Longest Day Ever

All day yesterday I kept thinking it was the 30th. As a matter of face I was so convinced of it I was arguing with Joe about it last night. I literally went through the entire day thinking in my head that it was March 30th. I knew it was Tuesday, but I swore it was the 30th. Sure makes March 30th a long day when it lasts for 48 hours instead of 24.

But today, the actual March 30th I had the last of conferences. Natalie's were last week and I had Kaitlyn and CJ today. So here's how my kids are doing in their school this year.

Natalie has ended the marking period with 5 A's and 2 B's. Her Language Arts class is her best class. Her teacher loves her. She has been a little tougher of a grader this marking period, but Natalie is still maintaining a high A in her class. Social Studies was a huge problem for her last marking period and the beginning of this one. She brought that grade up from an 84 to a 92. Impressive considering the work usually doesn't get easier as the year goes on. Her teacher says she's much more involved in class now too. Her Math grade went down from last marking period, but it's still a B. It's an 82. Her teacher seems to think she's doing well and also said she's more involved in class. I asked him what she's apparently having trouble with and he thinks on tests she's making computation errors and not reading directions. However, she's not apparently rushing through, but he says she has enough time so I guess she needs to do a little better time management. He is recommending her for Pre-Algebra next year. There are 3 basic math classes they fall into in 7th grade; basic, pre Algebra, and Algebra. The Algebra class apparently is high school work and really there are only a handful of kids in that class so she's right on target. Her Science grade was a huge shocker to me at midterm. She had a 62 at midterm. That was actually because of missing work which she wasn't missing, but there were also some low lab grades. So after conferencing with her teacher back in February Natalie had retaken a test and some labs and the missing assignment was found. It was the teacher who had dropped the ball there. So she managed to pull that grade up to an 87! And again her teacher feels that Natalie is asking for help more which is probably a huge reason for the improvement. So now her goal is to get that math and science grade up to an A so she can make high honors next marking period. I am confident she can do it too if she applies herself like she has been.

Next is Kaitlyn. I had spoken to her teacher a month ago so not too much new. He still remains impressed with her. I am too. As a matter of fact her report card is the best I have seen it ever. No letter grades; just numbers. Usually she's got lots of 2's with some 3's thrown in, but this time it was a lot more 3's and even some 4's. So that was good to see. And her reading teacher says she's right on target with the Wilson program she is doing with her. And we're on the same page. She wants Kaitlyn to continue with the program next year so hopefully when we have her PPT in May or June we won't see too many changes to her IEP. Well, hoping for no changes at all except for the goals maybe to be higher. She is responding so well to this teaching method though and I will forever be disappointed in her previous school that they did not listen to me and teach her like this, because this is exactly the kind of teaching method I was looking for them to do with her instead of the whole word memorization process they use to teach reading these days.

Finally we have CJ. His teacher says he's doing well. She was a little concerned that some of his things were low, but he has a lot of things that are high too so they average out. Plus, he's a young 3. Actually, the youngest in his class this year so in comparison with his classmates he's really the baby of the group. I did ask his teacher about his climbing. She said they haven't been able to get on the climber really so she hasn't seen him climb much, but she did say she's noticed that he has a hard time getting up from the floor and it's like he's really unsure of himself. So she said we could have OT take a look at him and see if there are any concerns. So I agreed to do that. Can't hurt to get him looked at. I know from experience that stairs are really tough for him. Of course he is so small and our stairs are so big and there are so many of them so it's intimidating and tough. This has always been an area which he has been behind in, but we want to make sure he's not falling further behind. Something he's really good at though (advanced even for his age) is interacting with his peers. Guess that's the benefit of having so many siblings though. He has a clear purpose to his play and makes up scenarios when he's playing with his friends. His teacher seemed impressed with that. Guess that explains why the boy is so popular and everyone screams his name when they see him.

So we ended the conferences with a trip to the book store today and CJ got two books. Natalie had gotten her books last week and we will take Kaitlyn to her book fair on Friday to pick out some books. CJ has already had everyone read his books to him too.

I'm glad to finally see March 30th come to an end though. It is about time.