Preschool Report Card - very wordy!

We had parent teacher conferences last week for Erik.  Victor came too for the first of many years of conferences! 

Erik started at Creative Beginnings preschool in December.  He LOVES school and is always excited when it is a school day.  He talks about his friend Joshua constantly. :) 

He is in a class of 20 kids with 2 teachers.  His "primary" teacher is Mrs. Robinson.  They spend most of the day doing everything together but they are officially divided into two groups.  I love both of the teachers.  They are really kind women who seem to love what they do.

Mrs. Robinson reminds me of our family friend Nancy Hanlon.  She is energetic, fit, and fun.  She also teaches at the local college (beginners tennis!).  I get the impression that she teaches because she loves it not because it is financially necessary.   Last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  It is in remission now but she is such a dedicated teacher that she missed almost no school last year despite undergoing surgery and radiation. 

Mrs. Klem is the other teacher.  She is so kind and gentle.  Always has a smile on her face.  She seems like someone who would go out of her way to help a stranger.  I really like her.

The two teachers have co-taught for 5-6 years.  They also seem to genuinely care for and like each other.  I am really happy with the decision we made regarding Erik's school.  The only downside to this school originally was that it is not at all faith based but I think it has been such a good fit for Erik that we will have to find other ways to enrich Erik's faith outside of school (which is what we will do once he enters public school anyway). 

His conference was with Mrs. Robinson since she is his "primary" teacher.  This is what she had to say about Erik.....


1) Socially... She said this is a strong area for him.  He has two really good friends (Joshua and Brent) but all the kids like him and he interacts with all the kids.  He is also not at all afraid to function independently.  If there is something he wants to do he goes for it even if his main buddies are doing something else.  She said she would have no concerns with him making new friends when he is with a new group of kids next year.

2) Communication....  He is a little quiet.  Responds when the teachers or kids talk to him but doesn't always initiate conversation.  One thing she mentioned is that he doesn't really "tell stories" like other kids do.  She wasn't concerned about it but mentioned it.

3) Academic....  This years focus is really not academic.  There curriculum is heavily play based.  Erik loves this learning style now and has done well.  She said his skills at this point are appropriate for a 3.5 year old (how old he was when evaluated).

4) Other....

a)She mentioned the drooling.  Erik still drools.  I know it isn't normal for a 3.5 year old to drool.  I am not sure what, if anything, to do about it.  I was concerned that kids will make fun of him and the teacher said not to worry about that - the kids don't notice.  We had him in OT briefly last year (about 6 months) and it is definitely better than it was a year ago but still not gone.  I haven't decided if we should recontact OT, work more aggressively with him at home, or just wait and see if he outgrows it in another 6 months or so. 

b) We are planning to put Erik back in the 3 year old program next fall since those will be his eventual classmates in school.  She thought that would be best as well as the 4 year old program involved more structured learning (sitting) and she thought he would enjoy an extra year of playing.  I agree. Who wouldn't want an extra year to play?!

The school cut off in Maryland is September 1st.  Erik misses it by 10 days and we have no intention to work around the system.  He will go to kindergarten when he is 5 turning 6.  The cut off in DC/VA is October 1st. I would have still sent Erik to kindergarten when he was 5 turning 6.  (You can work the system by sending your kid to a private school kindergarten and then enrolling them in public school for first grade.)

Anyway, Mrs. Robinson had an interesting point about the school cut off date.  She said that parents often complain that their kid "misses the cut off" by a week or two and do everything they can to figure out how to get their kids into school a year earlier (4 turning 5).  She said in reality you aren't missing the cut off by a week.  Your kid is really missing the cut off by a year and a week and to put your 4 year old into a situation where they are "competing" against kids 12-15 months older than them rarely works out well.  She almost always tries to convince parents of kids with late birthdays to wait.  I thought that was interesting and not always true of the "east coast" way of thinking. 

Mrs. Robinson said that Erik is a sweet, cute boy and that she loves him! 

It was a nice conference.  We are glad that Erik loves school so much and look forward to watching him grow!