Parent Teacher Conferences

It's already into the third quarter of school! My girl is half-way through kindergarten! (Yes I am "yelling" and "excited.") Wow, this year has gone quickly - I mean, I already bought her a lunch box for 1st grade. What? It was a great deal on groupon. I even think the 100th day is coming up next week. For some reason, that's a big deal in the younger grades.

I am enjoying her being in kindergarten. School is going well for her but I still get her back for half the day. Full-day school is going to be rough on this momma. But, it is great to see her learn and excel at school. Yes, there are things I could do without - she has picked up a few habits I'd rather her not have and she seems to be easy going and do whatever her friends say, just so she can play with them - which is a bit innocent now but won't be soon and feelings will get hurt. 

Last night we went to Parent-teacher-conferences. The kindergarten teachers have set up "walking conferences" to help us watch J demonstrate some of the activities they work on in class. We walk in the room, find a folder (with her name on it of course,) and start working through the different stations. 

There was a math station with the game "bears in a cave" kind of like "what's missing?" There are 10 plastic bears, the child (or parent) closes their eyes while the other person puts some (or all as J did once) of the Bears in a cup and some stay out on the table. Once the person opens their eyes, they have to decide how many bears are in the cup. An x=? equation for kindergarten. She did great - only off by one when the numbers were 3 & 7 or 4 & 6. 

The next station was reading site words. She did all but one! She has great memory skills. 

There was a station for book reading. The folders told each child which book the teacher wanted them to read (what level they were on) and each child read the same book for a total of two books. She once again did a great job (though we've noticed, because of her memorizing skills, she is more able to read a book quickly without help if she's read it before. :) I'm sure everyone would be that way. So these books weren't new to the kids but I think frustration was not wanted at conferences so success was easily given. And can I just say, I love watching her read! It is so amazing to see and hear her little mind figure it out. 

The last station was more for the student to have fun. She showed us at the water table how they mixed primary colors to make secondary colors. Her teacher also had some fun science things to look at - "quiet bottles" that didn't mix very well but that's okay, and some little beads that absorbed water and expanded.

After finishing all the stations, we sat down with her teacher and J was praised for being a great student and she was told how much her teacher loved watching her learn and grow into a wonderful young lady. It does a parents' heart good to hear praise of their child so I'm glad her teacher makes it a point for every child (that I know of anyway.) she showed us J's scores for the "dibles" testing they do each quarter. And I did ask her if J stays in her seat when she needs to because we've been having issues with that at home. Even then, her teacher was careful in how she worded her answer so as not to embarrass J in front of us and still give me a proper answer: "she's been getting more social and brave (J was so shy at the beginning of the year) but it's been fine. Kindergarten is where you learn these things!" I am so pleased with J's teacher; some people have the right kind of patience for this age and I'm glad she definitely does. 

I know my baby can't stay in kindergarten forever, but I wish all my experiences with teachers and conferences could be like this.