My Little Math Whiz

Only 6 kids out of 32 got a 100% on their Math test today.  Guess who was one of the 6? :) He's one of those kids that skips over all the explanation and problem solving and just gets the answer.  Before I can finish reading a question he's already figured it out in his head.  If there's ever a "show your work" requirement, we're in trouble. :)  That's all- just wanted to brag a little.  (Oh, and he got a 100% on his spelling test, too.)  OK, now I'm done.  

Family Wii Brought to you by Bryce

Tonight Bryce was playing Wii by himself as he usually does when he turned around and said, "Dad, it's your turn."  No one had really been paying attention to him, but he had set up a game of Frisbee with four players.  Each one of us had our Mii character loaded and ready to go!  He came into the room where I was blogging and said, "Mom, we need to play four players.  You and Henry come here."  For someone who is always wrapped up in himself and could happily play Wii for hours if you let him, this was a pretty big deal! We had a great game of Frisbee and then another game of Bowling with all four of us, while Charlie watched happily from the chair.  It was a fun way to end the evening right before bedtime.  Thanks for including us, Bryce! 

"I think we have a problem!"

Oops! I posted this on my Pinterest blog on accident :) Moved to the appropriate location now!

A few days ago Bryce's aide decided to move his desk because where it was situated he was able to see the class computers and was getting nothing done while other kids were using them.

Today she told me that every day since then, he says,

"I think we have a problem..."

To which she replies "What's the problem, Bryce?".

"You forgot to move my desk back!!!"

He was REALLY enjoying his view :) I'm not sure how long this will go on, but he does love the computer, so...

Struggling Along

Bryce has been having a much harder time with second grade than he did with first.  The state standards and curriculum changed a few years ago, and now everything is so WORDY.  The math pages are just sentences full of facts and word problems.  They way they try to teach the kids to solve some things is so complicated.  I know for a fact that the majority of the class is struggling to grasp the concepts, but that doesn't really help much.  Bryce has a great grasp of the concepts, and if you lay out the problem for him, he can do it in a snap.  And the language and spelling work is a breeze for him.  His aide says that he's the only one in the class that just sits down and gets his work done.  

But the big area we are struggling with is reading comprehension.  Bryce has been reading since before Kindergarten.  But it's just words to him still.  He hasn't learned to focus on what he's saying and understand what's being read.  You can ask him a question about the sentence he just read and he'll look at you blankly.  Or, he will try to look back in the paragraph and find the answer.  That is better than nothing, but the more advanced the subject gets, the more abstract it is. Anything that requires inference goes straight over his head.  I really don't know what we are going to do with him.  He may need to go back into a special ed class that will be designed for teaching and not so focused on meeting state standards.  He does get accommodations for testing, but he's getting lost in the shuffle, I'm afraid.  The only thing saving him is his full time aide.  But I don't know how long we get to keep her around.  Technically she's only supposed to be for ABA support at the school.  We have just been lucky to use her all day :) 

For now, the plan is to just see where second grade goes, and how well he does this year.  Next year, who knows?  I just don't want him to hate school.  He's so bright, and has such potential! And he's always liked school a lot.  On a brighter note, we qualified for free school lunches this year, so he's been able to "buy" lunch every day.  It is the absolute highlight of his day.  He loves to punch in his number, and go through and pick out what he wants to eat.  And it's good, healthy fresh food, too.  Every day he comes home and tells me what he picked out for lunch.  It's the little things, right? :)

Can't believe this little cutie is in 2nd grade now!!!