We just had the kids' Parent/Teacher Conferences. Shane is doing exceptionally well, most of his tested skills are above average. Madison, however, is on the lower end of the scale, and the teacher said a big part of it is from not paying attention. She would rather talk to her friends than listen to the lesson, and has gotten yellow cards (they pull colored cards for discipline in this school district) pretty frequently, for talking in class. How do I help her pay attention, and learn? She's always been a free-spirit, and I have trouble with her listening at home as well. I know she's a smart kid, and can do better, I just need to know how to encourage her! TIA!!!

By Tink on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 03:27 pm:

Crys, I'm hoping that a bump up will have some of the former teachers here chiming in with some advice. I don't have much in the way of help. Contracts have worked well for all of my kids. Each day that she doesn't have to pull a card gets a star on her chart and when she has 5 stars (or whatever you deem appropriate) she earns a trip for ice cream, time at the park, a dvd rental. If you send her chart to school, the teacher might tape it to her table so that she can just point to it as a reminder for Mads to stay on task. Most teachers are willing to do something that simple if it will help, especially if the parent is involved. HTH!

By Bemerry84 on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 06:29 pm:

Chrystal when you get this figured out I think a lot of us would like to know the answer. Some kids have a really hard time with this. My 9 yr old ds has to be prodded constantly and I've been told by some friends that they had to do this for 13 years until their son graduated. In fact I'm sitting here at the computer while he's at the kitchen table doing a book report it will probably take most of the night because he keeps getting off track but in the end WILL get a good grade on it. Madison is only in kindy and might just be having fun adjusting to lots of friends, give it some time.