Not making honor roll for missing assignment. Let it go or say something?

[Anonymous]

5th grade has been working on a poetry notebook assignment all semester. Two days before it was due, he lost it. Looked everywhere at school and at home and could not find it. I messaged teacher about redoing it and she said it was way too much work to redo in such a short amount of time, and to let this be a lesson in organization. He 100% does struggle in this area, so we told him he would just have to deal with the consequence of not making honor roll. He was devastated. 3 days after grades were sent home, a friend finds it in his desk, he accidently grabbed my son's on accident. His teacher just laughed it off, but said she can't go in and change anything at this point. My son feels it isn't fair because it wasn't his fault his friend grabbed it. I obviously don't know that it wasn't somewhere it wasn't supposed to be, and that is why the friend picked it up. My son wants me to try and get it changed, but I'm leaning to toward just letting it go.

[Anonymous]

Of course fight it. That's not his fault at all.

[Anonymous]

I would be upset because first the teacher said it was a lesson in organization but now she’s laughing it off. I don’t think making the on roll is a big deal in elementary school, but if that affected his letter grade then I might just push a little harder to see if there’s anything that can be done.

[Anonymous]

I'd let it go. Sh*t happens. If the teacher says there's nothing she can do, then he should take her at her word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be upset because first the teacher said it was a lesson in organization but now she’s laughing it off. I don’t think making the on roll is a big deal in elementary school, but if that affected his letter grade then I might just push a little harder to see if there’s anything that can be done.

Teacher needs to get organized and read the manual on how to change the grade.

[Anonymous]

Let it go. It’s only 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. Do you know for a fact that this assignment would bring up his overall letter grade? At the end of the day, the assignment was not turned in. She can not grade what was not turned in and the grade is already posted.

[Anonymous]

OMG. This isn't going on his college apps. Its a good lesson. Move on.

[Anonymous]

This is a free lesson. It’s worth way more than elementary honor roll. You’re looking at this all wrong.

[Anonymous]

If the teacher can't change it I would ask for her support to have him added to the honor roll because the assignment was taken by another student.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and it's true that we can't change after a certain time unless our admin overrides it. It's a PITA to do (lots of paperwork) but in this case, I'd do it because it really wasn't his fault if the other kids took it by accident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5th grade has been working on a poetry notebook assignment all semester. Two days before it was due, he lost it. Looked everywhere at school and at home and could not find it. I messaged teacher about redoing it and she said it was way too much work to redo in such a short amount of time, and to let this be a lesson in organization. He 100% does struggle in this area, so we told him he would just have to deal with the consequence of not making honor roll. He was devastated. 3 days after grades were sent home, a friend finds it in his desk, he accidently grabbed my son's on accident. His teacher just laughed it off, but said she can't go in and change anything at this point. My son feels it isn't fair because it wasn't his fault his friend grabbed it. I obviously don't know that it wasn't somewhere it wasn't supposed to be, and that is why the friend picked it up. My son wants me to try and get it changed, but I'm leaning to toward just letting it go.

That can’t be true, can it? My kid would be similarly upset even though we try to instill that a B is completely fine if you made an effort.

I’m generally pretty laidback about this kind of stuff, but I would probably go to bat for my kid about this because it was so clearly not their fault at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Do you know for a fact that this assignment would bring up his overall letter grade? At the end of the day, the assignment was not turned in. She can not grade what was not turned in and the grade is already posted.

In my school district, posted grades can be changed.

However for elementary school, it is just not that critical.

I think the teacher's attitude is poor.

I would try the "look on the bright side" approach that his work is found and explain that sometimes stuff happens and there's not always complete justice. Make sure he knows he can make Honor Roll many more times in his young life.

Regardless of who was at fault, the point stands that it's healthy to to experience disappointments and to be imperfect. Otherwise you run the risk of being the disliked pair of grade grubber child and helicopter parent later. It's also great that the creative work was recovered. I'd recommend that you read through it and discuss your son's poetry with him.

As a parent, you don't want to forget about it, you want to make it a palatable learning opportunity about reacting to screwups and disappointment.

[Anonymous]

Took it from where? My guess is that disorganization led to this. It’s a logical consequence.

[Anonymous]

Am i the only one who thinks the kid should just deal with it and be better about safeguarding his assignments?