My 5 year old DS is in Kindergarten and for the past few weeks he has been getting reports sent home almost everyday from school. It the same thing everyday. Since Christmas they have been doing "harder" classwork. Adding 1+2 , vocab words, etc not just tracing letters and their name anymore. The problem is that my ds keeps tearing up his class work when the teacher doesn't help him. He is never disrespectful or a behavor problem, he just says that it isn't fun and he doesn't like it. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm taken away his tv time, make him so to bed early, his loves to go to the library and to his daddys shop and I haven't let him do either, but he still does this. Has anyone else gone thru anything like this? He is only in Kindergarten and I'm so afraid that he is going to do "bad" in school through out his years. Any Ideas.. Thanks ladies.

It sounds like it's time for you to have a conference with the teacher and figure out a game plan...good luck!

I agree teacher/parent meeting is needed. The work may be too hard for him and he is frustrated. He is probably having difficulty telling teacher his needs. also he may feel bad if it appears others are getting it. My school has a basic skills class for kids who need a little extra one on one.
My friend requested her dd some help b/c her dd is telling ehr mom that she is stupid b/c everyone else is better reader and better at math. her dd is average and is upset b/c some of her close friends are more advanced than her.

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

I don't know if you have tried this yet but ... how about the teacher send home a copy of everything he tears up so he can do it for homework? That way you can work with him one-on-one and see where the problems are. The teacher isn't going to have time to get over this hump - she's got 20+ kids to deal with and not much extra time, especially if kindergarten is half-day.

My take on this is he doesn't need punishment as much as he needs help to get over a problem. We dont' know what the problem is yet - perhaps he is just having trouble SEEING the paper and needs glasses. Who knows! It will take a little patience and I have confidence that you can help him.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

Yes, I agree with talking with the teacher. I'm sure you will, but be sure to approach her with the idea that you will support her in the classroom, and you know that he needs to do the work. At this age, if a child learns that he can tear up his work, and then doesn't have to do it, he has learned quite a lesson! When things get hard, students need to know that they need to do their best.

I understand that others have mentioned that your child may have a problem doing the work. Find out if the teacher thinks this is the case, or if your son is trying to find a way not to do the hard work. You'd be surprised what kids try when they don't want to do the work!

Tearing up his work is unacceptable. Even if you find out that there is a problem, he cannot be allowed to tear up his work. He should have to do the work again - at school if possible. You also don't want him to learn that if he tears up his work at school, he can do it with Mom's undivided attention at home.

Best of luck to you. It's a good thing that you and the teacher are communicating. Be sure to continue doing that. You and his teacher should work as a team to make sure he is learning as much as he can this year. Kindergarten is a great year for you to set up your expectations for your child as a student. Keep us posted!

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He sounds very frustrated. My son used to act out and say he was stupid when he didn't understand something in class and he would just sit there in class and "perform" rather than try. His teacher used to send home the papers and we would have to work on them at home. I would do this during a time that he would otherwise be doing something he loved and would tell him, when we finished, he could use the rest of the time to play or whatever. At first he got mad at me, then he learned that it was better to get his work done. It helped that I was right there for questions. After a while, when I knew that he understood his homework, I started really encouraging him to get it done in class so that he could have all of his playtime at home. It worked!

Also, not a bad idea to have his hearing and vision checked too.

Yes, He does say that he is not smart. It hurts me so bad because he is... I was met with the teacher 2 times so far and we have decided to meet with the I &RS group which is the basic skills class. (They have to be excepted in to the class.) Our meeting in on feb 22. I hope that this will help with him getting a little extra help. He gets homework everynight and I have copied some of his papers and try to "play" school with him at home to give him practice but make it fun. Thank you all for your ideas. I have had his hearing check and no problems there because he had to have tubes in his ears but I never even thought about his eyes.... Thanks for bring this to my attention. I appreciate it. I'm going to make an appointment for him asap. YOU LADIES ARE THE BEST>