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    The end of kinder. Onto first!

    We have an incoming first grader in our home. G finished kinder mid-last month. I haven’t posted about it because: 1) I’m still figuring out what I want to say; 2) I’d been super busy at work preparing for a big conference in DC; 3) S and I went away on a vacation (just the two of us) and this post stayed in Draft limbo land. In all honesty, mostly it was latter two.

    My biggest confusion around how the year ended is really highlighted by the fact that I simply didn’t know what to expect out of this year. I had an image in my head that G would have fun, learn how to act in a classroom with a single teacher, get acclimated to a new world. But beyond this, I expected advances in reading, math and other subjects. And he has in some areas, just not all like I had thought?expected?wanted?wished for? That’s the part that gets at me. I just didn’t know what it would really be like.

    Our end of year conference with Ms. P, highlighted that G is a smart kid, and he’s matured throughout the year. Where in the beginning we were receiving some notes about him being the center of attention, stepping in to answer on behalf of other kids, and generally giving some attitude, he’s mellowed out. He’s more patient, and respectful. He’s excelling in math, though his reading is no further than it was in the beginning of the school year. That last bit makes me sad, to be honest. I’d been working with him, but I’ve realized that I don’t have the necessary skills to push that through, and I was hoping that his regular school would offer some progress. It didn’t, and his teacher wasn’t worried about it. As it turns out, reading is not a requirement for kinder. Not that I was expecting it would be, but I was really hoping it would click in for him.

    Ultimately, the context I needed is that G’s pre-K program offered a curriculum they admitted was the equivalent of public school kinder. Their kinder was the equivalent of public school 1st grade. I missed that memo. So I was working off of those expectations of progress.

    We got a great hand-written, single-line, 4 page letter from his teacher, though. She’s old-school and that’s her way of doing grading. As a matter of fact, I had to go into her classroom after class was dismissed on the last day to get his ‘official’ Common Core report card. Getting that report card was pretty important to me, though once I was holding it in my hand, I definitely acknowledge the value and effort that the personalized letter offers and it took.
    The summary in the official report read simply “G had an amazing year”.

    I believe he did!

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