Karsten's Parent/Teacher Conference

We had Karsten's parent/teacher conference last week.  He is doing really well in school.  His teacher said that he is very bright and loves to participate in class.  She describes him as an enthusiastic learner. He is reading and writing above where teachers would like their students to be at this time of year.  Socially he gets along with all the other kids and is very respectful of everyone and everything around him.

For their work tables, she said that she purposefully put Karsten next to a child who has some social and behavioral issues (those are teacher words- my words are that this poor kiddo is very immature for his age and really struggles to follow directions and has major self-control issues), knowing that he could continue to focus on his work and not get distracted and would also be patient with this child and act as a role model to help this child stay on task.  She said that when she is doing reading assessments with small groups of children, she often will look up and remind the rest of the students to focus on their assignment and ask them to also look over and see if their neighbor needs help and Karsten diligently checks in with this child and helps as needed.

I really like his teacher.  She has really high expectations of the kids and really challenges them with fun and meaningful assignments.  I feel like she is teaching concepts that Peyton learned much later in her kindergarten year.  It seems like this school, in general, expects much more out of their kids (and parent's involvement at home), which I appreciate since that was something that I felt was lacking from our previous school.  I definitely feel like Karsten is challenged each day and learns new things throughout the day.  

I love picking him up every afternoon and hearing all the details of his day.  Unlike Peyton, who I always had to drag information out of, he is always happy to let me know what he did throughout the day.  He also brings home a lot of the information he learns.  He was talking really quiet and said "I am taking in Piano".  Then he spoke really loudly and said "I am talking in Forte".  He regularly talks about lessons they are doing or activities in their special areas.  He asked me if we were doing 30 minutes of physical activity a day and that Coach Grumbles (yes, that is his real name) told him he needed to do that.  He then proceeded to get down on the ground and attempt to do push-ups, which was really funny and not very good.  He sings all the little rhymes and songs they learn in class to help them remember rules, or how to write a letter correctly, or about a special topic they are studying.  Tonight at bath time, he called me "Little Miss Horizon".  He then immediately asked me if I knew what the horizon was and that he learned about it in art class.  I honestly feel like I know exactly what he does at school and what he is learning.  Peyton is not as much of an open book and, especially when she was his age, I had no idea what she did all day.

I am just so proud of Karsten.  At this time last year, I worried that he would not be ready for kindergarten.  He is a spring birthday and a boy and I worried that he would be so much younger than his classmates.  Well, that is not the case at all.  Academically, socially, and behaviorally, he is performing beautifully.  We love you sweet Karsten!