2nd grade writing homework

It was education week a couple of weeks ago and the parents were invited to the classrooms in order to see what the kids have been doing. I attended K's and J's class, one after the other. They did crafts, played math and spelling games. Both are excellent. They are both social and not at all shy. I have said time and again, I am very thankful for that!

Daddy attended Big M's class later in the afternoon. He filmed Big M reading his writing project. I am quite impressed by this writing. I don't remember writing like this at 2nd grade. Later that week, I attended his parent-teacher conference, and his teacher mentioned that though he helped Big M in certain areas of his writing, most was done unassisted.

K's and J's parent-teacher conference were attended by Daddy and he was very happy he did. He was very impressed by their writing and reading ability. Both are quite artistic, apparently, drawing in great detail. Daddy was especially proud and emotional when J's teacher showed him her journal. There is a page about her real hero and it was a drawing of Daddy. "Why?" it says, "because he loves me." Daddy couldn't even keep a straight voice telling me about it on the phone. J's teacher took note of his reaction and sent a photocopy of that page for Daddy. :)

We are very proud of our children. It may not show based on the amount of daily frustration we deal with, but we are very very proud of all of them.

pre-k and parent-teacher conference

At 9pm Sunday night, K threw up in bed. This 8 days after J had her episode.We truly thought we escaped with only one casualty. I slept (no, I didn't really sleep) in her bedroom to help her out. Thankfully she only had a second episode but that was it.She didn't eat at all the next day, but she was perfectly normal. On Tuesday she and J went to their new preschool.

Their first day was great, except they wanted "kids their size". The pre-k is combined with the 3-4yr olds because there are not many. I think there is only one other pre-k in addition to K and J. But they did have fun. When they came home they were very happy that there was one other kid that was their size.

On the same day, Daddy and I had a conference with Big M's teacher. His teacher had great things to say about him. She said Big M has done such a great job of fitting in, and that she is amazed when she realizes that he has only been in her class for 3 weeks. Kudos to Big M for being such a super friendly, super social kid!

1st grade, first teacher conference

I went to my first cruise ever (to the Bahamas) without the hubby AND without the kids. There is much to say about that but that'll have to wait. Today I want to brag about my oldest. I attended our first parent-teacher conference today while Daddy watched the kids. First of all, the computerized testing everyone takes to measure their improvement (taken 3x per grade) in reading and math was astounding. He is reading at the 4th grade level! His teacher said it is obvious that he is a bright child, but even with that his reading score is off the roof. We don't do anything special with him, except to encourage his interest in whatever it may be, but I guess that makes a difference. And then there's his Daddy who buys tons of books during pretty much every book fairs. Mrs. Dent is now encouraging him to do research-type reading. She mentioned that with Big M's group (she breaks down down into different groups of the same ability) she will start teaching them Power Point. Wow!

For the math assessment, Big M didn't measure quite as high, but still above average. According to the graph on the school website, his math ability is at 2nd grade. Mrs. Dent is especially impressed by his understanding of abstract things, like money. She said that most everyone has a hard time understanding that 5 pennies is the same as a nickel. I'm not surprised by this though. We started working on this last year. Just recently, Big M marked our family calender of how much money he would earn by a certain number of days and how long it'll take him to earn $20. At the time he was trying to earn money to buy an expensive Lego. I told him that when he does good things at home and earns tickets, I would allow an exchange rate of 25 cents per 5 tickets. 

Big M's teacher said he is a delight to have in her class, as he LOVES to participate. When he doesn't finish a certain task, and finishes early on others he asks for time to go back to the previous one in order to finish. In fact, when he leaves the class 2x a week (2 hours total) to go to the Gifted program, he always asks what he missed and what needs to do to catch up upon his return.   His enthusiasm in class is also why she was completely caught by surprise with the "dying" incident weeks ago. She saw no signs at all that he may be anxious and worried about anything. I told her that it seems to be a completely sleeping issue and it is getting better with the use of a sleep aid.

I also told the teacher of a possible move in the near future. She asked that I keep her informed so that she can make sure he is not getting stressed at school. What a great teacher! What a great school district we have! If and when we move away, I will lament the loss. 

Daddy and I are very proud of Big M! I don't know what his future will be, but whatever he chooses to do as he grows up, we will always be there to encourage him. We will always be there all our kids, whatever they choose to do. 

parent-teacher conference

I met with Matty's teacher today. He is doing well with his numbers, though we don't quite know where "eleventeen" fits in when counting to 20. He's doing well socially and apparently quite a social butterfly. It now clicks when parents come up to tell me that all their children could talk about is my son. Incidentally, these are parents of girls.

Also, he's a loud one. The teacher said everyone could be making noise, yet she could still hear Matty perfectly when he talks. I find this highly amusing. He gets his volume from his dad.