This morning was CootieBoy’s parent-teacher conference to check in and see how he is doing in first grade. He has only been with his new teacher for five weeks or so, but she had nothing but high praise for him. She said he’s very fun and for the most part is well-behaved in class. She said he mainly gets in trouble for talking when he’s not supposed to, but the primary reason he talks is because he finishes his work early and gets bored waiting for everyone else to catch up. *lol*
I already knew his reading was excellent, given the fact he reads advanced books for a first grader. She mentioned that her goal as a
first grade teacher is to get her students to test at a Level I at the
END of first grade. He’s already reading at a Level K, which is
firmly into 2nd grade reading levels. She said he actually reads at a
level L/M (approaching 3rd grade levels), but his ability to
comprehend and recite back the story intent is not consistent, which
is why he was placed at a Level K. She said she’s very confident that
at the rate he’s going he’ll be at Level M by the end of the school
year, if not an N or O (approaching 4th grade levels), with 100%
comprehension. Wow.
She also praised CB’s math skills, saying that when she asks for
answers (i.e., the sum of 7+9) he’ll raise his hand and give the
correct answer without hesitation or using his fingers to come up with
the answer. She told me that she’ll be starting multiplication after
the Christmas holidays but that I was welcome to run through
multiplication flash cards with him if I wanted to challenge him more
before then, since he’s already a pro with addition and subtraction.
She encouraged me to continue letting him sign on the IXL.com, which
is a math website for students, because that will only continue to
improve his skills for seeing math patterns and determining
calculations.
Behaviorally she said that he gets easily frustrated and can be
emotional, which I acknowledged has been a problem since he started
school. Part of it stems from his being the youngest in the class, as
well as one of the smaller children physically. He’s still a rough
and tumble little boy so I’m not worried about other kids picking on
him, but he does get his feelings hurt quite easily. She said that
she normally just has him go into the restroom to spend a couple
minutes calming down, and then once he comes out he’s fine and carries
on like nothing happened. I need to figure out tools to help him cope
when his emotions go awry, which will help not only at school but at
home as well.
In any event, it was a great conference, his teacher is perfect for
his needs, and as I was leaving I saw CB in the hallway and whispered
to him, “You’re doing a great job – keep up the good work!”
Good work, Cootieboy! We are happy you are doing so well!