For Texans who might be reading this, Houston digital library is available to all in-state residents.

I have a student who, putting it mildly, was a reluctant reader. I started asking if he might be dyslexic from kinder- and I kept being told, "no, I am trained in reading intervention, he is with age-typical ranges." It is not until he was at threat of failing the state test did they screen him. Yup, mildly dyslexic. One year of intensive intervention with a fantastic educator, and now I can't get books out of that kids hands. Some of his favorite to read are processional references for computer programmers. I doubt he has full reading comprehension, but loves it. And that is all I care about. Does he love what he is reading? Great, read.

And then we ignore the homework that says, "after your 20 min at home read time, write about how the setting influences the story."

Related to limited resources, a second-hand story. A friend had a high school daughter who was graded on how much her reading level improved each semester. The daughter was a great reader, yet was at threat of receiving a failing grade. The friend had to go in and and demonstrate that the entire darn school library only had -three- books above her daughter's reading level, so how did they expect her to improve when there was nothing challenging left to read?

Can you imagine being fully able to manage high school math, yet stuck in a class of other 9 year olds still memorizing times tables? Yeah, recess is great fun, and lunch is on, but the rest?

Ideally, an accelerated student will be getting his social needs filled through sports, clubs, and other pursuits outside of school.

What does the thickness of the color band indicate?

Seems to be The Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Might be. Might not be. I guess its my own perception it must be people with money that can afford to loose a coat rather than label it unnecessarily finding itself in my rambling.

I took a pair of jeans in at 11 months of use and the exchanged them easy peasy.

One year I kept charge of my students' elementary's lost and found. A fairly affluent area with only 30% assisted lunches. You have NO idea how rare it is for parents to put their children's name in their coats even when they helpfully have a space like this brand. End of the year over 200 coats, jackets, and hooded had to be donated because there was no way to identify to whom they belonged and no one ever came looking for them.