She spoke to me!

Disclaimer: I hope this doesn't come off as braggy. It's something that is very important to me as a former teacher and as a mom who sees her child has some special needs at school.



So, on Wednesday night, I wrote ZZ's teacher an email - just saying I was excited to be her room mom and also mentioned maybe having Zac do a project at home or whatever. In the email, I also mentioned that I used to be a teacher, which I hadn't told her yet.

WELL. I don't know if that was the kicker or what. But...

I go to pick up Zachariah on Thursday afternoon. Usually, I barely get eye contact. Really. She's busy and never says things to parents like, "she had a great day!" or anything. (It's just her personality.)

So, when she began walking towards me, I was in shock!

And she says, "Well, I've got to tell you... "

And her smile reminded me of when Zachariah's preschool teacher had realized he could read - after she had been writing his name for him because it was "so long" (ie: he wanted to play and he was happy to let her help him out b/c she didn't know any better).

"I had Zachariah read to me today." Another half smile.

I was SO glad. Not only that he read something (since he's in SCHOOL and all), but that she finally, after a month in school, had him read to her.

Anyways, long story short, he is already above the 2nd grade readers, which is as high as they go in Kindergarten. This doesn't surprise me, since I'm already thinking he's closer to 3rd grade, maybe 4th.

But this gives me a great opportunity to push for him to be challenged!! :) :) :)

They do some more in-depth testing next week (math) and the week after (reading) and I'm so curious to see his scores on all that. The tests they take are never-ending... meaning that the kids just keep taking the test (it's on the computer) until they begin to make mistakes. Every K-6 student in the district does this testing, and they have certain score ranges where students should be at different points in each year. The best part is that the scores go directly to their student ID, which I can access online!!

I'm just obsessive-compulsive enough about this to check it probably every hour next week. Reason being that I would like to get the ball rolling for him to do some work on his level.

And now that she's aware of his needs, and it's obviously a need, we can work on some differentiation (making things more challenging) and compacting (shortening or eliminating assignments that he obviously already knows). You shouldn't be doing letter recognition with a child who is above the 2nd grade readers.

So, at the upcoming parent conference, now I feel like I have some justification to ask for him to be allowed to go to another classroom for Accelerated Reader (AR) tests, to ask for him to be allowed to check out chapter books (not usually allowed for K), to ask if he can do a research project at home to present at school, etc. I'm EXCITED to work with him on things that he needs work on - like speaking in public, logic and problem solving, etc.

We are also trying to get him involved in some other outlets. I am letting him use my camera to enter the UIL Reflections contest with a photograph and he is SO thrilled! I think I am also going to teach him Power Point for a research project. He will love that!!


Seriously, we were very close to pulling him out of school. He was getting more from Awanas than school. And there are just SO many homeschooling opportunities in our area - plus some sweet homeschooling friends who were encouraging me to do it. But I think for right now, we'll see how the rest of this plays out. He really does love all the kids. And honestly - it's free.

The teacher talking to me yesterday was a really big deal. (sounds sad, but true) And I am going to put some trust in her to take it from here.

So. YAY! :)


AND - to top it all off - I finished sewing a super cute gift!!!! I can't post pics yet, but I love how it turned out!! :)