Jeramy started in a grade 3/4/5 split class for his grade four year at a new school. September was difficult for him since he didn’t have many friends and was way behind everyone else in the class. He hardly knew how to write his name at the time and struggled with counting to ten. Jeramy felt ostracised from the rest of his class, but his classroom teacher and EA worked hard to ensure Jeramy was constantly improving, even when he wanted to give up. They made an individual learning plan for Jeramy centred around things they knew he enjoyed. To help him learn to count, they got him to count cars which he loved. When they taught him new words to read and write, they used words he was familiar with, like his name, his best friend’s name, cars, rocks, and other things Jeramy enjoyed. Things were going so well for Jeramy as he was making friends and learning new things that the rest of his class was also experiencing. I had the pleasure of working with him for the first two weeks of September and a few odd days through the rest of the month. But sadly, he had to move away at the end of September.
The next time I saw Jeramy was in December. He had moved once again to a brand-new school and was going to be in a grade four classroom where he knew no one. The hardest part was that he hadn’t attended school for the last two months. So, he was even further behind at the start of the year. He started from scratch again but needed a steady schedule and a strong learning plan. His new school provided that and more for him. They made sure he had everything he needed to become a stronger learner. During the rest of Jeramy’s grade four year, he learned many new words and could read, write and type far better than at the start. He could count to a hundred and add numbers together in Math class. Jeramy even made new friends at the school.
Jeramy is now in Grade five at the same school he completed in grade four. Things still don’t come easy for him, but with the continued help from his teachers and the school’s support staff, Jeramy is improving daily. I’m happy seeing how far he’s grown from the kid who felt like an outcast to who he is now.