2nd Grade Reading Log: Fill & Download for Free

I was a teaching assistant for one year as I completed my master’s program in education. The school that I worked at had an extraordinarily high percentage of homeless children, and it was a regular occurrence for me to have students change from their dirty clothes and put on outfits from a little bin we kept in class so that I could wash their clothes from home. Kids came in with dirt and grime on their skin, one with matted hair…it was the closest I have gotten to witnessing extreme childhood poverty firsthand. But there was one student who bothered me the most. Please excuse the long nature of this answer; it was a very emotional experience.Jose* was a very quiet student. Almost silent. He was also the only fully Latino student in our classroom (there was one other girl in class who was mixed AA & Latina…this comes into play later). Jose had attended the school since kindergarten but had always had an attendance problem. In fact, the teacher who had him in 1st grade “looped” to 2nd grade with that class (she was the lead while I was the assistant), so she told me what to expect. I can’t remember where his birthday fell, but I know Jose was 7 years old at the start of the school year. He had one younger half-sister in kindergarten and one older sister in 4th grade. My good friend was the assistant in that class, and my lead teacher was friends with the teaching team in the K class. We all compared our experiences with the family to try to figure out how to help and to get a clear picture of what was going on.The first day of 2nd grade, students told us they had spoken to Jose and he would not be returning to our school and had transferred elsewhere. His name remained on the attendance log through the first 4–6 weeks of school, but we assumed it would be resolved by admin at some point and didn’t think anything of it until one day toward the end of September, Jose walked through the door at around 9am with a tardy slip. It kind of stopped the lesson because we had no desk for him and because his friends were so excited to see him. In line, some of the girls would play with his hair excitedly and talk about how soft and beautiful it was. Jose has some grime on his face, but his clothes looked relatively clean. Once again, he hardly spoke.I would say Jose came to school pretty regularly for about a week or two. Then he went missing. We kept marking him absent and eventually contacted the Homeless Student Liaison (HSL) to try to figure out what was happening. This went on from September to January. Jose would show up for one week for approximately 3 days, and then disappear for 3 weeks or more. In the midst of this, the HSL came to the lead teacher and told her that Jose and his family (2 sisters + mother) were homeless and living in a car. The mother was a drug addict. Jose’s father was trying desperately to get custody of Jose and his older sister, but to no avail so far.As the year went on, Jose appeared dirtier and dirtier. In the middle of winter, he entered school in a light zip-up hoodie and Black Adidas Superstars with no socks. He only spoke to a couple students in class, but occasionally I could see a glimmer of him from his math work. Despite such limited time in school, Jose was actually grasping two digit math problems easily. I knew if he had more time in school, he would be even better. He was struggling with reading, however. Because he came to school so infrequently, I began to pull him from the general lessons and tutor him individually in the back of the classroom so he could get up to speed somewhat. The entire time (K-2nd) the teachers in the building though he didn’t talk because he mostly only spoke Spanish with his family. There was no English Language Learners program to confirm this. One day I asked the other Latinx student if she spoke Spanish to which she replied no. I am mixed Black and Latina myself and also was not raised speaking Spanish fluently, but I was studying at the time and started speaking some basic Spanish. He expressed that he didn’t understand a word of it. It made me even more concerned about his silence.After winter break, Jose didn’t show up until the last week of January. This time his scalp was very itchy. The teacher knew had lice the year before, when he told her he was itchy she checked with a flashlight and sure enough there were some little friends crawling over his scalp. Jose was sent home that day and his mother was told he couldn’t return until he had been treated for lice for the standard amount of time (can’t remember how long, but like a few days). She brought him back the very next day with lice still in his hair and was turned away. I hated to see Jose go on one of the few occasions he was able to make it to school.I never saw him again. The HSL later told us that the family had moved to Virginia (we were in DC) and couldn’t make it everyday so they transferred him to a school there. The last good news before he disappeared was the father might get custody of him in Maryland, but I suppose that fell through. Jose had the biggest, saddest brown eyes, and he loved school. That was almost two years ago now. I hope wherever he is that he is safe.

