This week, we had our makeup parent-teacher conference for Katie...we missed the scheduled day because I had to pick Katie up early because she had a fever at school. That's a whole different story :) Anyways! We had our meeting on Tuesday, and it went great! I didn't really know what to expect since Katie is only three, but it is always helpful to get insight from your child's teacher.
Her teacher started off by telling us four adjectives that she thought best described Katie: cheerful, thoughtful, cooperative, and artistic. Wow! My heart just exploded with pride. I love that Katie loves school and she is excelling! As a parent, it also makes me think that I (we) must be doing something right! Now, she isn't always so cooperative at home, but the fact that she is at school makes me so happy and proud!
Next, she went through some social and emotional development items for children this age: plays well with others, shares with friends, is not easily distracted, is responsible for belongings, knows & follows classroom rules, follows directions, puts on coat without help, and goes to bathroom without help. There was a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being "mastered") - Katie got "5" on all of them except the responsible for belongings and puts on coat without help...those got a 4, which is pretty typical of this age!
Fine and gross motor skills were next: holds pencil correctly, writes name correctly, uses scissors with ease, and can draw a person with 2-4 mentioned parts (I think she had 6 of the 8!). She got a "5" on all of these!
The math area was next: counts objects 1-10, matches the number to the set 1-5, and identifies shapes. Again, Katie got a "5" on all of these!
Literacy was the next focus area. The items were recognizes first name, identifies uppercase alphabet, and recognizes friend's names. She got a "5" on all of these...she recognized all 11 names of friends and teachers! The teacher part is impressive because she couldn't just go by the first letter (they both have 'Ms.' at the beginning) - it required looking ahead! Identifying lowercase alphabet is something she needs to work on, but that is age appropriate and is something we can work on at home and something she will learn next year at preschool.
Katie has been blessed with good teachers every year, and I know that has played a big role in her love of learning and school. I am so proud of the little lady she is becoming. Yes there are challenging days and days where her behavior is less than stellar, but when I hear that she cooperates at school every time, it makes it all alright. I'd rather have the uncooperative days at home rather than at school for sure! By the end of the meeting, I started to tear up just thinking about how big my Sugar Bear is getting...she is so smart and I can't believe that a year from now, I will be registering her for kindergarten!! Time, slow down!
