I just have to document how proud I am of my little kindergartener. Eric and I just got back from conferences and although I'm not surprised, it's always nice to hear that someone else thinks your child is half as great as you do! Ms. Sather told us how although Emmett is at the reading level 1, his reading ability is higher but during the testing he wasn't able to articulate what they were looking for in terms of comprehension. At school they do, reading buddies, where they are paired up with a second grader. The second grader is supposed to read to the kindergartener. When Ms. Sather walked by Emmett and his partner, she discovered that Emmett was reading to the second grader instead of vice versa. She was very impressed with that. She also said that Emmett's reading buddy was someone who needed to be with a nice kid, as this boy is a bit timid and insecure. She said, Emmett would be perfect. To me, that speaks so highly of his character, I just love it!
The teacher also told us a funny story about Emmett. They were discussing internal organs. One kid caled out "ribs". She said, that's not quite what I'm looking for. So Emmett excitedly raised his hand and called out, "intesticles!"
I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was, that Emmett tested higher than average in math. He didn't test significantly higher, but enough that they're going to pull him out of math a few times a week so that he can work on activities more at his ability level. The plan is to have him "play games" with a child from another class who the enrichment teacher thinks would be a good match with him. I'm so pleased with our school, that they will work individually with the students so that the will each excel and not sit around being bored. This also explains why there are always elaborate drawing on the back of Emmett's math worksheets.
Driving home I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with gratefulness for Emmett. For his sweet heart, for his intelligent mind, for his desire to learn, for his caring personality. I also was aware that although things may be come easy for him now, they may not always. Or maybe they will always come easy. Maybe he will be that kid that doesn't have to try very hard. But there are kids who have to try really hard. And even when they try really hard, they are always a step behind. One of my other 3 kids may be that kid. Two thoughts about that. 1) Wow, how hard that must be a parent. Even the slight glimpse of Emmett not excelling causes me a tad of heart ache. 2) The amount of love a parent has for a child doesn't depend even one tiny little bit on his/her accomplishments. Although I adore Emmett with every single part of who I am, my love wouldn't diminish one tiny bit if he wasn't the "hoppy helper" in kindergarten. If he wasn't a kid who made people's faces brighten when they spoke of him.
Emmett loves school. He comes home kind, considerate, thoughtful and attentive to his siblings. I expected attitude and tantrums. I haven't seen an increase in those areas at all. I love knowing that he is in an environment where he's thriving, he's growing, he's being challenged and appreciated. I just wish I could be a little fly on the wall!
