He might enjoy the PC game Pit Droids and any of the Logical Journey of the Zoombinis games.

fruit kebabs fudge italian ice pudding - rice, custard, plum cream puffs cannoli cinnamon crisps and peppermint ice cream

Ambrosia salad, chocolate,pound cake

How about: fresh pineapple ...goes with ham or as dessert jello & fruit salad a relish or desert from her heritage

Our ped. recommended a spray w/ an active ingredient containing zirconium. The actual name of the salt is Aluminium zirconium tetrachlorohydrex GLY. We found it in Arm & Hammer..no female or male odor, just an antiperspirant. Also recommended was wearing clothing and shoes of natural materials and of course changing after exercise. No re -wearing clothes without washing, as the bacteria starts breeding. Alternate shoes in daily wear so each pair can dry thoroughly before wearing again.

That's not what I said, but if that's how you want to reason and the images you like to place in other people's minds, it's your perogative. I'll exit the discussion now.

About 10% IME seem to learn to effectively work together. The rest are not interested in school, cannot read well enough to function in the classroom, have LDs that their personal aides cannot help them overcome in time to participate well, or they are cutthroat competitors and really should move on. I take it this is not an honors class where collaboration is encouraged? That is her choice. She has other options in the short term and in the long term. My one kid didn't have to do any extra credit...there was enough bonus built in that his average was over 100...so it's not as if he had to do anything extra other than learn how to get people to listen to him - which is an excellent life skill. My other kid learned that if someone steals the project, you really need to have backup plan - another good life skill. As far as public middle school being for academics.....where is the smilie for ROFL...afterschooling is where it's at until honors starts.

We're too far into as a country...way too many that have the tenure that can't do the job...and their unions prevent the district from taking any action until district population falls low enough to let people go...

My experience with two middle schoolers running an above 95 average is that the teacher knows that it won't affect the grade significantly to pair them with some salvageable students on a project, classwork or test. Generally there are a lot of bonus or extra credit opportunities which make up for the low grade, or the teacher does the hand wave and the quarter grade is not impaired. It's not stressful to the student at all, as the average is not rocked significantly: 9 100s and 1 70 on the academics, a 100 on class participation and a 100 on homeowrk still gets the kiddo a 99 average before bonuses/extra credit. In your case, since there are a lot of group projects, you need to ask what the grading scheme is and how your child's placement will be affected by the partners acheivement. Most of the group projects are not there for the 'high' student to learn academics; they are there for learning communication and other people skills that you'll find listed if you google 'middle school model'.

The purpose is to raise grades and to try to get students to work together and accomplish a goal. Long-term, it actually works out that study buddies will form and some unfocused students will learn to focus and get their work done. They learn to check each other's work too, before turning the papers in. I would worry about it only if it's going to drop her grade significantly - as in change her placement for next year. In that case, touch bases with the teacher.

Is 'guidance counselor' code for 'school pyschologist'? Turn it back over to the school...it's their job to manage the classroom in such a way that the children want to do their work. These are all aggressive attention getting behaviors and the cause needs to be uncovered. Bring in the school pyschologist to observe, and then you and the classroom teacher work with the suggestions the pysch. gives. Also see if the psych will do a comprehensive evaluation - IQ results can open doors for you. In the meantime, the teacher can send incomplete classwork home. He needs to do it first, before playtime, w/o an attention giving adult by his side...so snack/toilet & off to his homework spot where he can do it post-haste. If there is something he doesn't know how to do, he needs to tell you in the first five minutes (give him a timer). Otherwise no attention as you don't want to encourage the habit of fooling around on school time. His feelings do count, and he can express them when he's done, over a cup of choc. milk or whatever you decide. One of the troubles you may have when you talk to the principal is the pre-teaching at home. If they decide the child is bored and acting out because mom already taught him the work, they won't be pleased unless they are in a position to offer him advanced work or enrichment. The only people in my small world that I've seen win on this issue are the ones whose child turned up highly or profoundly gifted per the school pysch's IQ testing and were actively challenging themselves in the classroom. In those cases, a grade skip was offered when the enrichment wasn't enough, which of course didn't solve their problems with the rate and depth of material in the classroom.

