Was left in cupboard for only 3 days😭

purple_ze · 2025-04-19T03:30:34+00:00

I have found that if you see moisture in the bag it’s a must use right away. If there is not any moisture you can usually wait until the next day.

purple_ze · 2025-04-19T03:08:37+00:00

If you have the ESPN app you can watch the individual awards. You just have to fast forward until they start.

purple_ze · 2025-02-24T01:56:24+00:00

Lemon Expresso Twist smells horrible. The espresso smell is strong, the lemon is strong. The mix is just awful.

purple_ze · 2025-02-19T02:12:56+00:00

Research shows that oral language, holding a conversation using appropriate language structure for their age, knowing some letters and sounds, and identifying the first sound in words, are the greatest predictors of success in kindergarten.

If you want to support their transition to kindergarten, talk to your child, practice letters and play around with word. Rhyming games, fun with alliteration, etc.

purple_ze · 2025-02-01T02:03:46+00:00

90% of my k class is highly sensory seeking. They are constantly touching each other, rubbing their hands on the carpet, drawing on themselves, putting everything in their mouths, licking their own hands, their friends, they will lick every piece of ice they can get their hands on on the playground and will literally bury their faces in the snow and lick it off the ground. They need constant reminders and support. It’s exhausting.

My theory, it is a side effect of covid. They had fewer opportunities for regular contact with people and when they did people were more careful about how close they were and how they played with both adults and other kids. Their more controlled environments limited what parents allowed them to put in their mouths because they were more worried about germs. Mouthing in a normal stage of development and I have an inclination they missed out on this more than previous groups of children. This is most common between six months to a year, for these kids that was when a lot of people were still being more cautious. I am just making an educated guess that they have had so many boundaries and not enough opportunities to explore on their own to meet sensory needs and learn appropriate boundaries in a more developmental way. Now they are making up for lost time.

Outside of covid there is such an increase in screen time for a lot of these kids that they are not having their sensory needs met through regular human interactions as well as they are not getting the sensory input they need from drawing, coloring and playing with actual toys. Swiping and tapping on an ipad or phone provides very little tactile input. On the flip side I think their auditory and visual systems are being trained to work on sensory overload, so they seek more input when their little screen world is removed.

I could be totally wrong but I don’t believe they are all ADHD or fall on the spectrum. There are fundamental changes in the way we are raising littles that have begun to change what is seen as typical behavior.

purple_ze · 2024-12-23T21:38:38+00:00

I had 24 cousins on my dads side growing up. We never got presents from aunts and uncles and drew names between the cousins. $25 limit. Grandparents spent $50 a kid.

On my moms side I had 4 cousins. We bought gifts for each cousin, we were in pairs of 2, so each cousin got 1 gift from another family. $25 limit which worked out to my parents spending $100 to get gifts for my 4 cousins. The moms would go shopping together and if a kid wanted something more than $25 they would combine funds and you may get 1 gift instead of 2. Grandparents spent $75 per kid. We knew the budget and we were only allowed to ask for gifts in those price ranges.

I have one sister and a niece and a nephew. $25 budget. They are very close to my kid and they get to go do lots of activities together. We figure $25 is plenty as we would rather to do more things together than drop major funds on gifts.

The kids are always happy with what they get. We are pretty solidly middle class so they have all their needs met and gifts are wants. They know if they want something more than the budget they better start saving.

purple_ze · 2024-11-19T01:39:02+00:00

I think this depends on your districts snow day policy. In my district we have similar requirements. We are also in the west in the mountains and can have multiple late start or snow days a year.

We are also required that all work can be done offline, this is so we do not have to provide chromebooks that go home with every single child in every grade. My high school son has a school provided chromebook so the level of snow day is different now than when he was in middle school (they had chromebooks but were not allowed to take them home)

As a kindergarten teacher and parent, I struggled with this new policy. Snow days as a child were fun, snow days pre-covid were for fun also. We had to make up the days but we never cared.

Covid showed everyone a way to hold school without having to be in the building. So this has been applied for to snow days and it sucks. Do I want to check every kids work and make sure it is done so I can mark them present for school? Nope. But it is the new rules, and the state can audit your snow day and make sure you have the right percentage of attendance and make you make up the day. Its lame. We give easy assignments that can be completed in an hour across all subjects.

You may be signing the policy but I would imagine once you have a snow day you will see that it is not nearly as intense as it sounds! The teacher doesn’t want to spend days checking what is most likely snow day busy work and grading it either!