((Second grade view here) Here’s what I’d like to say:Don’t lie to me and tell me you are reading with your struggling student every night — she already told me that you don’t do it. Don’t demand that I do more when you won’t do this one small part — the one you promised to do earlier in the year. You didn’t follow through, and now I’m to blame?Yes, I did notice that you put made-up book names on your child’s book log, or that you put the exact same 10 page picture book for the past 3 weeks. You aren’t fooling anybody. I don’t believe your 2nd grade child needed 3 weeks to read “The Three Little Kittens.” Oh yeah, and by the way, I asked your child what was her favorite part of the “The Three Little Kittens” yesterday, and guess what? She’s never heard of that book. (And don’t blame me because your child has to keep a book log — that was a district decision and I have no choice in the matter.)Don’t tell me you go over your child’s math homework every single night. I’m not stupid. I did notice that your child got every single answer wrong this week. I guess I’m supposed to believe that somehow you, as a parent, can’t help your child add 4 + 5? You say you check it every night? How come every answer was wrong and you had no idea? Remember that parent strategy sheet I sent home? It has lots of great ideas on how to make it fun. (And don’t even start about it being “common core math” — I do understand that can be problem, but adding 4 + 5 using any method you want should not be above your capabilities as a parent.)Please, give your child a bath! The rub-on tattoo he put on 2 weeks ago is still on his arm. So are the streaks of dirty all over his neck. The other kids don’t want to play with him because he smells so bad, but I know I’ll get an email from you saying they other boys are “bullying” him because they don’t want to sit with him at lunch. Trying to enjoy your lunch while sitting next to a smelly kid IS difficult! I can understand why they don’t want to sit there. Bathing your child is not something I, as a teacher, can do.If you give your child a quick kiss in the morning, you’ll realize that he doesn’t brush his teeth in the morning. I just love being 3 inches from him during reading groups and having to smell his “morning breath.”When your child misbehaves, and I have to call you, please don’t say “Well he never does that at home!” First of all, do you have 27 other children in your home each day? That might be the reason. As to the disrespect, don’t tell me he doesn’t do that at home — I just heard him talking back to you in the car line! This isn’t a new problem.Don’t tell me an other child provoked him. I believed you the first 5 times you said that, but after a while, the pattern became clear. And no, your child does NOT have the right to slug another student just because he doesn’t get his way. Help me by demanding he be held accountable for his actions so we can BOTH help teach him to control his reactions.When your child gets in trouble is not the time to tell me how, 3 months ago or two years ago, this child did something, so your little darling is justified in throwing a chair at him. Uhmmm your child is never justified in throwing a chair at anybody. Children have right to feel any way they do, but they do NOT have the right to act on all of their feelings. That’s part of being a member of society.Please don’t spend an hour ranting about how much you hate the common core. Do you really think it was my choice to use it? The STATE or SCHOOL DISTRICT adopted it and is requiring me to use it. If you have an issue with that, go talk to the decision makers. I’m not one of them. Ranting at me is a total waste of time.Don’t set up a parent/teacher conference, and then not show up. And then call 2 days later to set another one up, and then not show up for that one either. Do you realize that when I set up an appointment for after school, I’m on my own time! I don’t actually get paid for being there? Don’t ask me to stay for free and then not bother to show up.Please, realize that I got in to teaching because I love children. No, I am not making up a story about your child! Why would I do that? Just like you, I want what is best for him. I realize it can be painful when an authority figure like a teacher has to take you aside and gently tell you that you aren’t doing what you need to do — that you need to bathe your child so the kids will stop teasing him, or that you need to stop doing his projects for him, because I can tell when he shows a picture-perfect project, but can’t tell me anything about how he made it (because you did it after he went to bed last night.)I may not always be on “your” side — but I am ALWAYS on your child’s side.

