Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Rose #1's First Grade Conference

Well, we had Rose #1's first grade fall conference tonight.  Thank you to Guppy for babysitting Roses #2 and 3 so we could bring Rose #1 to her conference without her younger sisters in tow.

Rose #1's teacher is a veteran teacher of 5th and 6th graders but is new to teaching first graders.  I think she is doing a very good job with a group of precocious kids.  She has them all evaluated for reading level, and she has a very elaborate math system going.  Here is the bottom line on Rose #1:  she is a very strong reader - reading at a 4th grade level independently (which means she can read on a 5th grade level if someone is keeping an eye on her).  She reads too quickly though, so Mrs. Swenson has them stopping for text to person connections.  This is so cute - she has them putting post-it notes in the book and forces them to write down a connection they have to the text.  Rose #1 was reading a book about bees and a connection would be something like "I have never been stung by a bee" or "My sister was stung by a bee."

In math, Rose #1 is more reticent since math does not come easily to her.  She needs to focus on becoming more confident.

I love conference time.  I love hearing about how Rose #1 is doing, and what we need to work on  with her.  I am so grateful that she goes to a good school with a teacher who cares about her.

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