Outstanding Report

WOW! Has it really been almost 3 weeks since I made an entry in our blog? Guess we've been sort of busy and there hasn't been much to write about. But now there is......

We had our first-1st Grade parent teacher conference tonight and we got an outstanding report from Emily's teacher. We are so incredibly proud of her. We met with Ms. Plank and she said that Emily is definitely at the top of the class. She is getting all 3s and 4s (which is good!) on her progress report. YEAH! They test the kids at the beginning of the year and then again at the end to see what they have learned during the year. Well....Emily's scores for her "pre-test" were 94% for language arts and 91% for math concepts - the highest scores in the class. The teacher said that they expect these scores at the end of the year, not the beginning. SO.....she is doing exceptional! She is also one of the top readers in the class, and fortunately, seems to be a self-starter so when she finishes an assignment, she goes to the "extra work" items and works on those sheets.

Emily has also gotten an award in the last couple of weeks. The Maize school district has character traits that they emphasize each month and the trait for September was Compassion. They have an award available for certain students whom teachers believe has demonstrated this trait. Emily was "Caught with Character" a couple of weeks ago. Her name was announced to the entire school over the intercom on the announcements, she got to go to the principal's office to receive her award and also got a certificate and a free kid's meal to Mr. Goodcents. WOW. What an award. I asked Emily what she did to receive it and she looked at me with a straight face and said, "I don't know, mom." :) We didn't really know the significance of this until her teacher told us tonight that it is a VERY high honor for kids to get this. We were even more proud. I then talked to her PE teacher, who nominated her for this award, tonight to ask what she had done. She said that there is a little boy who sits behind Emily and has trouble getting in the right position for stretches and doesn't know how to tie his shoes. Every day, Emily helps him during PE so he can do what they are supposed to do during their lesson. She said Emily has continually done this during each class period and thought she was definitely showing compassion. WOW. I would say I'm speechless, but I guess by the size of this post, that's not true. But I am completely awed, proud and excited to have this feedback.

Here is a picture of Emily sitting at the "new" desk in her room, reading a new chapter book from the book fair at school. A note on the desk....this is a desk that we just received a few weeks ago. It's actually a desk that I had in my room when I was a child and it has been used by a dear friend since then. Emily has all of her "school project" stuff stored in there and loves to sit at the desk to do writing, etc. I have a feeling it will get put to good use. We just need to paint it to match her room now!

Emily made a "portfolio" to showcase her work for us at conferences. The teacher said she gave the kids a white piece of paper and colored scraps and told them to be creative and come up with something for their book. Emily loves rainbows and this is what she came up with (sorry the picture isn't the right orientation...but you get the idea.).

Thanks for your support for Emily and all the prayers you have sent her way. They have definitely helped and she's doing great! WAY TO GO Emily...keep up the good work. I love you sweetie!