The Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that
day!Nov 06 2009 08:36
After Emma's parent/teacher conference last night, I thought my heart was just going to burst out of my chest.
I have to give Emma's teacher some major props. She really is awesome and is certified as an Early Childhood Educator who is working on her teaching degree. The issues we've had are when she's not there. Emma just adores her.
So, her teacher basically told us that Emma's a genius and everyone loves her. She showed us Emma's journal and told us that Emma has better handwriting than most fifth graders. I was totally impressed by the journal. She then went on to tell us that Emma knows her entire alphabet (she has for years now) and can recognize every upper- and lower-case letter out of order/context. She can count to 100 with minimal prompting (the teacher told us that the rest of the class is working on getting to 10). And we were told that Emma's the most popular gal in the class. The teacher said that Emma should have started kindergarten this year. She recommended going to the principal of Emma's future elementary school and ask to have her tested and consider putting her in first grade instead of kindergarten. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's what my parents did with me and I turned out fine but I worry about throwing her into that structured environment with a bunch of older kids.
Anyway, the teacher did say that Emma gets bored easily. She said it's typical with kids who are ahead of the rest of the class. They're learning stuff she already knows and so she's been assigned a partner to help teach. They hope this will keep her focused without disrupting the class. I wish there were a special program she could be in to learn at her pace instead of the slower pace of her class. I hope it doesn't hold her back too much. There are a few other girls in Emma's class that are at the same level so the teacher is going to do a small group in the afternoon to teach them sight words and phonics. Hopefully this will get Emma interested in learning to read. I can't seem to motivate her to learn but maybe doing it with peers will. I have noticed in the last week she has been sounding out words constantly. I try to encourage her but I really don't know what I'm doing.
I felt so proud. I thought I might break down and cry right there in front of the teacher but I kept it together. At least we're doing the right things with our kids!
Then I went home and spent the next three hours on the shirt and tutu. I had a near-disaster that I managed to correct and I think it turned out really well. Ryan took it to work this morning and the gal I made it for has been gushing about it all morning so far. I have to say, it was a challenge sewing letters on such a teeny-tiny onesie (0-3 month). Emma stayed up with me until I finished it at 10:30 so she's super tired today. Good thing because Ryan has a show about 2 hours away tonight. He'll leave at 6pm and won't get home until well after midnight. So tired kids=early bedtime. Yay! A possible evening to myself. And, Ryan doesn't have to drive himself or take his drumset.
I got a waffle maker from my parents for my birthday. I have an awesome recipe for pumpkin waffles that I'm going to make for breakfast tomorrow morning. I can't wait!
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
I was put into a special program for third grade (you had to test in the top 1%) I went to a school that had a different program, and hated being at a different school than my sisters. But we were doing 6-8th grade stuff in 3rd grade, so I was finally challenged. Before that, I acted out a little in school, cause I taught myself to read at 3 1/2 and was writing chapter books a few years later, long division in 1st grade, multiplying 2 digit #s in kindergarten. When I went back to the regular school, I skipped 4th grade. I hated that, and even today wish I had just stayed in the G.A.T.E program. I was surrounded by kids who were like me. When I skipped a grade, the work was still eaiser than what I'd been doing. I went from doing 7th grade work in 3rd grade to 5th grade work. I also got treated like a weirdo cause everyone knew I skipped. I stopped trying so hard, so as to feel normal, and learned to be a slacker So coming from my experience, my best advice would be to find a program like that for her, where the teacher has been trained to deal with children like her. A teacher that understands her mind, and how much she can handle. Some teachers even, are intimidated when dealing with an advanced child. In 1st grade, I used to multiply my #s instead of add so my teacher gave me bad marks and treated me like I was stupid. It took my 2nd grade teacher to understand and get me tested. Sorry so long, jsut wanted to give you the persepctive of someone who has been through both a gifted program and getting skipped up. I hope you make the best decision and find a good program! Congrats on raising a great daughter. |
Wow, what an amazing story! I went to a montessori school as a kid and was advanced when I entered public school. They tried to put me in an "enrichment" program but I was lazy. Smart, but lazy. So it never went anywhere. I don't want that to happen to Emma. I now love learning and want her to share that feeling. I think we'll start looking at montessori schools at least and talk to the principal of the public elementary school to see what they say. Now I feel like I'm not challenging her enough! |
Yeah, a special school will be good. The one downside is parents who think that their kids are the best and smartest who create annoying little monsters who think they are superior. My mom always stressed us being down to earth and empathetic. My special school I went to was pretty clique-ish too. But I did learn a lot. |
I cheated throughout 1st grade because I got tired of doing the simple addition and subtraction problems. I would do a few, then go get someone else's paper, erase their name and put their name on my paper. The repetition was SO BORING! and it didn't help me on the timed tests in 2nd grade. Hated those. I didn't go to a special school, but I was part of the TAG (Talented and Gifted) program in 5th & 6th grade. They bussed us out once a week to another school, where they had special teachers. I think this might have been in the early years, when they first started trying to work things out for the gifted students. It was interesting, but highly unstructured, and I really don't know how much I gained. Some of the projects we did really emphasized creative brainstorming and that sort of thing. (And I had a couple of teachers who hated the program and really resented us leaving the classroom once a week). Then later I was in honors classes, and most of the time they taught us the same thing as the normal classes, but we had more projects. A school that had a structured program would have been awesome. THe montessori sounds wonderful. |
Rux-yeah, I took some honors and advanced placement classes in high school. My first one was honors biology and I remember the only difference between it and regular biology was having to collect and pin twice as many insects as the regular class. I went to school in the Blue Valley school district which, at the time, was ranked something like 6th in the nation for public schools. They had all kinds of gifted and enrichment programs and I wish we lived within that school district. We've talked about moving back into that area in the next several years simply because of the schools. |
Ohhhh Sweeeeet little Emma! I would be so freaking proud! I'm smart but lazy, too.
I just hope I'm a nurse by the time ari's school aged so I can afford to get her into a nice school or that we can move somewhere with better schools. AZ is one of the worst. |
That's funny - I am researching places nearby me right now to get the 4 year old tested. We know his memory is exceptional, and counting, simple addition and subtraction are very easy for him, but we don't want him to lose that desire to take in more knowledge. I was in the gifted program as well - I shared before that I took the SAT in 5th grade. I was like you - gifted but lazy - the lazy started after 7th grade with teachers who didn't know what to do with me. I took high school classes before elementary school in 8th grade but the elementary school teachers didn't know what to do with me so I spent my elementary school time either helping in the office or assisting the kindergarten class. NOT GOOD. The school wanted me to skip 2nd and 4th grade and my mom wouldn't let me. I think it would have been better for me to learn with kids that way - I just became disinterested by the time I was headed to high school because I wasn't REALLY learning anything new. This is new for me as a parent. Jay and Mon are bright - but they have to work at it. Vincent can memorize things - and then recite them backwards - he counts to 100 then back to 0. I want him to take in as much as possible without overwhelming him. I pray I find the right balance. I pray you guys find the right balance with Emma too! |
Oh, and post the pumpkin waffle recipe!!! I may try and adapt it to sweet potato YUMMY :) |
Here you go, Diva! http://pumpkinwaffles.wordpress.com/ultimate-pumpkin-waffle- recipe/ |
A side note, I killed and pinned an endangered species of dragonfly on that project and got docked a letter grade for it.
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