These beginning of the year conferences are always something I look forward to. Over the last two years I have found that the teachers use the time to explain what they are working on in class, how Kai is doing, what expectations are, etc. This conference was no exception. However, the very first thing that Kai's teacher said to me is that Kai is a joy. She told me he was such a positive energy in the room and that when she is having a hard day, or even week at times, that Kai is the one who reminds her why she is teaching and can make her day better. What an incredible compliment for our boy! She honestly spent at least 5 minutes singing Kai praises. It was so nice to hear as a mom. He really is just a good kid.
She told me a story about something that had happened in reading group recently. Apparently there are 7 kids in his group and there are only 6 of the books that they were using. So she had asked Kai if he wanted to share with her. He was very excited about sharing with her and sitting next to her (she said he was even rubbing her back for her!). He even remarked, "And if you get it wrong, I can help you!" She thought that was so funny! At one point she even texted his Kindergarten teacher (who has now moved to North Carolina) and asked her to guess which one of her kids had said something (I think it was from the story that I just mentioned but I can't quite remember--she told me a lot of funny stories!), and his old teacher knew it was him right away. I love that he has had such good teachers!
After that she got into the meat of the conference. She showed me his work from the beginning of the year up to the present. We talked about Kai's greatest weakness--his distractability that inhibits him from finishing his work. This is turn means that his work does not reflect his capabilities. (I'm glad that she is aware of that.) She talked about how she had moved him to a lower
Along with samples of his work, she showed me the result of his standardized testing. It was no surprise that Kai scored in the 99th percentile for reading and the 97th percentile for math. And then she showed me the requirements for the Gifted program at school. She would like to have Kai tested for the program at the end of the year. In order to qualify for the testing, Kai needs to have three "bodies of evidence". The first that he will have is a teacher survey, the second would be a collection of classwork that she is putting together, and finally he needs two scores above the 95th percentile. He will retake his assessments at the end of the year, but she does not expect his scores to drop. As long as those scores remain, she will recommend him for testing and depending on the outcome of that testing, he could be eligible to join the gifted program at the beginning of his 2nd grade year. However it turns out, though, I am totally proud of him. Whether he is "gifted" or not, we know that he is an exceptional child and we are proud of him. If the gifted program is something that he enjoys and will help him to be challenged at school, great. If it's not something that is a perfect fit for him, that's great, too. Kai doesn't need the label in my opinion to be a fantastic little kid!
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| A sample of his "published" writing for a week in early October. She told me that when he handed this in she told him the assignment wasn't completed. He needs to use 5 colors for a picture to show that he is being "thorough". He pointed out to her that he had colored in a sunset behind the pumpkins. She was impressed but still felt that his pumpkins weren't complete. For that he told her that they were colored, just that the two pumpkins on the right were painted white. |
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