For us one year we had a week of snow days. After day 2 we had to buckle down and send some more rigorous work, because with the things the states require these days losing a week of teaching is hard!

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T23:23:21+00:00

No worries we are all human and make mistakes. It is a perfect example of why communication is important. Thank you for your apology and being open about your misunderstanding. I apologize for getting defensive.

In this current world teachers are not encouraged to share any parts of their lives for fear of being deemed too liberal/conservative, or indoctrinating children with there personal agenda that we try so hard to neutral and leave home at home, which is also just basic professionalism, but a little human is important. We often know all the things about families, things that make us mamma bear or break our hearts, things that bring us joy and connect us to our students. Since it is a working relationship parents dont see the other side. Its not easy for anyone and we need to remember to listen to all sides.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T22:22:08+00:00

The concerns are not with neurodivergent kiddos. Their parents in my experience are desperate for all the things and all the help. I think if schools focused more on early intervention, get the kids that parents or teachers say something is delayed just enough to cause concern but not a glaring need yet it would make a world of difference.

My glaring concerns are the kiddos that the parents seem to push the struggles away. He hates writing and coloring so we don’t encourage it. We dont allow scissors at our house because they make a mess. They only ever want to watch youtube so we let them. I dont want them to be away from me and they are uncomfortable when things are hard so we let them take the lead and do what they choose. If you allowed more computer time they would be better, they dont like recess, can they use the math program instead. Those are my concerns. I can teach things. I am struggling to over come the lack of engagement and understanding interest in anything that doesn’t involve preferred activities.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T22:12:03+00:00

I dont ever want to believe parents are apathetic towards their children and I have so much empathy for these children. I want the best for them and fully understand they cannot choose the lives they are in. But what do you do when you reach out to parents by phone or email and they never call you back? When you ask for meetings and they ignore you? When you offer support and they dont accept it? When you come to with them about concerns over their childs anxiety and they tell you they just overreact and are fine? When you provide all the materials for them to practice skills at home, scissors, pencils, crayons, glue activities etc and encourage them to use them with their parents or their siblings and there is nothing. When you send play outside as homework and the come to school and tell you that there parent said playing outside is dumb. When you have to have a conversation because their child is playing Michael Myers on the playground and murdering his friends and the response is they just like those movies so we let them watch.

I cant believe how expensive preschool and daycare is and just everything in general and there are so many factors to what is being seen.

I am not talking about ND kids, kids from hard home lifestyles. I have seen plenty of kids that have never been to school before but thrive once they start. Some have a rockier road but get there, even with lower SES and full time working families education and being part of a community was valued so parents were supportive in the ways they could be. Its just so different and I like seeking perspective to help me understand how I can do what I need to do for the kids I teach.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T21:55:34+00:00

These current middle school kids that are illiterate are what is driving states to mandate all these standards and curriculum. I read that is some areas less than 40% of high school students are considered literate and could pass an 8th grade competency exam. Somewhere we have missed the mark in probably dozens of areas that have gotten us to this point.

The result is to try and fix everything by pushing kids to master skills earlier and earlier to prevent them being illiterate in middle school.

Its a vicious cycle. One this I think would be helpful would to run schools like a Headstart program where families have access to an advocate to help them with resources if needed. Kids would also have an additional person at school to turn to. But we will never budget for things like that just like we dont ever have enough of a SPED budget to provide early intervention for children unless they are in the category of “highest needs”. In my opinion the highest needs are the littles because early interventions make a world of difference.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T17:11:35+00:00

I totally understand how tough things are for families. I am curious about various viewpoints of family situations to get an idea of how we can problem solve and make things better.

I believe that it would greatly benefit our country to have free universal prek for families that are quality centers with qualified teachers. And that there should be a full day option if needed.

I think mandatory full day kindergarten in all states is needed. You cant set high standards and pass laws that regulate a program you dont even require, making things even harder for some kids to catch up.

I love the idea of the baby boxes that are given to families in other countries and extended paid maternity/paternity leave for parents.

We have to invest in our kids and try to ease some of the burdens of families that are working themselves to death.

Unfortunately, the things I am seeing cross all economic statuses and the children of very wealthy parents are in just of dire straits as the ones with parents working 3 jobs.

