Oh My!

Anxious? Yes.
Scared? A little.
Of What? The first grade teacher.

I hear she doesn't bite, but jeesh I was sure sweating what she had to say.

Parent-teacher conference ... this time I was playing the role of the Mommy. I suppose it's good to keep myself grounded. I wonder if the 23 parents that came to conference with me last week were nervous?

Dad and I arrived right on time - I know how these things go, you get 15 minutes and then you're out because the next set of anxious parents are waiting just outside the door.

She opened with Logan's DIBELS scores. Nice strategy if I do say so myself, start with a strength. (Need I mention his reading skills are off the charts ... literally ... they don't fit on the graph.) She boasts about his reading group - ready to read AR books and take comprehension tests on the computer independently.

Next up? Spelling - he's got some mad spelling skills, we already know this. It's becoming increasingly more difficult for us to think of words that we can spell, but he can't. His teachers suggestion - get him in the spelling bee when the time comes. She said he's a pretty popular guy when the other kids need to know how to spell a word.

Whew, this isn't so bad. But wait, it's time for me to pull out my list of questions, surely this is going to get ugly.

Probably not your typical parent questions, but I've been studying up, and I decided to be honest ... "So ... regarding my son falling out of his chair multiple times a day and, well, eating his pencils ... I've been thinking about some tricks we could try, to help him with all of his wiggling and inattention."

Teacher thought said tricks were great ideas: rough velcro under desk (to focus attention without disturbing others or getting himself in trouble), disco seat (keeping his body moving AND his little butt in his chair), chewing on a straw (instead of germ infested pencils - or worse yet, his shirt sleeve, which was news to me).

First grade teacher was surprised to hear that LB tells us he doesn't like school. After some questioning he did reveal to me last week that he didn't like school because there is a lot of writing (hard) and cutting during Math (well, not really during Math, but that skill again, is hard).

She agreed his fine motor skills weren't the best in the class (but assured me he's not the only one who struggles with handwriting). When I asked if the OT could come evaluate, she replied, "no problem!" Neither of us are overly worried about how beautiful his printing will end up as an adult - my focus is to help him get to the point where writing and cutting aren't the most dreaded activities on the face of the Earth. Who needs nice print anyways? I'll just teach the kid to type!

We briefly touched on Math - and he seems to be keeping up, although he dreads any homework that reads "Everyday Math Home-Link." With his renewed interested in learning to count in Spanish, I hope we can rejuvenate his excitement for Math.

Mrs. First Grade commented on the growth of his social skills. While he is a social butterfly (i.e. he's always talking), he does succumb to peer pressure if matched with a particular student (or two). Momma Bear pointed out his most significant behavior concerns this year have been in unison with a certain somebody. Teacher agreed - it's time to move them away from each other.

I can't forget to mention - Mrs. First Grade purposefully scheduled our conference at the end of the night. No waiting parents to hurry us out the door. That's quite a compliment - it would be easy for a teacher to schedule parents back to back in order to get a difficult parent out more quickly. (Not that I would ever do that ...)

When it's all said and done:
First grade teacher meets Kindergarten teacher - everyone leaves happy.

No lions. No tigers. No bears.