I have a student that will be leaving the country for vacation for 5 weeks. Yes, I said 5 weeks! I'm not sure what to have him do when he's gone, in regards to keeping up with his school work. He already has some difficulties due to language issues. Any ideas? This is kindergarten.
Send home some reading, a journal to be done daily, and the math book as far as you will go while he is gone. Also explain that there is no way you can give all the work that will be missed. The student needs to be in school for a lot in Kindergarten. Good luck! Oh. Maybe record the weather in some way.
Does the office know? In my district they would have to be withdrawn and then re-enrolled when they returned (they are also not guaranteed to be put in the same class, I don't think; however, barring other factors coming into play they probably would be).
At my school, if a student is out for more than 10 consecutive days, they are automatically withdrawn. We are not allowed to give them any make-up work once this occurs. I have a kiddo (also K) that was going to be traveling the last 6 weeks of this year, but the parents have changed their plans due to the fact she would be withdrawn and would not be promoted. Will your student still be promoted?
I believe the policy is 20 days before being dropped and needing to enroll. Although my principal doesn't like it, we can't really stop them. I am considering retention, because of this. I am meeting with the dad next week, so we'll see how that goes.
At my school, the student would have to be withdrawn too as PPs said.
5 weeks is too long-- almost an entire quarter (marking period). If I were you, I would check into him being withdrawn & re-enrolling when he returns. I know you can't stop parents from taking vacation.
I've often had children leave for extended vacations from my K class--4 weeks, 7 weeks, 9 weeks, I think the longest was 16 weeks. The parents always ask me to provide the work that the child will be missing. I explain that since much of the work is based on classroom discussion, there is no way I can provide work for their child. The only thing I ask them to do is send me a postcard or two. If they press me, I tell them to go to the dollar store and buy a workbook. There is nothing you can do to help the child if the child isn't at school.
Rant: It astounds me that parents think it's A) a good idea to take their child out of school for a long time and B) that we can provide "worksheets" that will take the place of teaching. What do they think we do every day? And who do they think is going to take the time to mark the 5 weeks of worksheets that were probably done on the plane on the way back by the parent? And are they going to sit with the child to do the corrections? Oh, wait, there won't BE any corrections because chances are the parent did the work for the child...not that I'm a cynic or anything.
Over the years, I've had a number of students travel for an extended period of time. They have been visiting extended family in other parts of the world, and often travel based on the season in their destination country (i.e. not tropical storm time, etc). They don't have to be withdrawn from school but their absence is recorded differently (I'm not sure how). In any case, I think there is very little you can do to keep him up to speed. Our kindergarten program is play-based so if you are missing school, you are missing learning. Will you be able to retain him? We don't retain anybody for any reason around here.
Last edited by FancyFish; 01-22-2015 at 07:39 AM..
Although I'll be honest. If I had the means to take my kids to another country for 5 weeks I'd do it!
I have a standard travel journal I give my kinders (draw a map, write about your favorite things, etc.). I also give the standard "read 20 min a day". I would tell them what unit you are doing in math and that they need to cover the material with him. Other than that I don't know!
This is common as I teach at International Schools and kids go back to their homeland often. I never have had any problems other than the student English ability has decreased some.
1.) I tell them to read
2.) Many families have tablets or smartphones so I make a list of apps (like Starfall) to use
3.) I tell the family what I have planned while they are away (e.g: adding, shapes...etc)
4.) If they have access to Skype the class Skypes them and asks questons in English to the student. Barring a huge time zone difference
5.) Have the student make a mini scrapbook while they are away
6.) Send postcards or letters to the class.
I never give worksheets (that get lost on the plane ) or anything I need to grade.
Since kindergarten isn't actually mandatory in my state, I don't think there would be any consequences. I would tell them to have the child read, give them a list of topics we will likely be covering in math, and be ready to do a grand show-and-tell for the class on where he went.
Thank you everyone for the great ideas. I have decided to make a journal for him and he is going to put together a slide show of photos. We're hoping he can add voice recording to tell about his photos. Other than that, I will give the parents a list of skills covered, but I'm not going to send other work.
He will be visiting another country to see family and celebrate the New Year. I hope it's a good experience for him and that he'll be able to catch up when he returns.
Just had a student return after being absent for 53 days! She took nothing with her. Didn't even tell me she was leaving. They spent a month in London and the rest of the time in Pakistan. She did nothing academic while she was gone.
The day she left, I was not in school, her mother showed a plane ticket with the return date. The great city of New York says that as long as you produce a return ticket, you get to come back. I teach fourth grade. Her test scores rest on my back, but that is never in the news!
Sorry for the rant, just aggravated by the entire thing!
I once had a student leave the country with her mom for 3 weeks due to a "family emergency". (First grade)
I gave her a blank spiral journal and told her to write in it every day about what she did. She went to the beach (a lot), went on a picnic, went to a carnival, went shopping, went swimming, went to a birthday party, and stayed at her mom's boyfriend's house. Yeah, right.
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01-21-2015, 06:24 PM
) or anything I need to grade.
