Parent / Teacher Conference - Kindergarten Edition
(from Maggie's Mom)
Jorde and I were greeted warmly by Mrs. H, Maggie's Kindergarten teacher, as we entered her classroom for our 15 minutes of Parent/Teacher Conference. Though I know my girl is smart and sweet, I was still slightly anxious at the thought of hearing how well (or not) she was doing in school.
Mrs. H immediately began telling us how much she enjoyed having Maggie in her class. She sees our girl as an 'old soul' and told us how sweet Maggie is with the her school mates and how well she is learning, calling her 'very well-adjusted' and 'a happy kid.'
(One quick little side story: Mrs H plays music in the classroom in the mornings as the children are arriving and getting settled for the day. On the mornings she plays songs by Matt Maher, Maggie inevitably runs up to her and says, "My daddy plays that song," which always makes Mrs. H smile.)
"This may be my shortest conference because I only have good things to say," Mrs. H told us.
We briefly touched on Maggie's arm. Mrs. H said she did really well with having the brace on her arm - Maggie knew just what to do to take care of herself (for example: at wash up time, Maggie would take off the brace, wash up and put it back on and didn't let anyone hurry her even though her washing up took longer).
(The Mommy's Perspective: my girl is blissfully unaware that however long it takes her to do a task may possibly impact someone else. She takes the time she takes, so you need to adjust.)
(Which kind of leads us to the next comment from Mrs. H...)
Her teacher commented that she is reserving her opinion on Maggie's handwriting for now as she thinks the brace has set her back just a bit with regards to handwriting (Mags switched to her left hand for a while, and was consequently writing her name backwards from right to left, E-I-G-G-A-M. After we realized it and got her to use her right hand again even with the brace, some of her letters - especially her E - would still be backwards from those couple of weeks using her left hand. It is slowly but surely correcting itself.)
As she is looking through her notes and Maggie's work, Mrs. H's only 'negative' comment (which she clarified wasn't really a negative) is this: "She's a little bit ... I would like to see her be ... hmmm ... not quite so pokey."
Pokey. She used the word 'pokey'. I grinned and chuckled a little. Jorde didn't say anything, just sat, slightly nodding his head. Mrs. H looked at us a little perplexed so I said, "We call her 'Pokey' at home. She's not an easy one to rush," and, cocking a thumb towards Jorde, explained "We joke that she looks like me and acts like him," then relayed his mom's story of their Kindergarten P/T conference ...
(from Maggie's Grandma)
Our first Parent/Teacher conference! Jerry and I were confident that we would hear only
glowing comments about our brilliant son.
glowing comments about our brilliant son.
Instead we heard: “Jorde is slow.”
What immediately leaped into my mind was mental retardation. It actually took me quite some
time to realize that she meant he works slowly. A trait that apparently is genetic!
time to realize that she meant he works slowly. A trait that apparently is genetic!
(I just hope Jorde and Jennie don’t have a déjà vu experience at their first grade conference:
“Jordan is quite good at catching flies.")
(back to Maggie's Mom)
So, yeah. That apple didn't fall far from the tree.
And for the record, I'm not concerned about her wanting to learn to catch flies. Bugs are gross, you know. There is a bit of me on the inside, too :)
“Jordan is quite good at catching flies.")
(back to Maggie's Mom)
So, yeah. That apple didn't fall far from the tree.
And for the record, I'm not concerned about her wanting to learn to catch flies. Bugs are gross, you know. There is a bit of me on the inside, too :)