June's First Grade Report Card - Quarter 1

I tend to roll my eyes at parents who post on Facebook about how very super smart smart their kids are, yanno, reading at a 5th grade level in Pre-K, and the baby speaking in prose.  It's just annoying, like your kid's poop doesn't stink.  Meanwhile my 3 year old is practicing to become the next street artist, starting with my freshly painted walls, and the baby's coolest trick is "so big."  Though I understand why. We work hard for our kids and when they excel, we are the first to cheer them on and gloat their success.  I try not to be that mom.  My kids are real kids.  They are amazingly awesome, and amazingly frustrating, and sometimes just odd.  I try to share the good with the real.

Regardless of all that, I do have something to boast about and I am, regardless of the onslaught of eye rolls that may follow.  ;)

June got his first report card for first grade and I was pleasantly surprised!  They gets measured by A, B, C, etc and also gets marks broken down by numbers: a 2 means "needs work," a 3 means "where he should be," and a 4 means "you rock."  Not in those exact words.. ;)

June got all A's in his subjects. Woop! He got all 3's and a bunch of 4's.

This I pretty much expected.  June is like my brother and Jim... academics come easy and with minimal effort.  It makes the "try-ers" of the world, like me, groan and hang their heads, yet as his parent it's not a bad thing.

Below is a sample of some of the marks:

LANGUAGE ARTS	Bergman, K	A
- -Continuum		ER3
-1.1 Foundational Skills
- -Reads grade level material with accuracy and fluency		4
- -Applies phonics and word analysis for decoding		3
- -Reads high frequency words		4
-1.2 Reading Informational Text

MATHEMATICS	Bergman, K	A
-2.1 Numbers and Operations
- -Develops and applies number sense		4
- -Develops and applies place value concepts		NA
- -Recognizes and understands money concepts		NA
-2.2 Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- -Applies addition skills accurately		4
- -Applies subtraction skills accurately		3
- -Demonstrates and explains problem solving skills		3

 She marked his handwriting at a 3, which I had to chuckle. (not pictured)  He already has doctor script handwriting.  It's bad.  And when you tell him to slow down, he goes painfully slow, just to spite you, I think.  He also got a 4 for "uses accurate spelling" which made me laugh too.  June "kid writes" EVERYTHING.  Kid writing is basically letting a child spell things phonetically, no silent e's, no "that sounds like an /o/ but it's actually an /a/." Everee thing loks lik this.  His writing always looks riddled with misspellings, but apparently his teacher doesn't see it that way. ;) I was happy to see that he is doing well academically.

However, I got to the behavioral section and was very very very pleased! I often wonder if he's nice in school, if he listens, if he behaves. And here I will gush without reservation.  What a good boy I have!

SKILLS FOR SUCCESSFUL LEARNERS	Bergman, K
- -Demonstrates positive attitude		4
- -Follows school rules		4
- -Follows directions		4
- -Practices self control		4
- -Stays on task		4
- -Respects self, others, and things		4
- -Works independently		4
- -Participates in class		4
- -Collaborates effectively with peers		4
- -Puts forth effort and perseveres		4
- -Displays problem solving and higher level thinking skills		4
- -Accepts challenges		4
- -Demonstrates organizational skills		4
- -Completes homework assignments on time		4

::beams::

No, I can't take credit for all that, but I can for some and I'm proud that he is a helpful part of the classroom.
I had his parent/teacher conference Tuesday and she had such wonderful things to say.  It made my mama heart happy.  He is in one of the higher reading groups, which is kinda cool.  He raises his hand and participates.  She has noticed that he can get flustered and is sensative, so she approaches him differently when she corrects him.  She kept saying, "He's just such a good kid." :) I'm sure other parents hear exactly the same, but I was happy to hear that he is a good integral part of the classroom as a whole.  He can still give me a run for my money here... it's the best thing I could hear, being told that he's doing well away from our little home bubble.

And I have to say... as hard as the homeschool v. school decision was, I have seen nothing but positives regarding our elementary school and the teachers so far. It's been such a good experience.  We are in a good district and a good school within the district, but all that aside, I'm just thrilled with how it has went so far.  It's wonderful to feel like my child is thriving, and it's not at my hand.  His teacher last year was wonderful and the one this year is so sweet and June adores her.  I really feel completely comfortable with her being the one to guide and teach, and for all intents and purposes, raise him for 6 hours a day.

Life has ups and downs and it is ever changing but for the moment, today is filled with happy butterfly and fuzzy rainbow feelings.  I'm one proud mama.