This week Parker brought home his 2nd Q report card. For most parents this is probably an exciting time to check on their child's progress but it is one of the most stressful days for me. I expect a lot because I know he is capable of doing very well. I actually asked Penny if I could look at it first, alone. I need to process my thoughts before talking to him because he doesn't respond well to the Bobby Knight coaching style, he needs encouragement mixed with discipline.
Lets break it down. The grading system goes something like this
B = Beginning (shows little understanding of concepts)
D = Developing (shows some understanding of concepts)
S = Secure (can apply skill accurately and independently)
E = Exceed (can apply skill beyond the expectations)
The areas that each child are graded on are the following:
Science, Social Studies, Reading, Writing, Math, Art, Music, Phy. Ed and Work Habits
Work Habits - 1 "S" and 7 "D"s.
-Improvement from last quarter but probably the most challenging area. This involves staying on task, getting work completed timely, following directions and organization. Ughhhhhhh. Such an easy thing to fix when you are 33 and understand the concept. Not so much at 5.
Science - 1 "E" and 2 "S"s
-If you know Parker, this category is a walk in the park. This quarter the class worked on Seasonal Changes, Plants and Animal recognition. His favorite movies are Human Planet, Planet Earth and the Life series. He could probably teach this subject if you asked him too.
Social Studies - 4 "S''s
-Family, Economics (really?), Transportation and effort. This one speaks for itself. We must do an ok job of talking about those topics because he is doing well.
Reading - 1 ''D'', 8 ''S''s and 2 ''E"s
-Parker does really well with reading. He has loved books since he was little and we tend to read books that are about nature, dinosaurs, reptiles....pretty much boy things to him on a regular basis. 2-3 times a week he brings home assignments for reading and is able to read the books all by himself. We are so proud because this is something he enjoys now and hopefully that continues. Most of the level 1 books we have he can read independently.
Writing - 1 ''D'', 1 ''S''
-The class is working on simple sentences, writing down what they are doing or describing a picture that they drew. One thing I learned is that we should let him write words based on how they sound to him instead of having us write them first. Now that we are doing it correctly you can see the wheels turning when we work on this at home. We love watching him figure it out on his own, the tough part is not helping him with the spelling of his words.
Math - 1 ''D'', 3 ''S''s and 3 ''E''s
-This seems to be natural for him, the only area he struggled at was his effort. Is he bored? Not challenged? We'll have to see what happens during this quarter. Nice work Parker!
Art - 4 ''S'' and 1 ''E''
-Another area that he really loves is art. Again, if you know him it all he will color or play with play-doh all day long if you let him. I remember one day when we were packing up stuff before moving and he played at the kitchen table with play-doh for almost 8 hours. Who does that? I think we actually have a picture with about 100 sharks made out of play-doh. I told you he was going to be my art major!
Music - 3 ''D''s and 2 ''S''s
-Pretty much the same as last quarter, he doesn't love music right now but he does well enough to get by.
Phy. Ed - 2 ''D''s and 3 "S''s
-He actually regressed in this subject for not following instructions. This is our biggest challenge.
Notes from the teacher:
Parker is doing a nice job on consciously being aware of his need to work on organization and staying on task. I have seen a significant improvement from last quarter! Academically he continues to be strong in all areas. I will continue to challenge him to gain more independent skills at being able to stay on task by trying to get him to work with the higher Math group. He is able to do the skills they are working on academically, he needs to work on staying on task to keep up with the pace.
We are so proud of him and know what we need to work on together.
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