's aide and himself) had a great time at the park.  They enjoyed the rides and played games.  SJ won a prize in the bowling game, so he was thrilled about that.  

My husband thought they would have passed out on the return trip on the bus, but he said the kids were still having a blast. They returned to the elementary school around 11:30 pm.

SJ slept for a very long time the next day. Usually, he is a 8 am riser.  That morning, he slept through breakfast and woke up in time for lunch.  That is a sign of a day that was well spent!

after school speech #25

At SJ's latest speech therapy session, SJ had some difficulty.  They spent the whole session working on feeling scenarios.  She read him a situation and he needed to give her feeling words.  She wanted him to come up with two feeling words for each scenario.

There were 8 scenarios.  With the first set of words, he answered 6 of them independently, 1 with prompts and the last one he just couldn't answer.

When they moved on to the second set of words, he got very frustrated.  She said he then banged his head off the table.  She told him to calm himself down and to stop that behavior. He did calm down and they moved on to the second set.

With the second set, he didn't do as well.  He was only able to answer 3 of them without assistance, 2 with prompts and 3 she had to answer for him.  Here is an example of a scenario where he could answer name the first feeling word, but not the second one.

I have been listening to the teacher's lecture for two hours.  I feel...

1. Bored

2. Distracted

She asked me to review all of these scenarios and feeling words for his homework.

after school speech #24

Last Wednesday, SJ had his weekly speech therapy session.  His therapist said she had a student observer.  She reviewed the idioms from the week before.  She said SJ did much better with them this week.  

When they finished with the idioms, she worked on conversational skills with SJ.  She had SJ ask the student therapist questions and answer her questions.  She was able to tally how many times he was contributing to the conversation and how many times he was just talking at her.  

When he was just rambling, she would show him the visual tallies as a gentle reminder to include her in the conversation.  

She suggested he either talk about something fun to do or study skills.  Surprisingly, he chose to talk about study skills.  That was shocking to me, but in a great way.

after school tutoring #21

Last Monday, SJ had his weekly reading tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  They continued to read more chapters from Tarantula Shoes. When they completed their chapters, she had him answer comprehension questions.  

She said he was very distracted and off task while they were reading.  Due to his lack of ability to stay on task, he had much difficulty answering the questions.  

Mrs. Banks had him reread parts of the chapters to find the answers.  He wasn't too happy about that, but at some point he'll figure out that he should have been paying attention.  

They didn't work on any glyphs or anything else.  She said they should be finishing the novel soon.  I can't wait to see what book she will select next.

mother's day 2014

Last weekend was Mother's Day.  The boys usually make something for me at school.  Bob is in 7th grade, so they don't do projects like that anymore.  Since SJ is in 6th grade, he did write me a lovely poem in his Language Arts class.  This is the finished poem.

He did such a nice job.  Thanks SJ!  On Saturday, the boys and my husband presented me with some golf accessories and a great new camera.  It was too much, but I really appreciated all of it.

They also got my favorite, Chinese food from a local restaurant.  I had chicken and broccoli and it was yummy!  

On Sunday, I did a whole lot of relaxing.  I read my book, painted my nails and caught up on my Tivo'd shows.  I ended the day by watching Bob's soccer team win yet another game.  It was another great Mother's Day!

after school speech #23

Last Wednesday, SJ had his weekly speech therapy session.  He was in a good mood and didn't complain at all about the appointment.  

First, they worked on Defining Words with Multiple Meanings from Context Clues.  He had to choose the correct definition for the bold faced word in each sentence.  There were nine sentences.  He did four independently, four with prompts and one he needed further explanation.  Here is one of the sentences that he needed prompted on.

The pitcher has a crack on the side.

a. the player who throws the ball

b. a container that liquids are poured from

With her prompts, he correctly chose b.  Then, they worked on Idioms.  SJ loves idioms.  He was given a picture of an idiom.  He had to write a sentence and state the idiom's meaning. There were 7 idioms.  He needed assistance with 3 of them.  Here is one that troubled him.  

After her prompts, he was able to write the following sentence and meaning.

I'm sitting on top of the world when I get A's on my report card.

Meaning:  you're feeling really happy

She said he worked very hard and she was pleased with his efforts.

after school tutoring #20

Two Mondays ago, SJ had his weekly reading tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  They continued to read more of Tarantula Shoes.  

When they completed their chapters, she had SJ complete some comprehension questions. He had been paying attention during the session, so he easily answered the questions.

She said he read very nicely for her and was extremely cooperative.  She did tell me he had got a little frustrated at school.  Some of the kids were taking a math test to see if they would be taking Algebra I in 7th grade.  SJ got mad when he wasn't chosen to take the test.  He thought his grades were good enough to take it.

Mrs. Banks had Mr. London, SJ's math teacher, check his grades.  Mr. London explained to SJ that he needed an average of 85 to take the test.  He only had an average of 83.  SJ said, "Okay."  He then was right back to normal.  

