What Shoud I Do?

If you dont like the teacher, simply put a request in writing to the front office that you would like your daughter moved to a diffrent class. It may be a little hard on your little girl having to move classes now. Or like you said be more proactive. Sounds like a rock and a hard place. :(

Having been a teacher myself...could you cut her a little slack. I can assure you that getting kids pictures taken are so far down her list of priorities...that honestly I am surprised she managed to write you back about it.

My suggestion...anything that is a school wide event, just pop in or call the school office...they can help you with forms and such...if it is directly involved only in your child classroom then contact the teacher.

About the teeth...my son was with me at a play place and caught his teeth in some netting...he cried a few seconds and then told me he was fine, didn't hurt and ran back to play. I looked in his mouth everything seemed fine. The next morning at breakfast, he told me his teeth were loose. I even missed it at bedtime teeth brushing. We ended up at the dentist and the teeth are still loose, but I was told they would fall out soon. I was standing right there on the spot and missed the loose teeth. (And I actually could stick my hands in his mouth to check them out). As a teacher you are trained not to touch blood without gloves and going through a long documented protocol.

I am really sorry she has rubbed you the wrong way. If you want to move your daughter, you certainly can. But it is not like teaching years ago when you actually only had to worry about teaching, lesson planning, grading and a bit of discipline...now, all of the paperwork, forms, required documentation, meetings for and about students with severe learning/emotional/mental/developmental/ issues and problems, English as a second language, etc etc etc...I can tell you that woman if she is doing a good job, breathes paperwork and still manages to plan exciting and fun lessons...and teach your child to read...give her a pat on the back. Maybe volunteer to be a room mother and help her do her job even better.

Sending you a big hug, because sending our children out into another's care is HARD!!

First, I am not slamming you for your feelings. Some back ground: I am dealing with this for the first time this year, too. My daughter is in 4th grade and she and I have both loved all of her teachers. My son is in 1st grade and I am having concerns about how he and his teacher interact because he is constantly in trouble for not exhibiting self-discipline, and I don't know why he's acting this way with just her. However, I'm worried he'd be worse off if I move him since he's learning very well in her class, it's just his behavior. She and I are trying to work together on this.

If your daughter is doing well in her class and likes her teacher, DON'T move her just because you don't like her. If you move her, she will wonder why. AND even if you like the new teacher, your daughter might not. Which is more important to her education, how she feels about the teacher, or how you do?

Anytime I don't get something that the WHOLE school should have gotten, I go to the front office. The teachers aren't given extras. Most teachers DO NOT memorize the dates and times for pictures since they have more important things to do and the office will tell them when to report to the photographer on that day. Unfortunately, if most of the other students got it, your daughter may have lost it before it got to her bookbag. I've seen it happen MANY times while volunteering in my kids' past Kinder classes (the older classes, too, actually). The kids -mine included - drop papers and then while picking them up, some get thrown away by other students who don't understand about the importance of the papers. The teacher can't keep up with every piece of paper that gets dropped.

By the way, how did you find out about the picture order if you didn't get the envelope? Did you get the Order form with the Proof on it with the packages and prices? If you received the order form with Proof on it, then you may be able to order the picture directly from the photographer at the school package rates. The Proof usually has the Photo ID on it so that the potographer can readilly find it on their computer and you can call them to find out. The order dates are also usually on that form. If it was just the turn-in envelope that you didn't get, you can either get a new one from the front office or you can place the order in a regular envelope with ALL of the following: your child's name, teacher's name, reason for money being turned in, amount of money in envelope (I never send cash), your name, your phone number, and date ALL on the outside so that if it gets found where it wasn't supposed to be it can be be turned in to the office and given to the proper person.

Or do you mean you never found out about when the photos would be taken and they needed to be pre-ordered? Again, you can probably call the photographer.

Injury Notifications: You need to ask the Nurse why you weren't notified, not the teacher. My kids have been to the Nurse plenty of times and I have accompanied many children to the nurse for teachers. I am a DPS-cleared school volunteer and have accompanied children at the request of the teacher, never without the teacher's knowledge. Did the school nurse contact you in ANY way? In order to get an ice pack your daughter had to go to the school nurse, the teacher doesn't keep these in the classroom. It was the responsibility of the NURSE, not the teacher, to notify you of the injury. EVERYtime my children have received injuries to the head (face injuries - mouth, nose, eyes, chin, cheeks, etc. - are included in that), the nurse contacts me: by phone AND letter. I've witnessed her calling other parents, too. At our school, when a student needs to go to the Clinic (even for a little Band-Aid) the teacher must fill out a CLINIC VISIT form stating the student's name, teacher's name, and reason for trip to Nurse. Minor Band-Aids on arms, legs, etc., do not get parental notification. The Nurse does TWO things to notify the parent if it's a head injury: First she attempts to call the parent at the time the student goes to the Clinic; in addition to that, she always sends a written Head Injury Notice home WITH THE STUDENT that day even if she did speak to the parent on phone. The Nurse then fills out the TREATMENT blank of the CLINIC VISIT form that the student carried to the Nurse. The Nurse keeps one copy and the student returns the other copy to the teacher. Most of the time, the student goes back to class, hands the teacher the Clinic form and goes back to playing or studying and doesn't tell the teacher what the results of the visit were. Your daughter didn't think to tell you (until you brushed her teeth) that she got hit in the mouth with a swing and her teeth were loose from the swing incident, so she probably didn't tell the teacher or nurse about loose teeth either. The Nurse would probably only look to see where the blood was coming from and normally won't place her fingers in the children's mouths, so she might not realize the teeth were loose.

Sorry this is so long, but I hope somthing in here helps. :)

You gave many reasons why you don't like this teacher & why you seem to be the only one - including your daughter - who does not. Teachers send home first picture orders in back packs. Did your daughter not make it home with it? Did everyone else's child make it home with the picture order? Were YOU the only parent in the class who didn't know? If the teacher was out a week in the retake time - perhaps she was sick.
I agree that you may should have been notified about the swing hitting your daughter; but the teacher didn't seem all that non-concerned or non caring to me. Non caring would have been letting your child bleed, not giving her an ice pack. Your child seems pretty well adjusted and it must not have been really traumatic for her since she didn't blurt it out when she got in the car and didn't complain or say anything to you either.
If your child is happy with this teacher, I would say leave her alone. DON'T VISIT YOUR DISLIKE OF THIS TEACHER YOUR CHILD LIKES UPON HER. You are placing your child in the middle of a situation that she has no business being placed in the middle of.
YES, BECOME MORE PROACTIVE. Teachers often have 25 children in a classroom now. Your Kindergartner is busy trying to learn the things she needs to know to progress to 1st grade. Your letter sounds as if you e-mail this teacher all the time ... she may be feeling resentful of you too, you know. Save e-mails for important questions on school policy, academics and your child's progess. Picture questions should go to the school.
You cannot be there to insulate your child from every problem she has.

Ask for a meeting with the teacher. Things like pictures and other notices sometimes don't make it home but your school should have a PTA or flyer or website you could check. If your daughter didn't complain about her teeth it might have seemed like a minor thing. Do they have a nurses office? That's where most kids go who get injured. Sit down with the teacher if you need to or volunteer in class to see what's going on. It sounds like your being a little over reactive but it would help to clear your mind and let the teacher know so you won't criticize everything that happens. Teachers want to make it work and sometimes don't know when things like retakes are happening as it's scheduled by the office and he/she is working in their own class.