Not much of a day. I had two students scheduled for today; both canceled. In both cases, the mothers were out shopping. They were not the only ones confused. I was having a devil of a time remembering what day of the week it is and what my schedule is, and I’m one of the fortunate ones who has a schedule.
I called D’s mom when she didn’t respond to the Zoom invitation. She was in Target finishing up her Christmas shopping. It gave me a chance to speak to her. I told her I’m not optimistic the school principal will provide me with a DOE email address, which I need to access Google Classroom and access D.’s schoolwork. I told her I was not optimistic about being able to help D with his memory problems. I had tried everything I knew.
She said she had seen an improvement recently in his oral reading. That confirms what I thought. The visual discrimination exercise we are working on helps, but this does not touch his problems remembering his math facts. I told her he should be evaluated and be classified as special education or at least have a 504, allowing him to legally use a calculator to solve math problems in all school contexts, in classrooms, and on standardized tests. Classification will provide him some relief. She was in complete agreement with me.
D.’s ELA teacher called today. I shared with him information on D’s memory problems. He sees the same issues I see in D’s reading. Primarily problems with reading the words accurately. He didn’t comment on problems with comprehension. Quite to the contrary, he said D is a good participant in-class activities. I asked Mr. S.2 for information on D’s reading level. He didn’t know it offhand; he said he would get back to me. This is a good sign. It means he isn’t dramatically below grade level. Given the school, this could still be is a year to a year and a half behind.
Scott finished the platform and cover for the 250-gallon water tank I bought. He didn’t do any work yesterday because he had to drain it. He had set it up to collect water from one of the gutter downspouts. I thought it would take forever to fill up. Nope. It took one day of heavy rain. Amazing. Scott said he will have to install a filter of some sort so the sand from the roof tiles doesn’t fill the tank. Today he painted the covering. His next job for me will be installing the solar attic fan. These items are me preparing for the worst while hoping for the best. Two hundred and fifty gallons of water will keep us alive if the water is shut off. The water isn’t potable, but I have bought life-straws that make any water drinkable. It probably won’t taste good, but we won’t die of thirst.
I finished wrapping and addressing the box of books I had sitting on the library desk for a few days. I am experimenting with using the roll of butcher paper Judy gave me to wrap the boxes. I finished wrapping it with the scotch packing tape I bought from Office Max the other day. I hope it works as well as the duct tape. It doesn’t look like it can hold. I wanted the brown packing tape, but none was on the shelf. As I put the box in the back of the car, the scotch tape came loose. I can’t see how this is going to work.
I watch Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Painful.
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