Last week, we met with Sarah's teacher for feedback on her first eight weeks in kindergarten. We knew she loves school and her teacher, but we were eager to hear the other side of the story.
As we expected, she is a serious student. She pays absolute attention to both large and small group instructions. She focuses on her assignments and always does her best. She can work independently or with a partner to complete tasks. She enjoys coloring quietly and looking at books. She is very conscientious and works hard at being an exemplary student.
She has very strong literacy skills, and she is always excited about literacy activities. She also does well in math and is one of only two students in the class who can count to 100 (but she's been doing it since she was 3!). She uses the computer mouse easily, even though she's left-handed.
She has blended in nicely with her kindergarten peers. She strives to make friends with all her classmates. She plays with a variety of children in the class. Her favorite games involve lots of imagination.
Her gross motor skills are very good, and she can pump on a swing by herself, hula hoop, and do monkey bars all the way across. Don and I find this truly amazing, as when she came home from China at 12 months old, she couldn't even sit up by herself, and she didn't walk until she was 17 months old.
The only things she struggles with are using scissors (which is baffling to me, since she's always done well with this at home) and initiating play with others (no surprise there). She tends to watch other kids play together and can't figure out how to get involved. We've been having play dates with some of her classmates after school to help her practice, and her teacher said the playground staff will start encouraging her to walk up to a group of kids and say, "Can I play?" As a lifelong wallflower, I feel completely unqualified to help her with this, so I'm glad others are stepping in. Perhaps she can teach me a thing or two once she has it down.
I realized tonight that I am very behind on your blog. Either Facebook isn't consistently updating me, or my fall has been so busy that I haven't checked Facebook on the days you post!
ReplyDeleteI am very excited to read about Sarah's progress in kindergarten (though the glowing remarks are no surprise to me). As the only lefty in my kindergarten class, I remember scissors being a bit awkward for me as well. Do you use special scissors at home, or does she use lefty scissors at school? I always felt the lefty scissors were never as good as the right-handed scissors, so if she uses different kinds in different environments, that may explain the disparity. I definitely wouldn't worry, though. Her older lefty siblings turned out just fine!
How is the socializing going a month after this post?
Rachel