Our School Progress

Evan's Progress

Well, I suspect I'll have more information about Evan's progress at school soon as we have parent-teacher conferences coming up and get those first REPORT CARDS!  Yikes!  Eddie did speak to his teacher briefly last week and was told Evan was doing very well in reading and math.  His nanny had him adding double digit numbers this summer so I'm not surprised.  Ha!  I'm excited for him because I know he is doing well.  He is always so excited about learning and doing his homework.  He is really progressing in his reading and writing and is learning to sound out and spell words too.  I find that if I ask him directly what he did at school that day, he will have difficulty "remembering," but if he starts the conversation by telling me something that he enjoyed doing, I can usually get him to tell me more about his day.  It's like his little mind wants to remember and tell the story its own way.  Usually, one of his pieces of work will help to bring out the story too.  He has gotten better about bringing home library books and is enjoying doing so now.  Although he has brought home a few pieces of work, I suspect his teacher is keeping most of it for us. I can't wait to see all that he has been up to.  He hasn't turned in his homework yet.  They get their homework assignments for the whole month (October was the first month), and he has been working on the daily assignments and checking them off.  He has always been very conscientious about following instructions so I don't foresee any problems there.  I think his main problem is feeling like he has to rush to complete something when he wants to take his time and do a careful job.  We have been trying to get him to school earlier in the mornings so he has time to do his morning work (they write in their journals every morning) because he was getting frustrated about never having time to finish.  Besides that, we've heard no complaints yet!

In this assignment, he is supposed to practice writing his sight words (a, the, and, go).  He has recently started writing his a's and u's with little tails on them that curve up.  I hope his teacher is okay with this artistic flair in his writing.  

This is one he brought home from school from fire prevention week.  He loves recognizing patterns.  I think that is his OCD nature coming out!  

And this is his drawing of a house on fire.  The red stuff in the windows is fire, and the wiggly structure at the side of the house is a ladder to rescue that little person in one of the upstairs windows.  Thankfully, this doesn't really look like our house.  

I think they read "The Kissing Hand" on one of his first days of school, and he loved telling me how sweet the story was about the mommy kissing the little raccoon's paw so that when he missed her, he could put his paw to his cheek to remember his mommy's kisses.  

I love that his pictures have gotten a lot more detailed.  Not only does his person have all  required limbs and  features (except hair), it also has correctly colored grass, sky and sun.  :-) 

And my personal favorite...a little story.  His assignment was just to tell about his morning routine, but he proudly wrote his down.  I think his nanny may have added the punctuation.  It says, "i wake up and get dressed.  i eat break-fast, brush my teeth. Get my backpack and shoes."  

Brody's Progress:

Brody's progress in school has been only slightly hampered by having to miss a few days for having cold-like symptoms.  He learned to love his new school routine very quickly.  He walks into school and right into his classroom most days without even looking back.  He seems to enjoy eating all of his lunch.  His teachers tell me some days he "isn't acting himself" or is acting more tired than normal although I think it is actually his normal to act tired in the morning.  I think one of the most difficult transitions for this boy was missing his morning naps.  I also think that when he has to be out one day, and it is longer between his school days, he has a harder time adjusting to the routine.  He hasn't been taking morning naps at home much anymore either, but I am sure he gets more tired at school from all the extra activities.  He does seem to enjoy doing his art projects as he comes home some days with the evidence all over his clothes.  Luckily, all has come out in the wash so far.  One day last week, the teacher told me they were going to make footprint ghosts for art.  Then, one morning after that while Eddie and I were getting ready, Brody went into our office and found one of his art projects.  He had it on the floor and was "carefully" stamping his feet on the paper.  I think he remembered the process of making his footprint art, don't you?

First finger painting.  He came home with yellow paint all over his shirt this day, but I was glad for the artwork because Evan never liked finger painting and hated getting messy. 

Sweet finger painting in which I can see some of those sweet finger and hand prints. 

Some Halloween stamp art. 

The only bad news to report is that the biter strikes again.  We were so happy that we had not had an incident in a long time and no incidents at school yet.  Sadly, that streak ended last Friday when this paper came home.

:-(

After reading the paper, I was happy with the way the problem was resolved, and I could see the reason for Brody's actions.  He loves a car more than anything in the world and will act defensively if it is taken from him.  After talking to one of his teachers this morning who is so good with young children, I got a clearer picture of the incident.  She explained that because of Brody's younger age, he doesn't have as clear an understanding of boundaries yet.  He will sometimes sit in a chair that another child is already sitting in or walk over and try to start playing with a toy another kid was recently playing with.  So if Brody went to sit in a car that another kid was sitting in, he just thought he was sharing it and not trying to take it.  The other kid probably reacted aggressively towards him to get him out of the car, and Brody acted defensively.  I actually watched through the window one day as Brody waited patiently for another kid to leave his favorite little baby stroller alone so that he could push it around so I know he knows not to take stuff from another child, but I understood the boundary issue.  In his mind, all kids are like his brother.  He loves his brother, and his brother loves him so his brother doesn't mind when Brody wants to be near him and wants to lay on him or sit on him usually.  The kids in Brody's class are younger so they are not as understanding.  I guess this is a great learning opportunity for them all.  Brody does understand when he is told no and not to do something although his ability to remember and retain that information for the future may not be well-developed yet.  When he acts out against me because he is frustrated about something, I hold his hand and tell him sternly no.  If he tries to hit at me, he gets a little pop on the hand.  He will poke that bottom lip out in the cutest pout and do his silent little cry of disappointment.  He is such a sweet baby, and I just worry that others will not see it.  After seeing his favorite teacher with him today, I can tell she definitely knows how sweet he is though.