Mr. London told Mrs. Banks he liked how different his attitude is from the beginning of the year.  I am glad he is able to handle things now in a more age appropriate manner.

medieval feast...calling all lords

SJ's sixth grade has been preparing for a Medieval Feast.  At the beginning of the nine weeks, we got a list of household items that were required.  They needed things like aluminum foil, soup can, rope, tealight candle, etc.  They took these items and used them to make props for their medieval feast.  

The students got assigned different types of people who would have been living at that time. There were serfs, knights, craftspersons, apprentices, popes, ladies, lords, jesters, a king and queen.  SJ was assigned to be a lord.  We had to go to Goodwill to find clothing that would make him look "lord like".  We got dress pants, a green dress shirt, a vest, black shoes and long black socks.  He looked so cute the day of the feast.  

The teachers had medieval reenactors put on an assembly for the sixth graders in the morning.  SJ really enjoyed the performance that they put on.  

Then, they went to the sixth grade pod for the feast.  They had the pod set up around the king and queen's table.  Here is a picture of the pod.

This is the table that SJ sat at with his lady and others.

This is his shield and sword that he crafted.  

At the feast, they had stew, sparkling juice, breads, fruits and made a dessert using pie filling and biscuits.  SJ did not like the stew, but loved the bread and dessert.  

I thought that was such an engaging way to teach the students about medieval times. Although it was educational, it was also fun.  I think that will be one of SJ's fondest memories of sixth grade.

after school speech #22

Two Mondays ago, SJ had his weekly speech therapy session.  We had gotten there a little early, because we had made a detour to get his glasses replaced.  (I didn't know one child could break so many pairs of glasses.  This had to be broken set # 5 or 6.) We stopped at Five Below and SJ selected a video game poster for his room.

During his session, they first worked on Problems to Solve.  He had to read a situation and then select the choice that made the most sense.  She said he did fairly well with this activity.  Here is one of the situations.

Jessica's class is taking a math test.  Jessica doesn't understand many of the math problems.  The student sitting next to Jessica is a math whiz.  Jessica really wants to pass the test.  What could Jessica do?

a.  Copy the answers from the math whiz.

b.  Do her best on the test, even if she fails.

c.  Talk to her teacher.  Ask for help to understand the math.

d.  Say she feels sick and needs to go home.

He chose "b", which was the correct choice. Then, they worked on Defining Words with Multiple Meanings from Context Clues.  She said he did very well with this activity.  He had to choose the correct definition for the boldfaced word in each of the nine sentences.  Here is an example of one of the sentences.  

The king is the ruler of his nation.

a.  the head of the country

b.  a twelve-inch measure

He correctly chose "a".  Finally, she worked on his conversational skills, which she reported are getting much better.

after school tutoring #19

Last Monday, SJ had his weekly reading tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  She said he worked very hard for her.  They read a few more chapters of Tarantula Shoes.

When they were done with the reading, they worked on the comprehension questions.  She said he did a nice job with the questions.

Last, they worked on a separate tarantula story. After he finished reading the 5 short paragraphs, he was able to answer the following questions.

According to local beliefs in Southern Europe, what was the cure for tarantism?

Dance to certain music

Which of the following about tarantulas is true?

Back in the 14th century, people believed that they could contract tarantism if a tarantula bit them.

Which word best describes tarantulas?

Nocturnal

When tarantulas capture prey, they secrete digestive juices onto the doomed victim to dissolve its flesh. They literally turn their food into a cup of soup!

True

How do tarantulas locate prey in the dark?

By relying on their sensitive hairs

Originally, the word "tarantula" was the name of a specific species of wolf spiders called Lycosa tarantula of Southern Europe.

True

How many species of tarantulas are there in the world?

About 850

Which of the following statements about tarantulas is NOT true?

We can find tarantulas in all continents except Asia and Antartica.

keep it coming, please

Every once in a while, a teacher will stop me at the end of the day.  This usually results in a cringe and I silently say a prayer that it isn't too bad.  Most times, I am being told that SJ had a meltdown or had unacceptable behavior.

In the last two weeks, I have been stopped to hear good news.  Yes, you heard me correctly. Good news!

First, I heard from Mr. Chip, SJ's computer teacher. He told me that SJ wasn't doing the assigned task in computer class.  He approached him expecting SJ to get angry when he told him that he needed to be doing another program.

He said that after he corrected SJ he got this response from SJ.  "Oh, okay.  I'm sorry," said SJ as he got on the correct program.  He was so pleased with SJ's response that he had to tell me.  I thanked him for telling me.

Next, I was speaking to the librarian.  She told me that out of all the students she had on the spectrum she feels that SJ has made the biggest improvement from kindergarten to sixth grade.  She added that she almost forgets that he is on the spectrum.  That was so nice to hear.

Last, SJ's music teacher, Mr. Clef, said that my son surprised him the other day.  They were preparing for their medieval celebration and SJ was willingly singing and writing love songs in his class.  (Normally, SJ complains a lot about music class!) He said he even saw SJ dancing a bit.  That was the most surprising part of the story, but a wonderful surprise.  

Since I got three awesome reports in a row, maybe I won't have to cringe the next time a teacher stops me in the hall.