Parent Teacher Conferences

Yesterday was Parent Teacher Conferences for us!  I managed to sign up for all four kids on the same day, one right after each other!  I was so proud of myself :).  Course then Bradley's teacher had to reschedule his because of a family emergency, so that stinks, and we will have his on Thursday, but I wanted to document everyone else's while it was fresh in my mind (as fresh as a day old can be :) ).
Kelly was first.  Mrs. Ashliman had THE NICEST things to say about her!!  I LOVE that woman, she is so full of energy (even though she's 47!!! ---couldn't believe THAT!), and so full of love for the class and for teaching.  It's so impressive to me how organized and fun she can be at the same time!  And I'm SO grateful that Kelly got her this year!  She really is a breath of fresh air from last year's Mrs. Rafferty blah.  No offense to Mrs. Rafferty, she's just different.  Anyway, Kelly is extremely high on the reading scale, she's doing great in Math, science, art.  She had all 3's except typing which her teacher said is to be expected at the first of the year.  We've got to bring her 3 wpm up to 10 by the end of the school year :).... hopefully she'll practice a little more now that we've made that our goal.  It's really nice to see her doing so well and enjoying 3rd grade so much!

Charity was next.  Mrs. Davis is a sweetheart, and SO organized as well!  I love that!  And I love the fact that I taught her kid swimming lessons :).  She is such a great teacher!  And I can tell that she loves Charity and her ability to stay on task.  That's really nice.  Charity is one of the best readers, at a 7.5 grade reading level!  She is typing 26 wpm which is way more than the 20 she needs to have it at by the end of the school year.  She's doing well in all of her subjects for that matter, all 3's on her report card.  It's really nice to hear how much she benefits her class and how much of an asset she is.  I love that people recognize that about her.  She is going to work on making her bed and cleaning her room!  Great goal for a teacher to suggest :).

Luke was last.  Mrs. Savage is one of my favorite teachers... all three of these are actually.... in the school.  We're so blessed to have such good ones this year!  She helped us figure out a way to get Luke interested in reading since that was one of the things he had a lower score on with his report card.  And when we got home we tried it and amazingly it worked!  But she showed us a lot of his work, how his handwriting has progressed, and how great he is at figuring out and finishing patterns.  Which is really fun to see :).  She told us he is a good boy in class and she doesn't have to get after him at all.  I was SO happy to hear that!  I know he can focus, but I also know he can sometimes not :) So I'm glad he does at school.  He loves it and that's all that REALLY matters to me at this point :). 

We finally went to Bradley's.  His was just as fun as the others :).  He's doing well in so many areas!!  It's tough with the way they do the grading, if they miss one question on one piece of paper, they can end up with a 2.75 or a 2.5 instead of a 3.  Kinda weird.  But either way.  He's one of 3 of the top readers in his class, and he has made so much progress, she's recommended him to go to SEM (which is just the funnest thing in the world according to the girls) so he's really excited about that.  His two best friends get to go to SEM, and now he will too!  So we're proud of him!  He has excellent math skills.  I still can't help but wonder if that comes from all the Baby Einstein he watched as a kid :).... I wonder.  The only area we could even think to set a goal in for Bradley was his handwriting.  He does pretty good, and she said she wasn't worried about his handwriting, she just wanted to challenge him to get even better at it.  I liked that.  She's not my favorite teacher- I love her as a person, she's really fun to talk to and we have lots in common, so that's fun- but as a teacher, I feel like she's still learning.  She's fairly new.  I do wish she was just a teensy bit more cheerful.... but then again, who am I to request something like that out of someone right!  Hopefully Brad doesn't notice it like I do when I'm in there.  Anyway.  It's been a good first quarter for Bradley!  I hope he can keep it up!  I'm so proud of him and the progress he is making and I think my favorite thing that she told us was that he is a good helper, good friend, and "SO POPULAR!  Everyone knows Bradley and looks up to him."  Yep.  That's my boy.  He is amazing. 

I just LOVE that my kids are good at school.  They're not perfect by any means, but this is one thing I don't dread, and I enjoy praising them and rewarding them for being such good students.  What a relief it is!