Parent/Teacher Conference

I was excited to go to Owen’s P/T conference because I was DYING to know how he was doing—I really really miss being able to talk to the teacher for a few minutes in the morning and/or afternoon every day like I did in pre-k.

Katie was so excited to be going to Owen’s classroom that she was RUNNING in. Owen was carrying the bag of leaved he and Katie had collected for an upcoming school project (he was sent home with a ziploc bag but they went a little crazy—this way, he didn’t have to take them on the bus).

We were early and the teacher was still getting ready so I took the chance to get a few pictures around the room!

February has the most birthdays!

This was from Owen’s journal. They write/draw in it every Monday—something that they did over the weekend. She asked me if he had gone to the school Halloween party and I said yes—and it’s EXACTLY what is depicted here: Owen with the broom that was used in one of the games to run around the cones along with candy at a table. It was SO perfect and so cute I had to grab a picture of it! We talked about his drawings and that his people are getting much better—they work with them on making the legs and arms rectangles instead of just lines and it occurred to me that yes, his people have started having rectangular arms and legs! (These are the things I never thought about.)

This got sent home with us today, too, from pumpkin week! She said the ripped and cut paper is great for dexterity and to let him cut as much as he wants to. She asked if he does small things like Legos and I said “OF COURSE! HE LIVES TO PLAY WITH LEGOS!” But apparently he could still use more practice with fine motor skills so we need to get out some nuts and bolts and let him go to town.

Overall, she said Owen was doing REALLY well. She said they don’t do report cards per se, but they do have a form that tracks the basics of what the kids know. They actually pull them out for one-on-one testing and are “graded” 1-4, with 1 being (I think) “Does not meet expectations” to 4 “Exceeds expectations” and that 2s (needs work) and 3s (meets expectation) are expected and normal. As you can see, Owen has all 2s and 3s.

She knows he can do the more complex patterns, but she hadn’t yet had the chance to officially test him on them. She said she needed to redo the sorting and classifying as well because he was the last one before recess and she could just see him glaze over and could tell she was losing him. I said that sounds about right. 🙂

A few of his 2s (“completes assignments on time” and “uses time constructively”) were things that sounded exactly like him, too—he’s a perfectionist so he takes too much time trying to get things exactly right and then doesn’t have enough time to finish the assignment. (I can see it at home with homework, too. If the sheet says to practice his letters, instead of just doing two or three practice letters, he crams about eight into the space. At home it’s fine because we have unlimited time…not so much at school.)

She said they have noticed that he can read and we talked about that—what I can do at home to help him since the books that get sent home for daily reading are really too easy for him. She doesn’t really have harder books and can’t really send more than one (he’d go through them too fast) so we are to work on comprehension of what he reads (she said lots of kids can read really well but have no idea what they read). Fair enough. She was impressed, though, and said he was on the advanced end, as there are kids who are still learning their letters!

She showed me a math journal (which was lots of shapes) and a poetry journal (which is where they paste a poem they learned and then they have to draw and color something from the poem).

We talked about homework—she said she hates it and doesn’t care if they do it or return it (and that she rarely looks at it—she has the assistant look over it). She said the kids work all day at school and she’d much rather have them go outside and play when they get home! (Then why does it get sent home?) But, I told her I liked that there was just a few minutes a day because that way he learns he has to schedule it and make sure to get it done (since he needs more practice with organization).

So overall a great report in my book! She said he’s very polite and has noticed he can be emotional (yep, that’s my boy!). People told me to just give the teacher a chance and she would know all about Owen before too long…and I was hesitant. But after eight weeks I feel like she has a grip on his abilities and personality and is on top of things.

Then it was time to hit the playground!!