The whole topic should be brought up and discussed in your monthly pack leaders meeting. Could be your CC and CM are so busy with life that they need a hand in getting the den leaders together to plan the program. A fresh start may or may not work --remember one of the nice thing about Cubs is that packs change every year, since the 5th graders have bridged on and new Tigers are arriving, but's up to the new group each year to hit the ground running after the annual pack planning meeting. The turnover in a great pack may mean that next year isn't so good. Or it could be the best yet. KIS&F Do hit your area U of Scouting this spring.

If all studies are invalid, then no conclusion regarding the hypothesis can be made. We did an interesting exercise at Cub Scout Leader Training once...made an origami two ways..one by hearing directions for the steps only, one by seeing an example only (no audio directions accompanying). If you're not convinced that initial learning styles can differ, try that in a room of willing volunteers. Make sure you have refreshments.

No. But our police and schools work together, so those who wish to cause trouble in the normal day are quickly reminded that alternative school might be a better option in their plan for their future. Suspensions with district supplied at-home tutors are also options.

It's a good question and often one a student doesn't ask. Another way to explain the distributive property is visually. Quickie explanation here: http://www.eduplace.com/math/mw/background/5/03/te_5_03_overview.html If she can visually represent her solution, she'll see why she can't distribute.

The pack meeting for us is more than awards. Every den has a contribution and it's a show. We like to alternate calm with activity. It's planned at the monthly leader's meeting and we like to keep it to the recommended 1.5 hrs including including setup and teardown. We agreed to start on time and help each other to make that goal. Transitions are fast and dens learn to anticipate their turn and get into position so there is no dead time on stage. Generally: 1. Gathering activity led by one of the leaders (15 min before official start to official start) and early arriving Webelos or Den Chiefs 2. Opening ceremony by designated den (4 min) 3. Welcome & Intro of honored guests by Cubmaster (2 min) 4. Guest led program, judged event or icebreaker type of group game led by Cubmaster (20 min) 5. Webelos den presentation relating to Activity Badge of the month and Pack theme (5-10 min) 6. Song led by designated den (theoretically taught to all cubs in their den mtgs prior; "If I Were Not A Cub Scout is banned...I mean saved for Campfires when we have a lot of time...) 7. Advancements led by Cubmaster 7a. Skit or Riddle time by designated den 8. Pack Activity Awards led by Cubmaster (generally patch for last month's pack outing to all participants and a quick summary) 7. Tiger Awards by Tiger Den leader and Awards Chair 8. Skit by designated den 9. Wolf Awards by Wolf Den leaders and Awards Chair 10. Run on joke or riddle by designated den 11. Bear Awards by Bear Den leaders and Awards Chair 11. Run on joke or riddle by designated den 13. Webelos Awards by Webelos Den leaders and Awards Chair 14. Game time led by designated den or Ass't Cubmaster 15. Announcements - details are in the printed program, so this is more of a commercial for the next pack outing by Pack Committee Chair 16. Cubmaster's Minute 17. Closing Ceremony by designated den 18. Snack by designated den 19. Clean up by all, room swept and furniture moved by designated den To keep the awards fast, the Awards Chair has everything packed in baggies with the boys name on each baggie. Each den leader has a list to read, the Awards Chair hands the baggie to the Ass't Den leader who hands it to the boy, the boy shakes the Den Leader & Cubmaster's hands and stays on stage while the next person is called. At the end, a round of applause is given and they go sit down. The Awards chair will sometime pack everything, but sometimes just have the parents help during the den meeting before the pack meeting. If we have a party meeting we do game and activity stations and the kids roam freely after the Cubmaster opens the meeting. Blue & Gold is different every year and depends on budget plus leader's preference. To do Advancements fast..we follow KIS&F and everyone is setup before the opening. The Cub Scout Leader Book and the Program Helps are great guides if you want to make the meeting less like a school awards assembly and more cubbish. Program Helps are online these days: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/CubScoutHelps.aspx Good websites for ideas: http://usscouts.org/usscouts/bbugle.asp http://www.boyscouttrail.com/ http://www.macscouter.com/Skits/index.asp http://www.scoutingthenet.com/

Awesome story...neat that everything came together. Best wishes for your dd's future in music.

Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series nonfiction of interest biography Boy's Life Magazine

I had a great 5th grade...classrooms were ability grouped back then and we were living on a military base so the school was peaceful and activities were plentiful. For LA, I'd read more nonfiction than I was offered - the school library really needed more. For Math, I'd let myself accelerate in the sense of go faster. It was new math, so it was deep enough and provided a good foundation for later studies. We covered other bases and finished all fraction and decimal ops that year. SS was great...we did factory tours, visited with Native Americans, and all the cool things that are now considered 'enrichment' or elitist. Science was good. More would have been nicer and the time could have come from LA. Music ..had recorders in 3rd and 4th, so the transition to an instrument in 5th was fine. Art...would have liked more as well instruction, but had enough viewing of authentic Penmanship...did the regular 5th gr course which was fine... Foreign Language..would have liked to learn one Home & Careers & Health was done at home and thru Girl Scouts....continued with hand sewing, cooking, keeping one's body healthy Phys Ed...daily would be nice....but back then we had a long recess and were allowed to use equipment so were always playing baseball (had to bring glove but school supplied bats/ball; we picked teams by how we were going to share gloves) or kickball or building snowthings...indoor recess was very rare, we girls learned to bring snow pants to put over our tights would have liked ice skating lessons.. Practicing one's instrument was the only homework.

Thanks for the laugh. Anti-god. Ha. ROFL. The big explicit lesson in high school here is "Thou shalt not kill" others. There's a security guard on every corner in every hallway to remind students not to attempt it and to haul away those who do. Pro big government. :lol::lol: Maybe in your state. Students here that are in attendance to avoid court-ordered consequences aren't exactly open minded and attentive nor do they care about forms of gov't. But if you want to beleive otherwise, go right ahead. You are free to do so under the current form of gov't.

For me, it's when they understand letter-sound correspondence and use that knowledge to figure out words. For ex. the sign "Drug Free School Zone"...when you pass that one and they ask from the backseat why drugs are free in school, you know they can read.

It is here..many grandparents need a break from watching the little ones, so the parents vie for preK slots at the public school as it comes with free transportation. If they lose out, they send the children to preschool if they can arrange the transportation. We have Dec public school age cut-off, so a toilet trained 2.5 year old would be in the preschool 3's program and a 3.5 year old would be in the 4's or p.s. preK program.

I appreciate presents that are given from the heart. I don't enjoy Christmas extended family gift giving because of all the dysfunction involved..I"m much happier now that we've stopped. I could never throw the useless generic things straight in the trash, and it took time to find homes for all of it since nothing was returnable. The last year we exchanged, I rec'd a $5 sweater from every inlaw...none in my size. I was lucky and heard of a community member whose dd had grown and needed them....was so happy to hear the gal no longer had to wear her coat everyday to school to disguise not having a week's worth of shirts and that mom's stress in affording a thoughtful & necessary gift was relieved. I grew up getting necessities for gifts..am uncomfortable with the obligatory buy something, anything, just to meet an obligation thinking. In my community, Boys and Girls Club takes used but good toys and redistributes. That helps many many preschoolers with their developmental needs. Church thrift stores sell clothing cheaper than goodwill/s.army, but usually the church secretaries figure out who is in need and find them free things.

We tried what you did, but it didn't work. So, we bowed out of the extended family giving except for kids/g'ma/g'pa. (We give the neices/nephews g.c.'s to the movies and the g.p's supplies and labor for something they need on their home.) We were honest and said we were running ourselves ragged and the whole post-Thanksgiving experience was not enjoyable. We invited everyone to come to our children's Christmas Concerts with their respective musical groups. G'parents did and now we look forward to the concert and dessert at our place afterwards. It's created a nice bond between our children and their g'parents. About 3 years later, everyone else except g'parents decided they wanted to bow out of gift giving too. There was some friction going on in wildly uneven exchanges and cutting out the whole deal was a good way to solve it.

immediate family parents on dh's side: niece/nephews that are full time students or younger a long time close friend school toy drive toys 4 tots fudge or peanut brittle or something small and thoughtful for the musical instrument instructors and an ass't scoutmaster or two food for community Christmas basket food drive