Spring Conferences

The boys had half days at school all week due to parent-teacher conferences.Eric and I are always excited to hear how the kids are doing at school. Report cards and watching grades on papers that are sent home are always a part of staying on top of it but the teacher's perspective is always important to me.

Andrew's conference was yesterday. It seems that in 4th grade they start doing student led conferences. I asked him right before the conference if we were going to get bad news about how he was doing. He frowned and looked sheepish and said yes. I looked at him skeptically and asked why. He then tells me that he is going to have to tell us that he is practically perfect. (OH BROTHER) I just laughed at him. He is so funny about telling people how he is doing. Overall his conference was great. His scores are stellar and he is doing well in all subjects. Earlier in the year we had a lot of conversations with his teacher about how often he melted down and cried during class. After a good conversation with Andrew though we discovered that he wasn't eating a snack and it was a long time until lunch. His teacher was happy to report that he has stopped shutting down, is getting better at taking a deep breath and a moment to get control of himself and then trying again. Especially if he doesn't understand something right away. It was a wonderful affirmation that he is doing well in school in all areas. I am excited for him to continue to grow and advance in the next year.

Zane's conference was today and he is doing amazing as well. Zane is an amazing reader and has even moved to a group of readers that is done much more independently. His teacher was thrilled and wowed by the amount of words per minute he could read with 99% accuracy. She said that he often rushes through his morning work so he can move on to the independent reading the students are allowed to do while waiting for all the other kids to finish. Math concepts continue to click for Zane as well. He is almost completely done passing all the addition/subtraction tests that they evaluate kids on in 1st grade. Once he has completed those levels he will move on to multiplication. His teacher fully anticipates that he will be there before the end of the school year. It is always so nice to hear that Zane is doing well in social situations at school too. We heard how he is a kind and considerate boy in class. A natural leader among his peers in a fully positive way. When his teacher asked the class "Who are the leaders in their class?" She said Zane's name was the first one mentioned. He roots for the underdog, wants everyone to be included and is a great listener/direction follower within the classroom. We heard the words patient, on task, focused all referring to how he is in school. We shared with his teacher how nice that was to hear because it isn't the words we would always use about him at home. She was actually shocked to hear it but we are happy to deal with the negative behavior at home and let the school day get the best of Zane. In all it was a great conference and I can't wait to see how he grows!