Teacher Conferences

We had teacher conferences the first week in October. I will admit I was pretty nervous to see what the teacher had to say. She started out by saying "well we have a problem" luckily it was just that we got our picture money mixed up with our fundraiser money. I was worried she meant the boys were a problem!
Mrs. Martin said the boys were very well behaved (whose children was she talking about?) and they were doing very well adjusting to school. They had been tested to figure out what reading groups they would be put in. To figure this out she showed them all the letters (capital and lower case) and they had to tell her what letter. She also showed them the letters and asked them to tell her the sound that they made. They also had to rhyme words and tell her what letter words started with. They both did pretty well and already have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Bryce identified all the letter but a couple. He also was able to tell her the sounds of most of the letters and if he couldn't remember the sound, she said he remembered the alpha friends rhyme and could then guess it. He got 3 out of the 4 for rhyming and 3/4 for guessing the beginning sounds.  Bryce is learning an amazing amount everyday and has even been able to identify and write some new sight words. He also enjoys the math worksheets that they bring home a couple times a week. She said he is very confident in the classroom, makes friends easily and is very outgoing.
Caleb identified most of the letters also and we just had a short list of letters that he either had trouble identifying the capital or lower case. He had trouble with the letter sounds which we have been working on. He also got 3/4 for rhyming and 3/4 for beginning sounds. Mrs. Martin said that it seemed like he was starting to feel more comfortable in the classroom and even on days where he cries when I drop him off, he is fine by the time he gets to the classroom. He really enjoys the "specials" such as computer, art, music, library and wellness class. I can tell that he likes music a lot because he comes home humming and singing new songs all the time.
It was a relief to find out that they were both doing a good job in school. Their teacher is very nice and you can tell she loves her job! She showed us some of the ways that she teachers different  phonics and math skills and she is very creativ,e which keeps things fun for the kids. Well, we made it through our first 2 months of school. It hasn't been completely painless but hopefully it will just get easier from here.