WDYT - re: age group for books given to kids at award night
We had the girls presentation night tonight.
Both got an award & were given a book with it.
DD2's book is called 'Lettice - The Birthday Party' DD2 is 5.
DD1 was given a book called 'Baby Wombat's Week'. DD1 will be 9 in April & has been reading chapter books for a while.
When DD1 got into the car winging about her book & asking why they'd give it too her I dismissed it as her being tired.
Then she came out of her room crying about how unfair her book was coz it was too easy. I had a look & now I see why. It is a 'juvenile' book. The first page is as follows
'Monday...slept...slept...' in big writing. It is a book aimed at a 3 - 5 year old IMO.
She's feeling really insulted. Wouldn't they buy a book according to a child's age? I thought possibly they gave it to her to read to DS & DD2, but that wouldn't be right either. Its her book, it should be for her.
They have 60 kids at the school. Its not huge. They couldn't possibly have accidentally given it to her. They put her name in the front & all. DD2's at least has a paragraph on each page!
Do you agree that this is really insulting & unfair? I'm going to take it back & talk to the principle tomorrow. I would really like their reasons for that book explained to me...
Or do they really not care & just give a child which ever book they pick up first?
I thought they would have personalised it a bit since it came with an award so it's not like it was luck of the draw, it wouild have been planned for 24 hours at least!
Not sure I'd complain about it but maybe some feedback, saying it seems a bit silly that they've known her and her abilities for a year and thought they'd have personalised the choice a bit.
It could be a miscommunication. I worked at a children's book store and we often would get school's come in for prizes. We'd often be given about 20 minutes to find books for up to 100 kids, the teacher would stick a post-it note on the cover with the child's name and they'd be invoiced and bagged up. I can imagine that if the label came off during transit, books could get mixed. I'm sorry your daughter is sad about her book, she should be, it is very young for her.
I'm going to talk to them, but not to complain about the book. To let them know how heart broken she is. She is under the impression her teachers think she's dumb. If she wasn't worried I wouldn't be, but being a small school she'll have the same teachers next year. How's the year going to go when she thinks they are thinking of her as equivilent to a 5 year old? She's the type of kid that will be affected by it. I'm going to get her a few books on Friday to replace it & will keep it for DS.
There are 15 kids in her class room I think & til now she's recieved books that suited her age. If it was a mix up, you'd think someone might look twice at an 8 - 9 year old getting a small child's book while they were sticking in the name? Its a small school, they all know her.
I do understand that they don't go 'shopping' for each child specifically, but you'd think they'd sort them into age groups, then boy/girl, then put a name in each one at least.
I would ask them about it, and I would like to believe (until told otherwise) that is was a genuine mix up. Even though it had her name in it, it was probably written by an admin person, who wouldn't have known if there was a mix up of books..
Good point. I think the office lady think mum looks after them, or something... she's got me confused.
The school rang me when DD2 got sent to the sick bay on Friday. I couldn't get there, but said I'd ring a friend on my contact list, but she's really sick & I'm not sure if she can do it. Also said mum can't get in coz she's too far out of town now (an hour away).
Then I find out she rang mum anyway & when my friend showed up, they asked if I'd rang her, or if mum did... they had no reason to ring mum, unless they rang her first?
There have also been times when DD2 has come home saying she was in the sick bay & that I was supposed to pick her up, but I recieved no phone call even though I never left the house
Hi darl
I'm a teacher and at every school Ive been too, we choose the books based on the students we are awarding them to. I always like to choose books based on the students interests and the level they are at. I would definately follow it up as there may have been a mix up. Good Luck!
Forgot to update. We took it back the next morning. The teacher didn't understand why she was so upset.
He told her that was fine, that they'd choose another one. The thing that really got me... 'you can have a chapter book & even if you can't read it, we'll work up to it'. Its got me wondering how much attention he pays to her...
She chose Tashi. Its a series of books & she already has one here. She was given the first one at last years presentation night.
I've had him say a few things to her he shouldn't have, so I'll be going up there again next year.
WDYT - re: age group for books given to kids at award night
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