School Is In

By:  Davida Grant

What a difference 10 weeks makes. Baby girl is now in PreK 4 and boy have things changed.  She is such a big girl now in every way.  She exudes confidencet.  Last year, Simone had some difficulty adjusting to the new environment. Not to mention, she struggled with expressive speech. This year, she entered the classroom like she owned it.  WHO IS THIS LITTLE GIRL!!!! I was beaming. Andddddd, over the summer, her speech improved significantly, by leaps and bounds in fact. Simone blows me away with her vocabulary and varied sentence length and structure.  This is a proud momma bear.  I can’t get enough of this little girl.  I can’t wait to see how she fares this year and to witness her continued growth.

Report Cards are in. Why was I so nervous?

By:  Davida Grant

My preschooler, Simone, got her first report card this week, or rather I should say the hubby and I got it.  I was a bundle of nerves before the parent-teacher meeting.  I really want baby girl to do well and being the overachiever, straight-A student I was, I was fearful that I would not respond well if Simone’s teacher gave her less than favorable or even mediocre scores.  I know this sounds a little crazy because she’s only three, but hear me out.  Simone had serious medical issues her first year of life which impaired her ability to verbally express any sound until she was 1-years old.  Since then, she’s been in speech therapy classes (thanks Stacey Raina, a Brookland area DC mom) and at home, we’ve put a lot of effort into developing her pre-literacy skills.  We apprised her teachers of her issues and Simone has been consistently working with a school speech therapist.  Her communication skills have improved dramatically.  While I would expect Simone’s report card to take into account her communication issues, those issues should not be used against her.  I’m not having that, PERIOD. Simone, from a cognitive perspective, is on track (she’s had multiple tests in this area) so I fully expect the majority of her scores to reflect that she is on target.

The hairs on my arms (nope, I don’t wax those) were literally standing at attention when I sat down for the meeting.  I braced myself as her teachers (she has two) slid over the white envelope containing her report card.  You could hear a pin drop.  WHY WEREN’T THEY TALKING!  As I opened it, the sound of my heartbeat was pounding in my ears.  I know this sounds overly dramatic, but it’s the truth.  My hubby stared at me, not knowing which Vida Marie he’d see if I didn’t like those scores.  I know he was silently praying, Lord please let Simone’s scores be good AND Lord, please don’t let my wife embarrass me.  I marvel at how that man deals with me, but I digress.  I quickly glanced at the report card, focusing on her scores.  I took a deep breath, and the meeting began.

Her scores were a mixed bag.  She scored “on target” ( a 3 out of 5 rating) in most areas (YAY), but received a “1” and a “2” in a few.  As her teachers explained the “low” scores, I did my best to remain calm and focused.  After all, the purpose of the meeting was to identify any areas of concern and that’s valuable.  So, how did I do?  Well, surprisingly I took it in stride.  My hubby was so impressed with me!!!!  He was positive I was going to grill them. Thinking back on it, there was something about her primary teacher’s demeanor.  It was soothing.  Somehow, she made me feel like everything was okay.  I say hats off to her because I know I can be a piece of work, especially when it comes to my babies.  I heard and more importantly I received her message.  Simone is generally on track and only needs a little more help in a couple areas.  We agreed that there were additional steps the hubby and I could take at home to reinforce the classroom learning, and they agreed to apprise us on a fairly routine basis regarding her progress.  That’s a win-win for everybody. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

How was your child’s first report card?  Feel free to brag.  I love celebrating excellence.

My First PTA: A Hot Mess

By:  Davida Grant

Last night I attended my first PTA. The elementary school, a public charter bilingual school, is just getting the PTA off the ground. I expected it to be a little rough, but frankly it was a hot mess, both literally and figuratively. There weren’t enough seats and it was at least 90 degrees in there. Grant (my 4-month-old) was with me and he was giving me the side eye as his forehead started to bead with sweat. When my hair, which I wear natural (no perm) and in a straight style, started to curl at the roots, I almost jumped ship. A half curly and half bone straight look is not hawt. EVER!!!! And to make matters worse, no one really knew what to do. Parents had previously submitted potential PTA committee topics to the school principal (Yes I said Principal since there is no Parent leadership in place), but that was it. It truly was the blind leading the blind. I hate Hate HATE disorganization, but in that moment I had to make a choice. Stay or Go. I stayed, determined to see this thing through.

I’m glad I did. We eventually divided up into groups by committee topic (those submitted by the parents). I had suggested and signed up for the “Read to Succeed” committee, the overall goal being to assist parents in helping their children read at or above grade level in both English and Spanish. Don’t you just love that goal!!! And who’d they select as the team lead? You guessed it. Yours truly. I was hesitant at first, being that this was my very first PTA meeting, and I know didly squat about PTA protocol and “stuff”. But I figured I pushed out 2 kids, planned my 5-star wedding (yes I said 5-star) in 5 months and hell passed the bar the first time around. I could do this! So I decided to bite the bullet and accepted it. Lord only knows where I’ll find the time to fit this in. I return to work October 1st after a 5-month leave of absence to take care of my new bundle of joy. THEY WILL BE COMING FOR ME DAY ONE!!! I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But I’m superwoman and supermom, right? Somehow, it will all get done.

Hopefully, some of you are seasoned PTA moms. Help!!! I’d love any suggestions you might have to implement the committee’s goal. Some we’re considering are:

Providing parents a break down of the literacy standards. The objective is to make sure parents understand them. Parents can’t reinforce learning if they don’t understand the literacy standards applicable to their child’s particular grade.

Providing parents with SPECIFIC, TARGETED reading and other educational activities for their children to use during winter and summer breaks that will re-enforce the literacy standards. The objective is to take the guesswork out of it for parents.

Having a quarterly “Reading Is Fun” night at the school. The objective is to make reading fun for parents and kids alike.

Fundraising activities to obtain the money to implement the foregoing activities.  WE NEED MONEY!!!

So, that’s where we are. I’m interested in any feedback you might have on these objectives, how to raise money, how to keep parents engaged, and any other PTA-related advice you can share.