10/28/08

Open House

After a very busy but only moderately productive day we remembered that the kids school was having an open house. It was our first real visit with their teachers and we get to snoop through their school work and see if they are learning anything. Definately not something the kids will let us miss. They are in two different classrooms because the kindergarten class was too big to fit with the rest of the 1st 2nd and 3rd graders ,there are 8 kids in his grade. They made part of the library into a K classroom and the teacher has done a great job making it a fun learning space. I thoroughly enjoyed having my kids drag me along showing me everything in their classroom . I'm so glad that they both enjoy school.

Its always informative to talk with the teachers..and often funny. Aili's teacher repeated the things her past teacher always told us...its good to have someone else see the same traits in her. Apparently she is the "friendliest kid in the
school" and is everyones best friend. She is always concerned about the feelings and well being of others. The down side of that is she is very sensitive and comes apart when that friendship isn't recipricated or when her little friends are fickle or inconsiderate....as kids too often are. She has had some teary days recently. She is so loyal that she just doesn't understand the 'friends one day- ememies the next' scenarios at school. I told her it makes me sad that she sometimes gets left out or picked on but it would make me even more sad to find out she was a "mean girl" the one doing the bullying. Acedemically she is loving school. She is such a school work junkie that she actually gets excited when she has homework.

Romans teacher is the one I was anxious to talk to. I've been hoping that he would have a teacher that understood him and appreciated his unique and challenging personality. I don't think he could have a better teacher. She is an older experience lady that just epitomizes what a kindergarten teacher should be, full of enthusiasm and a love of what she does.

It was obvious as we looked through his "school work" that his fine motor skills and attention span still need some work. Nathanael exclaimed (when Roman was out playing in the gym) that his was the worst writing of all the kids. His teacher was SO posative and insisted that if you look closely his letters were improving slightly from A-D. I wish I could say I saw it. I did notice that his A's transformed into nice little bows and arrows part way through the page...because obviously thats more interesting than drawing A's. His name is almost recognizable...well I recognized an O in there and what appeared to be an R. The upside is his teacher is in love with his charming personality.

She said that his "emotional quotient" (whatever that is) is really very high. His imagination and inquisitiveness is over the top. He definately doesn't lack enthusiasm and he is also the first one to offer an act of kindness or generousity to her or other students. He is always offering to share his lunch with his teacher and one day in the middle of class he stood up and annouced "excuse me, I would just like to thank you for teaching us all this stuff. I really appreciate it."...and then sat down. I just giggled because that is SO Roman. So over the top and so sincere about it. He is highly affectionate as well and his teacher laughed as she told me stories about his many hugs and borderline appropriate displays of affection he has bestowed on her. Thats my boy. She told us that "he does have some trouble sitting still" SHOCKER! Now this is how amazing she is. She let him fiddle with a hacky sack to make sitting still less painful for him and to help him pay attention...that was until it started getting launched in the air. She told me that she has heard of kids being able to sit on small exercise balls in class and was thinking of trying that. I picture him bouncing upsidedown on it and told her good luck with that.

All I can say is God Bless her for trying! She earns every penny she makes with Roman in the class. He might be ridiculously high in energy and impulsive but he is respectful and kind....and that is more important to me than having the best penmanship in the class.

An unrelated Roman story: Lately he has been raiding my recycling bins to build his "fleet of robots" . He's not going to be an evil villain though...in case you were wondering...he just wants to be king of the world and he will need a robot army to accomplish that. Look out world.

I picked two random photos of my kids but they show Roman and Aili's personalities pretty well. Aili the little mother and Roman the fearless adventurer.
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3 comments:

ahiebert said...

I'm so glad that your kids have been given teachers that are willing to see them as individuals. Isn't it fun and amazing to see the differences and uniqueness in our children...

Jobina said...

I love how you write about your kids, I can tell that you see them as treasure, because that's how you talk about them. They are not only lucky to have wonderful teachers but wonderful parents who believe in them and bring out the best in them!

lanagummeson said...

Aww so fun! I loved reading this as a teacher who has always tried to see the parts of a kid that truly reflect who they are inside. It was a joy to read about those lovely kids of yours. Quite honestly, A looks SO much like you to me and I remember you being someone who was a friend to everyone also. (oh and I finally updated my blog - sorry friend - its been intense here... sometimes I forget that ontop of all the major stresses - I just moved to a far away place (my first day off of North America was 3 months ago) and that transition stuff is in the mix of craziness even if I can't put my thumb on it!!!)
Love u - you are a good mom! The best stuff you teach them is singing your praises loud and clear and my friend, you teach them by doing not telling... I am proud to call you friend.