Important lesson that life is not kind and you can't rely on adults to save you

It seems disproportionate for a kid to miss the end of year pizza party when they've done the work all year and earned the reward. It's possible the notebook was taken because of his disorganization, but it's equally possible that the notebook was just where it was supposed to be and the other 5th grader was disorganized and took it.

I'd probably skip the teacher and just have a friendly chat with the administrator who can override the grade. Not to slam the teacher at all, but to expedite the grade change and minimize the teacher's need to take action. I'm sure the administrator will speak with her, but maybe she'll get to skip some paperwork if the administrator is familiar with the situation.

My thinking is that the threat of potentially missing the pizza party is probably enough of a consequence for something that might not have even been your son's fault.

Anonymous wrote:The teacher isn’t impressive. On the other hand, it’s mid-May, and this teacher is now a non-entity in your kids education.

The lessons for your son are twofold: keep track of your items, don’t assume your teacher gives a fruitfly about your hard work.

All this- and
#3
There are still teachers who punish kids for things they have no control over and it really sucks.
They suck. It happens.

Anonymous wrote:Op here,

I think it’s the silly end of the year pizza party they get if they made honor roll all year. lol
I don’t think I’ll say anything.

I would push to have him included in this in exchange for you not insisting the grade be changed.

The teacher isn’t impressive. On the other hand, it’s mid-May, and this teacher is now a non-entity in your kids education.

The lessons for your son are twofold: keep track of your items, don’t assume your teacher gives a fruitfly about your hard work.

I wouldn't care about the grade per se or even the honor roll. The lesson here he's learning is whether his parents will fight for him when he's been screwed.

I also think the teacher sounds kind of lazy. Mom proactively reached out, kid offered to redo months of work and she said don't bother. He wasn't asking to be given a grade for nothing. Then it turns out that another kid had it (so your son couldn't possibly have found it because he'd never search there) and she laughs it off and doesn't want to do the paperwork to fix it. I'm unimpressed. It sounds like this is meant a lot to the kid and it encouraging that he cares so much about this. The mom and the teacher should go the extra mile and fix it.

Anonymous wrote:Op here,

I think it’s the silly end of the year pizza party they get if they made honor roll all year. lol
I don’t think I’ll say anything.

Oh, hmmm. I would probably ask the teacher about this reward. Don’t care about the grade change but it wasn’t his fault so why should he lose out on this?

Where do they do this? Our elementary and middle schools don’t recognize academic achievement at all, in any way.

Let it go let it go
-frozen

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

Obviously not.

My DD had a stomach bug the day of the PSAT and had to take it on the verge of vomiting. She missed NMSF by 10 points. So it goes. Somtimes there are no do overs. Life goes on.

I would however treat him to a personal pizza nightor special treat at home because he did put the work in!

Anonymous wrote:My, gosh. It's fifth grade. Let him learn from this when the stakes are still low. This is what grade school and middle school are for!

--Parent of college students

100% agree -- I'm a parent of elementary students and this is something to let go, for sure.

I wouldn't fight it myself.

If it were important to my fifth grader, I would offer to help proofread a letter that they could write on their own to send to their teacher appealing the case. Is be willing to help with the letter but be clear that there are no guarantees and that sometimes they'll get lenient teachers and sometimes they'll get sticklers. If the teacher made the mistake and lost the assignment, I'd push harder.

Op here,

I think it’s the silly end of the year pizza party they get if they made honor roll all year. lol
I don’t think I’ll say anything.

My, gosh. It's fifth grade. Let him learn from this when the stakes are still low. This is what grade school and middle school are for!

--Parent of college students

The only thing that would bother me is if the teacher truly laughed it off. That seems inappropriate to me. I would use the other part to remind my child that not making the honor roll isn’t the end of the world, especially in elementary school. That sounds like a lot of pressure and worry for a young child. I would also try to use it as a learning lesson in keeping track of their stuff but truly wouldn’t be upset about the honor roll part.