This original post was on Reddit (not mine) but I immediately thought of it when I read this question: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/It's not uncommon as a teacher to have students who are a bit behind the curve in certain aspects, but 99.99999% of the time they are keen on something. They might not understand how to identify a noun or what theme is, but they somehow know how to make a mean plate of nachos. You learn pretty quick to not judge fish for their tree climbing ability, ya know?I thought this was the rule when I was teaching until I met Kevin. Kevin isn't his real name, but it doesn't matter because he can't spell it anyway. Kevin was a student of mine during my last year of teaching. He came to my classroom with very little to show for his academic past. He had moved a few times and thus was missing a lot of typical test scores that we use to try and ballpark their ability (Don't worry, it was a ballpark.....we didn't make major decisions until we actually had a chance to talk and work with a student for a bit.) I thought "That's fine. I'll just do some one-on-one with Kevin and see what's up" One on One with kevin was like conversing with someone who'd forgotten everything in a freak, if not impossible, amnesia incident. There was no evidence that he had learned anything past the 2nd grade....and now he was in 9th grade. Flabbergasted, I figured we needed to get more serious with this. If he was going to be in my class, I needed to know why and how.I decided to meet with him, his guidance counselor, his parents, and another teacher to see what was really going on. This is where it all became clear. It was by some incredible fluke that his family hadn't been wiped off the face of the Earth years ago. Odds are his entire heritage was based on blind luck and some type of sick divine intervention that saves his family every time a threat presents itself. Kevin was the genetic pinnacle of this null achievement. Even my instructional lead, a woman who could find a redeeming trait in a Balrog, failed to see any reason this kid or his family should be alive today.So here's a list of events that made it abundantly clear that god exists and he's laughing uncontrollably:Kevin frequently forgot when/where class was. On more than one occasion, I had to retrieve him from other classrooms.Kevin ate an entire 24 pack of crayons, puked, and then did it again the next day. This is 9th grade. I have no idea where he got crayons.Kevin's dad wrote tuition checks and mailed them to me...his English teacher. This was a public school. When I gave it back to Kevin, voided, to give to his dad with a brief note explaining that this is a public school, Kevin got in trouble for trying to spend it at 711 after school.Kevin was removed from the culinary arts program after leaving a cutting board on the gas stove and starting a fire....twiceKevin threw his lunch at the School Resource Officer and tried to run away. He ran into a door and insisted it wasn't him.Kevin stole my phone during class. I called it. It rang. He denied that it was ringing. (Not that it wasn't his, not that he did it.....no, he denied that the phone was actually ringing). He tried it three times before the end of the year.Kevin called the basketball coach a "Motherfucking Bitch" during gym. Basketball tryouts were that afternoon. Kevin tried out. It didn't go well.Kevin's mom could never remember which school he went to. She missed several meetings because she drove to other schools (none of which he ever went to)Kevin tazed himself in the neck before a football gameKevin kept a bottle of orange koolaide in his backpack for about 4 months. He thought it would turn into alcohol. He drank it during homeroom and threw up.Kevin say the N-word a lot. Kevin was white. The highschool was 84% black. Kevin got beat up a lot.Kevin stole another student's Iphone....and tried to sell it back to them.Kevin didn't understand that his grade was dependent on tests, quizzes, homework, classwork, and participation. Kevin finished his first semester with a 3% average. He tried to bribe me with $11.Kevin spit on a girl and said "You should get out of those wet clothes". The girl was the Spanish Student Teacher.Kevin didn't know dogs and cats were different animals.Kevin tried to download porn onto a computer in the library.....at the circulation desk....while he was logged on.Kevin asked a girl to prom (he was in 9th grade and freshmen don't go to prom) by asking for her phone number and then texting her his addressKevin got gum in his hair, constantly.Kevin regularly tried to cheat on assignments by knocking the pile over, grabbing one before I had picked them all up, and then writing it name on it wherever there was room.Kevin had several allergies, but neither his parents nor he could remember what they were. They were very concerned that "the holiday party" (it's high school, we don't have those) would have peanuts. When they finally got a doctor's note....he was allergic to amoxicillinKevin and his parents took a trip to Nassau (how the fuck did they even get airline tickets?) and forgot all their luggage at home. I didn't believe him when he told me until I talked to him mom, who told me 1st thing when I saw her at the bi-weekly meeting.Kevin's grandfather apparently died in a chainsaw accident. I can only assume God was looking the other way that day.