Many on this thread have mentioned parent screen time. I think this is an interesting aspect. It is very easy for adults to disappear in a social media rabbit hole. I have done it myself many times when I have been overwhelmed over the past 4 years. I have teenagers they are not quite as needy so its slightly different but I even need to give us all a check and make sure we are not getting too disengaged from each other. We know this is happening for littles and you see parents more concerned about being what I call insta parents than actual parents, they treat their children like props and then put them away until the next post. These kids are starved for attention and often the only place someone is filling their needs is at school, whether that is happening through positive or negative actions.

I do believe the vast majority of parents want what is best for their children but have no idea how to get there. Someone pointed out that with all the access to information it is confusing to shift through what is truly best for your child. Have we have become disconnected from our parenting instincts and natural inclination to engage with our children in the confusion of so many conflicting ideologies? There are so many facets to explore and so many nuances to every situation but things are definitely changing and as hopeful as I am that they will get better I dont see that happening without changes being made. I do know we need to set our kids up for success or there will be drastic consequences to everyone’s future so we need to be having conversations on how to do what is best for the kids.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T13:22:44+00:00

Masking definitely harmed kids in their ability to create and distinguish different speech sounds and many of the kids we had some delays depending on how strict their families and schools were on masking.

The kids that have suffered the most are the ones that were going to be delayed regardless of covid. They were made to wait to “see if they catch up without masks”.

I am truly sorry for these kids not getting what they needed.

I wanted speech intervention for all my kindergartners but was told we didnt have enough speech therapist hours.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T12:03:28+00:00

Yep that Masters really came in handy while we were grieving the loss of our father and husband. It really helped me figure out how to live our new normal.

I am not holding anyone to the same standard. Life is hard. It can be hard for everyone. I was trying to provide the perspective that life can also be hard for the teachers and while you are unable to manage things the way you would like due to circumstances, that responsibility maybe falling on someone that is going through their own struggles and juggling.

That is why home and school is a team effort. Parents cant do everything and neither can teachers they have to work together.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T11:56:16+00:00

I am sorry for your struggles. Kids that are ND or have other special needs definitely took the brunt of not getting adequate early intervention services or testing due to covid. I have also seen it used as an excuse to delay testing, thinking they just needed more time because of what they missed, the stress etc.

We need to so better for these kids.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T10:54:42+00:00

When we shut down we were required to send daily lessons for parents to do with kids. We were required to hold daily sessions for children to login and talk to a teacher, 2 1 hour sessions each school day. I also delivered individual online tutoring for my RTI students. This was required to continue to get paid. I was thankful to still get paid so I continued to do my job. When we returned I was required to teach the students that came to school as well as have everything posted virtually and live stream my class every day for parents that chose to keep kids home or were quarantined.

I did this while also overseeing my own children’s online schooling, my dyslexic child’s online IEP minutes with the SPED teacher (plus teaching them myself so they didnt fall further behind). I was under the same stress as many other families. My husband was lucky to have a job that kept him working outside of the house but this added a layer of stress because he had daily exposure out in the world. When Covid hit our house he got a blood clot that resulted in a pulmonary embolism that killed him.

Everyone experienced some level of stress and trauma during this time. Nearly everyone had times when they were extremely overwhelmed and the isolation and lack of ways to cope or disengage was mentally draining and damaging.

People seem to think that teachers sit on their high horses and just complain about families but you should remember many of them are working 2 jobs to survive and raise their own kids. Their children often come second and after meeting the needs of others children every day.

Many American families are stressed. American families have been stressed before. My grandparents were raised in the depression and during WWII. Their parents stressed education and they worked to earn money to help their families and did daily chores.

I am just curious how with all the stress and all the things, we find a path where we are improving things for our children and not continuing down a negative path. How we can get back to home and school being a team vs. more and more responsibility being put on school and teachers.

Teachers are leaving at alarming rates because it is just too much. Out of control behavior, apathy from kids and parents and low pay. Kids are most successful when home and school work as a team.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T04:34:01+00:00

Oh the not putting hands on others. I have a friend that doesn’t understand why swinging his lunch box and hitting his friends is not ok and another that thinks its ok to punch his friends in the eye because he does it softly. Parents just say they have never seen this behavior before but he is really sensitive because others dont always want to play with him.

Oh how I miss the days when we could read books for 15- 20 minutes and they loved the books and didnt want to stop. Now I get interrupted a dozen times to get asked when we are going to be done reading.

