Monday, March 15, 2010

Parent Teacher Conferences

Well, today was parent-teacher conferences for the kids. We had appointments for Noah and Muluken this afternoon and everybody went except for Cassie.



Muluken was NOT happy that he had to go to school. He had the entire day off with his Dad, brother, and sisters, and he didn't want to ruin that with going to SCHOOL! So, when I met them at the school, Muluken was in a full "pout".

We met with the kindergarten teacher first (Muluken's teacher). She hasn't assessed him very much on any of the benchmarks, but a few. He has passed the benchmark where you need to identify George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, and Barack Obama. He didn't pass a different benchmark, which he would have no way of knowing right now. He was given 5 pictures and was told he needed to point to the "things he needs to live" and then point to the "things that you WANT". The pictures were: teddy bear, house, television, shirt & pants, and tons of food. Well, he actually lived with no big house, not much for any clothes, and very little food. So, why would he think he NEEDS these to live and survive. I see where the "life experiences" play a role.

He also had another benchmark that had pictures and he needed to put them under "water", "air", and "land". The teacher stated that he grabbed the helicopter right away and placed it under air. He also did the airplane and put it under air. Then, he took the boat and placed it under land. That's when I explained, that he has never seen any boat, except the one next to the public library (right down the street) that is sitting on a trailer and winterized. Jordan tried to explain to him about 2 weeks ago that it was a boat and that it goes in water, but how much he actually understood is beyond me. He doesn't understand what a lake is because everything around here is frozen ice. So, again, this is really hard for them to assess because his life experiences so far do not include boats.

Anyway, we're going to keep working on everything at home and school. We'll see where he's at the end of May and assess what is the best for Muluken for next school year.



Then we headed to Noah's conference, in the fourth grade classroom. We were given scores from 2 different tests (assessment) that he's taken. He's doing AWESOME!! He's advanced in 2 areas and proficient in 3 areas. He has mastered all of his math benchmarks and almost all of his language arts benchmarks. His teacher stated that there was no need for any summer school. What?!?!? I always send him for a little bit of extra help. Noah was grinning from ear to ear, knowing that he's going to have a great summer with NO SCHOOL!



We have also found out that Muluken LOVES the trampoline! Jordan has been taking him jumping a few times each day and he really likes it. He laughs and jumps, and laughs some more.

He also ate ice cream for the first time yesterday. Brad bought him an ice cream cookie sandwich and he ate it. He said "mmmmmm", but he also said "cold". So, today they went to Culver's and the kids went up to get their free ice cream. Muluken came running back to Brad and said "no ice cream" and "too cold". So, it might take a while before he eats it again!

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