Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Bad Boy Influence


I guess I have acclimated to winter in Texas because it's about 46F right now and it feels COLD. However, the sun is brightly shining, so it's not so bad. We're supposed to get a hard freeze Thursday night and Friday night, so that will kill off anything that survived in the garden from the last freeze. Hopefully, this means fewer mosquitoes next summer. Sophia came home exclaiming that her teacher said we were getting snow tomorrow. There doesn't seem to be anything like that in the forecast, however. This is not a problem for me.

Fiona got off the bus yesterday looking happy and then very serious as she said, "Can I show you something before we go inside?". Then she shows me the page I have to sign every day that has her homework assignment and things to remember for the next day. Her teacher said that Fiona had been acting very silly in class today and was influenced by C (a new boy)--please talk to her. First of all, I was relieved it wasn't something worse. Fiona acting very silly in class is a problem we've had to address off and on during the years and it is gradually getting better. So we did talk about it. She said, "But MOM! I'ts C's fault! C is so silly and he makes me laugh so hard! I can not help it." She has been talking about C for a while now. She loves people who make her laugh. Hopefully, today goes better. She did say that when I met her at the bus stop, I looked so happy and "smiley" that she felt "really bad" about telling me her bad news (when she is silly or talkative or not following directions, etc, she gets written up in the "conduct book"). She is very forthcoming about the conduct book. She never hides it. It's quite remarkable. I'm not sure if it's the age or her personality or both. She's not going to sit next to C in groups and will keep the silliness to recess. She asked me if she and C could still be friends. Oh, Fiona.

On that note, though, our school (or at least her teachers) don't have any scheduled parent/teacher conferences during the year. I'm going to schedule one (for both girls) just to make sure I really know what's going on. The work that comes home looks good and Sophia is improving with reading and writing and Fiona's grades are great. I would like to try to get Fiona in the gifted/talented program, but it's a little tricky. Her teacher thinks she is more "high achieving" than gifted/talented, but said she would watch her during the year. The books that Fiona reads at school are easier than the ones she reads at home. All the other subjects seem pretty much at her level and she excels in those subjects. It's possible I don't really know what the gifted/talented program is really about. They test kids for the program in kindergarten. Obviously, we missed that since we just moved here. If it's just a matter of testing her, then I don't see why we shouldn't.

I don't have any pictures from today, so here, completely out of context, are pictures from last Halloween, which we had a lot of fun with.

5 comments:

Triana said...

OK, I'm no expert or anything, but I would think Fiona could get into some sort of accelerated or gifted program with her extreme ease of learning (and I love when she demands for more). That is something to be extremely encouraged at this age and if she can keep it going all the better for her later. Good luck with that and keep trying!

Lone Star Ma said...

Her reading definitely has always seemed extremely advanced (to the level of gifted) so I would think she should test. Incidentally, I would say that easily 90% of the kids in the GT program Mimosa has been in since 1st grade are more "highly achieving" than gifted. This is not true of Mimosa who is gifted but doesn't give a rat's ass about achieving and the teachers, I think, definitely and understandably prefer the high achievers.

Alex said...

Ditto what Triana said. (Also, how is "high achieving" NOT "gifted & talented"? Come to think of it, the former will serve one a hell of a lot better in life than the latter...)

Veloute said...

Thanks, guys! I'll keep you updated :)

Ellen Aim said...

I'm with Alex--the hell is the difference?

Also, for the record I recall only getting into Mizar/EXPO whatever they wanted to call it in 5th/6th grade. I didn't get in in 5th grade because the test looked like something an MIT student would struggle with. Then the year after I took it again and it was totally different and clearly aimed at kindergarten kids. WTH.

So good luck!