Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Wordy Wednesday update: Good report from teacher


It's been a while since I've posted an update and things are going well.  We're on the last series for Stepping Stones Together and it is just amazing how many words my little buddy knows.  I'm so proud of him for working hard to earn that DS, which from what the teacher has told us, we need to be ponying up soon!

Recently, we got his report card.  It contained almost all Outstandings, except for one Satisfactory.  We expected to see a note about behavior, but none was on there and that is a good thing.  So when we got a note asking us to attend a mandatory conference, we were sure it was behavior related.  It wasn't!  I guess the teacher just wanted to meet with all parents to go over some testing scores and discuss any concerns.  Phew!  We had her before for our daughter and conferences were only mandatory if there were concerns... not if your kid was doing OK in school.  So, it was a relief to know he had no behavioral issues that weren't age appropriate.

They focus heavily on reading and writing in Kindergarten, with some other things mixed in for enrichment.  He's doing exceptionally well with reading and when we asked her if he is reading (her definition) so we'd know when to get that DS, she showed us what he was reading in class.  She told us that he and other students in his group are breezing along and are moving on to more wordy books and ones with lots of decodable words.  Basically, she showed me books that he would be working with soon that looked a lot like... Stepping Stones Together's books!  Yes, she showed me books that were very similar to the new series that we just started, the C books.

So long as he keeps progressing, they will keep feeding him harder books.  We were very pleased with this progress report since we do try to read with him and work with him.  We'll be adding some extra work with writing as well, but for the most part, he's ahead of the curve when it comes to reading.

We're planning to finish out Series C and then get him that DS before Christmas as a "graduation" present from the program.  I'm really hoping to find a good deal, so if you see one on a DS, be sure to leave me a comment!

1 comment:

Michelle said...

That is awesome that he is doing so well! :) :) :) Sounds like he is in a great program with a really good teacher.

As for the DS, keep in mind that there are 3 types now--the regular DS, the DSi (which have cameras), and the 3DS (which is in 3D). Since he is young (and likely to be kind of rough on his DS) you may want to consider buying him just a regular DS, as those are the more basic ones. But just because they are basic doesn't mean they aren't good--I have a regular DS and it is just find for everything, and my kids have regular DS's. If you want to save even more, you could consider buying a used DS at Gamestop, but that may be kind of risky since you won't know what condition the touch screen is in.

Hope that helps! :)