It’s hard to believe that next weeks is Avery’s ninth week of kindergarten! That means that the first grading period ends, and she’ll be getting her first kindergarten report card. The end of the first nine weeks also means it’s time for parent-teacher conferences.
This was new territory for us. I was a little nervous about what Ms. Kidd would tell us. While we know that Avery is a good girl, we just didn’t know how she acts at school! Our main concern is that Avery seems to be a follower. This isn’t all bad…except when she follows a child who is misbehaving!
Ms. Kidd assured us that Avery is well behaved. She even said Avery is “a calming influence” in the classroom. She is sweet, kind and has befriended a fellow student who needs a little extra help. She follows directions well, talks at the appropriate time and completes her work on time.
Academically, Avery is off the charts. She recognizes letters, words and numbers and knows the sounds of the letters. In several areas, she already is at the level she is expected to be at when she finishes kindergarten. While this is encouraging, we don’t want her to get bored. So we’ll continue to encourage her to keep learning. Ms. Kidd wants her to focus on “popcorn” words, the words that “pop up” when we read. She wants Avery to know them so well that they are automatic, instead of stopping to think about what the word is. Ms. Kidd also wants Avery to be comfortable asking questions and seeking help from her.
We are so proud of the way Avery has acclimated herself to all-day school. We’re so glad that we decided to put her in preschool last year. There’s no way she would be this far along in her learning and her work habits if she hadn’t gone to preschool!
And by the way, we haven’t discussed any of this with Avery. We don’t want her to get a big head about this!