We got to meet with Olivia's teacher, Mrs. Brinson, last week. She is a sweet woman that has been teaching for 27 years, 5 of those have been at Willis Lane Elementary. Our meeting went pretty much as we thought. Olivia is such a smart girl. She is at Mastery level in almost every area of first grade at the 6 week mark. The only 2 areas she is on par with the rest of the class is her handwriting and her problem-solving skills. Mrs. Brinson also mentioned a lack of focus and some disorganization issues....all of which came as no surprise to us. : )
Because she is doing so well, Mrs. Brinson said she was recommending Olivia for the Talented & Gifted program. They don't pull kids from class in first grade for that, but Mrs. Brinson is a certified T&G teacher, so she had a few students she would be pulling from the main group and having them do more challenging work.
If you ask Olivia what her favorite subject is in school her answer can vary a little. She loves gym now that she has learned to do pushups, but it used to be her least favorite. If she can't do it well, she doesn't want any part of it. While we love that she doesn't settle for mediocrity, it does challenge us to keep reminding her that, with practice, she can master most anything she puts her mind to. I mean, have you heard the girl snap her fingers or whistle? Amazing.
One other area of note the teacher brought up was Olivia's ability to make friends. We have struggled with this for the past few years. She seems to feel no one ever likes her and that she never has any friends, which isn't true at all. One negative comment or puzzled look in her direction from a fellow classmate leads her to believe with all her heart that they don't like her. We have been working on some role-playing to help her feel more confident in the friend-making department. "You have to be a friend to have a friend, " we remind her. "The world doesn't revolve around you, your likes and your wants." To which she has responded, "Really?" LOL
On the flip side, when she is in big group at Sunday School, she will get up in front and lead the whole group during the singing/praise time. She knows all the words and all the motions to the songs and is happy to "help" everyone else do it right as well. She is convinced that she is going to be famous for singing. I even found a note in her room that she wrote, "Some day I am going to be a pop star."
Did I mention this girl loves to read? She devours books daily, reading up to 160 words a minute, which the teacher tells us makes her abilities equal to that of a third grader. Her favorite series right now is Junie B. Jones. She can read one of these 70 page chapter books in about an hour. I don't know how many times I have sensed the uncommon silence and wondered what she was up to. She is seldom THAT quiet for THAT long, you see. I go searching and she is either on her loft bed reading or sitting at her desk with her little light on with her feet propped up on the desk, just reading away.
One of her favorite times of day is reading at bedtime. Her favorite book to bring us is her children's bible. She will want us to read 20 pages, so she can hear the whole story of Moses and his journey in the basket to ending up wandering the desert for 40 years, not just her favorite page of the burning bush.
Our current projects include: Preparing for Trunk or Treat, a pumpkin decorating contest at school, and planning her 7th birthday party.
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