Today we had conferences with each of the kids’ teachers. We are so glad we separated them this year, as we have found that they each have their own strengths and learn very differently from each other.
Cooper’s Conference:
Cooper is apparently VERY popular with the girls at school. They fight over who gets to set next to him and when they do sit next to him, they pet him. The teacher has to remind the girls to keep their hands to themselves and to leave Cooper be. Even the other teachers tell Cooper’s teacher, ‘What is up with Cooper and all the girls?!’. Now it explains the fact that he seems to come home every week with another new girlfriend.
Cooper went up to a teacher during recess and was frustrated saying, ‘I can’t run fast!’. The teacher explained that he should keep practicing. He emphatically said, ‘No, come watch. See, look how fast he is! He’s faster than everyone. I can’t run that fast.’ The teacher explained to us that Cooper was trying to keep up with Tatum Bell’s son, as in the Denver Broncos football player, Tatum Bell. Cooper looks like a puppy with paws that are too big when he runs. It’s awesomely awkward and adorable.
As for school, he is performing above expectations in all areas. He is rhyming, can recognize all letters (upper & lower) and sounds, has started sounding out words, and reading high frequency words. He has reading comprehension, and can write detailed stories independently. He still needs to work on fine motor skills, especially with cutting and holding a pencil. He excels in math and is showing higher level thinking and problem solving, as well as explain his thinking. Socially he has a lot of friends, is sweet and excited about school and the teacher is most impressed by his listening, application of concepts and memory.
Cooper was also student of the month this month for ‘being a hard-worker, friend to all, respectful, responsible, and all around great kiddo’.
Charlotte’s Conference:
Charlotte brightens everyone’s day at school. ALL of the teachers say she makes them feel like they are the most important person in her life and even when they are having a bad day, she makes them smile. She spends most of her time with all the boys because according to her ‘she feels sporty and the girls don’t do that stuff’. The teachers confirm that she would rather play soccer and basketball with the boys during recess. She is particularly skilled at music.
Charlotte is performing above expectation in rhyming and letter recognition, as well as counting. She is performing at expectation for letter sounds, and all other areas of math (shapes, counts by 1s and 10s, number recognition, number sequence, and more/less than comparison). She will begin seeing the teacher aide for writing and reading, as she is on the bubble and we (teachers and us) don’t want her to fall behind. She is showing a lot of frustration, especially with reading – memorizing sight words and sounding out words. They’ve learned 10 words a month (so on their third set) and she can consistently recognize about 9. As a result of not being able to put the sounds together, she struggles with writing as well. She is still working on writing both letters and numbers. Socially she is doing fantastic – completing work independently, participating in class, listens and follows directions, and is friendly to everyone.
We have noticed that Charlotte is very frustrated that things aren’t easy for her like they are for Cooper. She was very bothered that she wasn’t Student of the Month. We see these as good signs that she wants it, so we are working on finding the right thing to help her learn the best. She is mostly an auditory learner, and gets incredibly overwhelmed with visual information. This is hard, as the rest of us in the family are visual learners. We know music helps her learn quicker, which is why rhyming comes very natural to her. The teachers plan to give us feedback from her one on one sessions.
We have separated the kids for some of their homework (Cooper gets competitive or he tells her the answer) and the teachers gave us some ideas on how to get Cooper to teach Charlotte, rather than making Charlotte feel bad. It is so hard to see her so frustrated. I know she is capable and I want learning to be fun for her. If any teacher friends have recommendations, please let me know!
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