Conferences

Growing up I was always a pretty good student. I generally did what I was told and listened to my teachers. I almost always did my homework, but occasionally forgot to hand it in. I was a bit a chatty in class, but rarely disrespectful.
In fact, growing up I remember idolizing my teachers.
I think preschool set the tone of my loving school and my teachers (I could tell you about every single one of my teachers, but I think that might be a bit of a long post). My preschool teacher, Miss Paula, was cool. She was stylish and funny and read good stories. With the exception of my evil Kindergarten teacher, all I adored all my teachers. And even though I knew my conferences would go well, I always fretted about what would be said about me.
What if my teacher secretly didn't like me? What if I was failing and didn't know it? What if what if what if?

Inevitably, my teachers usually had the same things to say about me - "Jessica works hard. Jessica needs a little help with her organization. Jessica is quite the social butterfly. It's hard to believe that Jessica and JohnEthan are siblings".

My mother would come home with the same report: try to be more organized, remember to hand in your homework, ssssshhhhhhh. And then she'd take my brother in the other room and they would have a long talk that I was not invited to.

Addie has been in two day a week preschool since September. She loves it. She adores her teacher. She pouts on snow days, plays school with her dollies and repeatedly tells us that when she grows up she wants to be a teacher. She loves school, she loves learning and loves Miss Sue.

Tuesday was our first parent teacher conference. It was all of fifteen minutes long and it was glowing. Addison is a joy to have in class. Addison loves to learn. Addison is such a sweetie.

We were told that her cognitive development is right on. She recognizes her colors, numbers., shapes and letters. She is drawing most of her shapes. She recognizes her name and is starting to write it. She can count and recite her alphabet. She can hold pencils and scissors correctly.

She follows directions, expresses what she needs, has a good attention span and listens well. She is respectful to herself and her peers, takes turns and participates. And so forth and so on - a glowing report overall.

The places she needs improvement? Respecting school materials and cleaning up after herself - apparently she thinks everything she plays with belongs on the floor when she is done. Which is exactly what she does at home with her things and is a battle we've been fighting for the last few months.

We've seen her grow since starting school - she's become a better problem solver, her imagination has exploded. She is much better at turn taking and sharing. Her vocabulary is out of control. She points out words that rhyme, she can tell us that boy cardinals are red and girl cardinals are brown, she asks endless questions about the world around her.

Our silly 15 minute conference reassured me that Addie is doing a-okay. But what I loved most about it was seeing her work from the beginning of the year until now. Being with her all day, every day, I sometimes can't see how much she's changed or grown, but I think these pictures illustrate her growth perfectly.

In October, Miss Sue asked Addie to draw a face - this is her first attempt.

Miss Sue then told Addie she really needed her to draw a face - so Addie drew this.

Last week Miss Sue asked Addie to draw her family - and she drew this.

Leaps and bounds, she's grown, leaps and bounds.