The pencil situation

After a short week, my big first-grader managed to string two green days together before he raised his hand with a pencil in it and the pencil went flying and he laughed, then his table mates laughed, and the teacher moved his pin to yellow.

But hey, I think two green days is cause for celebration.

A green day

Jordan's school uses a traffic light chart for kids' behavior. They have pins or clips with their names on them and everybody starts the day on the green light.

The teacher issues warnings and it's here that I'm a little unclear as to how many warnings and for what each kid gets before the clip is moved. Jordan always gets the requisite number, whatever it is, and his clip is moved.

The first few days, he stayed on green, but now every day is at least a yellow, a few are red, but at least he hasn't landed on black yet.

I was bemoaning his lack of self-control yesterday, knowing that if it's hereditary, that it came from me, and found myself praying that Jordan could have a green day.

Then I thought of the group Green Day and wondered if that's where they got their name. I can't picture them going through many days in grade school without having their clip moved. Nothing personal, mind you, just saying.

Another soccer season off with a bang

I was unable to attend my son's first soccer game with his new team, but was happy to get a call from his mommy saying that he'd scored the first point of the game, taking the ball the length of the field. And it's a big field for little kids!

He scored the second point on a penalty kick after somebody tripped him. Whammed it in, according to reports.

The other team scored their only point in the third quarter, when Jordan had to set out to let others play.

Then he scored another point in the last quarter, as well as an assist on the fourth point the team scored.

I can't wait to watch them play tomorrow and the rest of the season.

The class clown

Jordan can't help doing the wrong things sometimes.

Yesterday, he got put on the red light of his class's traffic light. No recess Monday. It'll be at least the second time he's had his recess taken away.

I blame his super-outgoing personality, along with being a child. It's not really that big a deal, but I think it's time that he took control of some of his fidgeting when he's away. Since he can do it when he's with me, I know he can do it when he's not.

Shock and dismay accompanied the discovery that his teacher had phoned Mom and Dad to discuss his unwillingness to do things like not rock his chair back and not put his eraser and pencil in his mouth. Several times he's lost his balance in the chair, causing it to fall. He thinks it's funny. It gets him attention.

I see a future where he's the smart kid in class who's a cut-up, a little disruptive but smart enough not to get caught most of the time. I knew a few of those in high school. They were fun. I might have been one. Might have. Okay, I was. Jordan adds super athlete to the mix. I was also a super athlete, but I was into music and growing my hair long at the time, so I wasn't allowed to represent the school in sports.

So it's punishment and correction time for my little boy. I hate it, but he needs to know that I am concerned. Many times when he's goofing off, he misses something important. And while some of his antics are meant to impress his friends and make friends, he needs to learn better methods of friend-making.

Anyone got any advice on teaching such self-awareness issues?

First week of school

The Bug, as I sometimes call him, made it through his first week of school with flying colors. He's having a grand time, so far, and looking forward to it so much that he'll likely get plenty tired of it soon enough. I hope new activities continue to keep his mind alive and interested.

His teacher seems to be disposed to keeping the children invested in things to do. With a "reading loft," four computers, and a room with so much on the walls you can't see it and so many book shelves full of books an adult can barely turn around, the classroom is a child's paradise of learning.

The school uses technology much more than others I've encountered. Would be nice if the technology worked all the time. (Complain, complain, eh? Sorry about that.) One minor glitch is in the lunch room payments area. Students are given numeric codes to punch in to pay for their meals (if they choose to pay that way), but the school is having a problem getting new student information to be recognized by the meal-paying computers.

Balance that with everything else, and it's not so bad. I've got to pay a visit their anyway to turn in some other paperwork. Parents are allowed to join in the classroom now and then, as well as to visit the lunchroom. I plan to do both as soon as possible.

Jordan also had his first session of soccer last week, with Assistant Coach Daddy. He said I did awesome, so that's a feather in my cap. I got a pretty good workout from it, as well, so that's just an added benefit. I should do it every day.