I fail to see how preventing these students from doing another project is going to help them get better and doing the task they failed to do correctly. She also told my son that for every time he forgot something, he would not be allowed to do the classwork the other students are doing and would have to do worksheets instead.
This surely isn't the hill I would be willing to die on. Unless your 5th grade science is really a wondeful learning experience that he would be missing out on. I think the better approach is to assist your son in trying all kinds of way to build a relationship with this teacher. You can always hot house on the weekends or have him do powerpoints for the family if you feel like he is missing out on valuable work. You can buy used Middle School Science textbooks on Amazon and use them for nightly reading. You can teach him more science in a weekend than most 5th grade classes learn in 3 months - but having the experience of warming up a 'cold frosty' teacher is a very valuable education for you and for him.
I'm curious how the meeting went, and I'm not against ccing the principle on all your emails with the teacher and being wildly passive agressive.
I'm thinking along the lines of:
"I was so pleased to hear that you have specially selected these excellent worksheets for the 8 kids who won't be allowed to participate in the regular classroom experience because they are being punished. I am glad that you are insisting that my son be more organized."
Then you've complimented the teacher on her caring and attention to detail while making it very clear to the principal exactly what is going on in the classroom. And it alerts the teacher that the principal now knows exactly what is going on. Make sense? Passive agressive isn't good for families, but it has wonderful uses in public areas where one has to 'play nice' and directness isn't appreciated.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