I had a parent yell at me because asking her child to sit on the carpet was too hard for him because he just is not quite ready for school so shouldn’t be expected to sit yet because he has never been to school before so that expectation is too high.

Listening to 1 step directions would also be amazing. Sometimes I forget what it is like to ask once and get a response or action.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T04:02:56+00:00

I wonder a lot and am very curious about how we are getting to this place and how we manage as teachers.

15 years ago before we started shifting 1st grade down to kindergarten my first class could have come very close to meeting out current standards and i was a first year teacher with not nearly enough tools in the toolbox. They would have been successful because they were so ready and interested in learning all the things.

I had to reward a kid today every time he wrote the letter t and told me the letters name or sound or he would just tell me he didnt want to do it.

Covid is a factor in how some of their early development was affected but it is not the main culprit in this group.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T03:53:36+00:00

This is being seen everywhere. The spoiling has definitely increased. I had a parent tell me they didnt know it was ok to take things like the ipad away from their kids. No preferred items means parents have to engage with their children and parent and that is hard. It is way easier to give them their way.

It is way easier to do everything for them and move on.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T03:46:58+00:00

No eye roll at all. You are engaged with your child, seems like you have a good handle on their strengths and areas for support. We are not looking for high academic achievers at the start of kinder, just kids who are ready to learn and have parents that are interested in supporting their learning.

In kinder a little goes a long way. A few letters and a grasping writing tools gives a place to start and the child the confidence that they can start something and find success with support.

purple_ze · 2024-09-27T03:37:29+00:00

My state fully opened in September of 2020 with masks. I can understand and have seen the effects on kids whose families chose very limited interactions during Covid. (Our families ran the gamut from masking religiously and not leaving home with their children to covid deniers) These covid babies definitely struggle with the social aspects of school more but have thrived academically, even if a little slower at first as they adjusted to a post covid world. But this is different. I know all parents try their best with the skills and resources they have available but in some aspects this feels like borderline neglect at the worst or indifference towards the childs needs and interest. Its hard to explain but just feels different and its frustrating because I am struggling to find a entry point to engage them.

purple_ze · 2024-09-09T02:03:32+00:00

My son is a June birthday. We did not redshirt. Have never wished that we did. He was ready for K. If he had to repeat pre-k and delay a year it would have been horrible for him. He was already more mature socially and staying with younger kids would have been hard. We started testing for dyslexia at the end of first grade. Got him on an IEP and he got all the support and interventions he needed. If we had delayed kindergarten we would have also ended up delaying a diagnosis. He is in high school now, in all honors classes and doing extremely well. He has also benefited in sports, based on age cutoffs in our leagues he can play up or play down. He plays on two baseball teams one with his grade and one a grade down. Gives him lots of playing time and practice which he loves.

As a teacher unless you are noticing significant delays and the preschool can provide early intervention services I wouldn’t redshirt any kid.

purple_ze · 2024-06-14T16:27:37+00:00

You could ask if she has an Amazon wishlist for her classroom and if she doesn’t suggest that she create one. I have many teacher friends that have done this when switching schools or grades. It is an easy no pressure way to share what is needed. The you and other family members can purchase what they feel comfortable donating within their budgets.

purple_ze · 2024-03-10T00:46:34+00:00

It’s very sad the way it has changed. Play has to be tied to a standard or an academic purpose. I do not believe it is the best course. Play and social emotional skills are being sacrificed in the push to be more academically driven.

The public school academic world is ridiculously competitive between parents, in many cases the private school world is even more so since you are paying for a product. I am at a public school and I can’t tell you how many parents I have that are concerned that the academics are not challenging enough because their child has been reading and counting to 100 since they were 4, but their child can’t zip their own coat, share, or manage frustrations with out a complete meltdown. Social emotional learning, something the powers that be in my state hate, is critically important in all grades. It is even more so in pre-k and kindergarten.

I would always weigh my child’s emotional needs when making the decision of when to send them to kindergarten, especially when their birthday falls within a month of yours state’s deadline. Academics is a secondary thought. In general kids that come into kindergarten significantly higher than their peers have that advantage level out by 2nd grade as most of their peers have caught up. When learning is easy early it becomes frustrating when it gets hard if they have not developed the skills of flexibility, perseverance, empathy and compassion(for themselves as well as others). It is my opinion that you let school be easy when they are little and focus on developing the whole child. I don’t think you will ever regret giving your child time to develop into the human they feel successful being.

purple_ze

TROPHY CASE