Hi! I bet you felt like you were running in circles with this. What is fair is fair. You can't help it if your sons class followed the instructions. Ask the other teachers to give you an estimated # of minutes read. Remember, you are not going to make everyone happy. I found that out. You are doing a great job! Smile
Thanks everyone. I did ask a couple of the teachers and what they suggested was to have an ice cream party for the class of each grade that read the most and for the overall winner have a pizza party. I guess my question is, do we count all of the minutes read and ask the teachers who haven't done it that way to try and give us a fair estimate on how much reading their class has done. Or do we scratch the thousands of minutes read and just use the minutes at home. My big problem is that one of the classes with the most minutes read is my sons and I don't want people thinking I'm playing favorites.
Boy I hate it when I truly believe that what I'm saying is truly simple and some of the teachers don't understand...and don't ask for clarification either! I think if you tell them just what you have told us and let them come up with some solutions it would solve most of the problem. Just a quick thought...our school has done similar reading things where we wanted the kids to read at home and it was real upsetting for instance in one first grade class we had only five kids whose parents read to them for whatever reason (sad isn't it!!) so the teacher started using their classroom reading time in the count even though they didn't "win" some parents did hear about what was going on and were not happy that this class was given "special" treatment. Either way you look at it the situation was not fair...I personally don't care for the at home stuff because many parents won't participate and it causes hurt feelings...sorry rambling again...most definetly let the teachers help you figure out the solution hopefully they still have the count of the hours logged in at home and the parent group can do their reward for those hours and the teachers can reward the kids for the school hours:)
I have been there. Misunderstood by the teachers. I agree with JHB ask the teachers for there input or remind them of the directions that were in your letter. If they don't come up with anything to help resolve the misunderstanding then I would reward them all because you have accomplished your goal of getting them all to reading.
Could you check with the teachers for ideas? They might be able to come up with some creative ideas. Or, could you back down on the pizza party and just promote a "prize" or "reward". When the time comes, let every class be a winner. You'd have to think of what you could afford. Maybe you could do a hot chocolate party or get volunteers to back cupcakes or cookies. Or order some flashy pencils. Perhaps the teachers might be able to pitch in with something like "15 extra minutes of recess" or a special activity.
Ok, I need some advice from all of you, but not sure where to begin. First off, we are a PTA in an Elementary school of about 550 Pre-K - 5th grade. There are only about 7 active PTA members (all parents) and really only myself (president) and the secretary that seem to do 99.9% of all the work.
Anyway, on March 5th we started our "People As Reading Partner" program to run for 2 wks. We've asked each child to read for at least 15 minutes a night with someone. We are giving the class that reads the most a pizza party and we have asked the teachers to keep track of any time spent reading in class. The problem is that maybe we weren't clear enough in our letter to the teachers, but it seems that all 50 teachers are doing their own thing keeping track of minutes read. Some are only keeping track of the time they read to their students, others are keeping track of everything - whether their reading alone or with someone. I think the problem is that I know what I'm saying and so doesn't the secretary but we're assuming that everyone else knows what we mean. I know, don't assume...it's too late. To make a long story a little shorter. We've started getting some minutes from teachers and some have 4,000+ minutes while others only have a couple of hundred (if that).
What do we do? I hate to not use the minutes that the kids have already spent, but that wasn't what we meant. It isn't the childrens fault if we weren't clear enough or if the teachers don't really read what we give them. But, we wanted the time that they spent reading with someone, that's the whole idea of "partners".
Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. We have extended the program to run through the end of March.
