Parent Teacher Conferences

I want to get this written down and I have a few minutes between insanity.

I had the kids' parent-teacher conferences yesterday. I hadn't realized that it was at the 10 week point, so part of it was to view report cards. (I don't get to keep it until the end of the year.)

Corbin's report card was outstanding. She had nothing but wonderful things to say about him.

The report cards are a little bit different for Kindergarten (in Newark Valley). It goes by what skills they have mastered; if they have mastered it by 10 weeks it's circled in black.

I don't remember how many they are supposed to have mastered at this point, but he has pretty much mastered everything in the entire Kindergarten year already. Much of it assessed from September.

According to his academic level, he's charting in mid-year first grade! And this is only November, so he's been in Kindergarten for less than 3 months.

:::::::::::::::beams:::::::::::::::::

She said that he does well socially, and that he also enjoys playing alone, too.

One of her comments (they are hand-written, not chosen from a computer) was that "he's a joy to have in class." :n) I know that nobody reading this is surprised by that. ;n)

She let me bring home his Writer's Workshop papers. She told me that he really loves writer's workshop. She said he enjoys writing. (Where could he get that from? ;n) )

I felt foolish, but I started crying when I was looking at his paperwork. I didn't expect to get emotional, but I did. He wrote about what he likes. I have a couple of special papers to give to my parents. :n)

Brooke is also doing great. Her teacher told me that she's the youngest in class, and her biggest obstacle is that she's shy. She showed me a Kindergarten readiness assessment, and that they look for an A for "achieved" or an E for "emerging", and if there are blank spaces that means that the child doesn't exhibit that behavior yet. Brooke's were all filled in, I'd say half to 2/3 with A's. :n) She said that being the youngest, she's doing extraordinarily well, especially when it comes to writing, counting and using "real letters".

She said that when Kaitlyn was gone, it actually was beneficial to Brooke, because it forced her to stand on her own and make choices, whereas before that, she and Kaitlyn would depend on each other to make "the same" choice. (Like, which drink they wanted at snack time, she said they'd eye each other and get the same thing <3 ) She didn't say that she's emotionally immature, but she's on the younger scale, so her emotions are developing I guess at a normal rate, but she's the youngest. So that's what she's really working at. And getting her to use more and more words when she speaks, being descriptive. All in all, she's ahead of the game, and right where she needs to be for her age, and is benefitting from working in PreK as well as at home with me.

How could I feel any more proud? (Here come the water works again. Sheesh. LOL)

Because of how the day worked out yesterday, I decided to take Corbin to Friendly's to celebrate his awesome report card and hard work. His biggest fan at Friendly's was there. :n) I can't remember her name, but she always makes a fuss over the kids when we come. She says that she just loves our kids, they are her absolute favorite customers, because they are so polite and well-behaved. :n) :n) :n) I think she's a manager.

Anyway, we came in and she said, "Hey! There's my bud! How are you? No school today?"

I said, "It was a half day. We're here because he got a fantastic report card."

She said, "You DID? Wow!" and then she got the server (I can't remember her name, she's an older woman) and said, "These guys are here to celebrate a great report card!"

So she seated us, and we decided to split a banana split. He also got white milk and I got a diet coke.

The server came back and gave us the check and said, "I gave his milk for free and charged you for a child's soda. People don't take their kids out for stuff like that often enough. I think it's really important, and really nice."

That was very nice. Corbin and I both thanked her several times.

It was a great day to be me.