Abby's School

Abby was home sick Thursday and then the nurse sent her home again on Friday. She cried every night this weekend because she did not want to go back. Monday morning Kevin was already gone and Abby flat out refused to get ready and go to school. She was crying hysterically. So she stayed home again and Serena called the teacher. After school, Serena took all 3 girls and went to the school. The meeting went well and the teacher encouraged Abby to participate and voice her concerns so that Serena and the teacher could help her. The teacher said that Abby has been cryign a lot at school and says she misses her old school and her friends. The teacher suggested we help Abby to call her friends. She has written to them with no response so this weekend we will try calling. Abby is upset by the noise and rowdiness of the students and the teacher said that this is just how urban schools are and that she had explained to Abby that urban schools are very different than rural ones. Abby has been complaining about the school work and the teacher exaplined that is becasue this is a gifted class so the expectations of the students are higher. Kevin and Serena agreed that this is what they wanted it is just different than Abby is used to. Last year she got perfect scores on every assisgnment and seemed to use little effort. The teacher explained that this class does not have the normal worksheet assignments but wants the students to perform at a higher level. The assignments are geared to make them think harder and not get bored. She showed Serena several examples of student's work and said there is a broad range of the abilities of students and the assignments are meant to be individualized as to each students current abilities. She also explained some ways Abby could complete her weekly projects without having to write a lot. Some students had lengthy well developed paragraphs and some had a few sentences. Some had fancy covers and some no cover. Some had lots of pictures that ranged from pencil drawing to colored drawings to photographs. Abby is still very upset but at least the teacher understands and is on the same page.