First Parent-Teacher Conference

Okay, so our first *official* parent-teacher conference. I once had a conference call with one of Addie's preschool teachers, but it was about a week after Landon was born and it took me a good four or five minutes to realize who I was talking to - HA!

ANYWAY. Back to the story at hand.

:)

So, we went early Monday morning to meet with Addie's kindergarten teacher. We had been asked to list any concerns on a sheet that we turned in to sign up for our time. The only concern we had was that some of Addie's work was coming home messy. As in, looking like a two-year-old had done it. She has always been so particular with her artwork and handwriting that it was a little concerning - was she rushed or hurried? Also, last week, she had been whining (obnoxiously, and every evening) that "Math and Phonics are tooo haaaard..." Again, this was kind of concerning because there has never been a single thing (school-wise) that has ever been "tooo haaaard" for her.

So we arrived Monday morning and Addie's teacher had her report filled out. Her strengths were listed as kind-hearted, hard-working and diligent. She told us how all of Addie's classmates just love her and how sweet she is to everyone. She also asked us if she has an older brother, because she said that she watches her on the playground and she "doesn't take anything off of ANYONE!" WOOHOO! This was probably one of my proudest moments, given my struggles with timidity/assertiveness. :)

ANYWAY - she said that with regards to the sloppy coloring, that all the kids get competitive and want to hurry to finish their tasks first and that she's having to work with them on this. That didn't necessarily make us feel better, but at least we're not alone. We mentioned the whining about math and phonics and she just laughed and said, "I will tell you this - she is definitely not struggling with either." She did explain to us that their math block is NINETY MINUTES LONG and it's right after lunch. Can you imagine? I can't imagine sitting through math for 90 minutes now, much less as a five-year-old. She said that this is a new math program this year and that she and the other teachers are figuring out creative ways to break up the teaching/learning.

Addie's teacher also showed us Addie's kindergarten testing that was done two weeks before school started. She said that she was impressed, and we were, too! Addie was already "near-mastery" (the goal of Kindergarten being "mastery") for almost all of the subjects, and at "mastery" for some. She still has plenty to learn, obviously (the least of which are patience and non-whininess ;)), but we definitely feel good about where she is.

One thing Addie's teacher warned us about and told us to be on the lookout for is the clique-y behavior of girls. She said she's already starting to see some of it in her classroom so she is giving all the girl parents a heads up. I mean, REALLY?! I expected this conversation from say, a third or fourth grade teacher, but I can't believe in Kindergarten. *Sigh.* Hopefully my "kind-hearted" girl will miss a little bit of this. I can hope, right?

All in all, it was a great conference about our sassy little girl!