Conferences and Report Cards

It's that time of year. Those of you who are teachers know the pain of conferences and report cards from your end. But I thought I'd tell it to you from mine. I have 3 kids in elementary school. The oldest is in 4th grade, I have one in 2nd and one in 1st. Yesterday afternoon I had all three conferences. This in itself was a scheduling miracle that I am not quite sure how it happened. The stars were all aligned on back to school night I guess.

First up was the first grader. Some background, he is 7 which makes him one of the older kids in the class. Actually, he is the twin brother of the 2nd grader. However, they have a late August birthday and he just wasn't ready when she clearly was. He is also on the autistic spectrum, although not diagnosible. He did a great deal of therapy between 18 months and 3 years and is totally mainstream with no services but there will always be some issues. Anyway, giving him that extra year was the best thing we could have done. He is excelling. His ready level is extremely high, he has no behavioral or social issues in class. I was so happy to hear how well he was doing. An absolute wonderful moment as a parent.

The came the second grader. She is a very good student but is one of those people who can does fine with the minimum of effort. She really needs to be pushed to excel. As the teacher put it , "I just don't think we have seen all that we can see of C" Her behavior is excellent and she is doing good work, just not excellent like she could. I was pleased to hear this and not really surprised. She really needs ot be motivated and we are going to work to figure out the best way to do this. She is very competitive.

Finally, the 4th grader. He is my super sweet, sensitive boy. He struggles with both dyslexia and dysgraphia. His teacher is aware of this and works well with him. He is also extremely good in class, respectful and well behaved. His report card and conference showed that he is also trying hard but the teacher feels he needs to push out of his comfort area. An example is that all his in class writing is about baseball. Now, that's his favorite sport and he knows alot about it but he needs to branch out and try something else. His reading has really improved but he is reluctant to try new, harder books. He reminds me alot of myself.

So all in all, a sucessful grading period. I am thankful, in this week before Thanksgiving, that my children go to a wonderful public school with teachers who care so much for their sucess.