OP, your teacher sounds like she's phoning it in. I have kids at 2 different schools. The teachers at one are stellar. The teachers at the other, to the one that my kids have had, have been very mediocre. It's very frustrating because a good teacher can make all the difference.

I would have to admit that word study at DC's school does not seem to come with any rules. It seems like it is just a list of words that are similar that the kids memorize. They do daily activities with the words (in school and for homework) but we have no idea of the rules they are being taught (1st -3rd grade).

My son has the same Word Study work each week in second grade, and every Thursday is "buddy check" which is basically a spelling test at home. Each week I shake my head that the copied buddy check paper that must be glued into the notebook does not have enough lines for the 24 spelling words. I really feel like making a new buddy check paper to give to the teacher but yet know this would be insulting. It is just these little things that add up that annoy me; this, no monthly newsletter for the past three months, not changing the dates on newsletters/interim reports, etc.