Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Mrs. Clark LOVES Rosie

I had the first conference of the year with Rosie's 1st-Grade teacher. If you recall, by this time last year, we had received numerous communications with her kindergarten teacher, phone calls from the school principal (and vice principal), Rosie'd been in the Principal's office more than once, and it had been suggested that we put Rosie on a behavior contract. All the feedback I'd been getting was negative.

So, I already knew that Mrs. Clark's teaching style was "night and day" from Miss M's, I'd had absolutely no written notes come home, and in the couple of emails I'd sent through asking for info, I got just a sentence or two. Other parents who I like a great deal have told me that Mrs. Clark is awesome, is great with the kids, and has a very open atmosphere in the multi-age (1st & 2nd grade) classroom. Not sure whether the lack of info was a sign of a teacher who had too much on her hands to pay attention to Rosie or what, I was unsure what to expect.

Turns out, Mrs. Clark adores Rosie. She told me that Rosie is very high-functioning in reading and writing and has put her at a 2nd-Grade level. Rosie is a creative individual who solves challenges her own way and often wants to try a different route to a solution than the rest of her peers. She's a hard worker, an independent starter, always on task with some project or another, but may have difficulty transitioning to a new center if she's in the middle of some other work. Rosie doesn't have any specific friends in the class (other than Margaret), but is friendly with most. She doesn't care what the other kids think — if there's any bullying going on, she stays out of it. Mrs. Clark thinks these are all qualities that will serve her well later in life. She feels that Rosie has a mature attitude, is quite smart, and acts almost teenagerish some of the time (this was said positively).

She still might not finish her assignments on time, but Mrs. Clark isn't a stickler about this, as long as they come in soon enough. In the beginning weeks of school Rosie did a few strange things like hid behind the coat racks or lurked in the boys room without permission, but Mrs. Clark didn't call her out or make special notice for it. She just let Rosie know in a few words that it needed to stop and Rosie stopped. Rosie takes a lot of pride in her work and loves Mrs. Clark right back. 1st Grade has been great so far!

Next project up is a Pilgrim Project, to be completed at home, on any topic related to pilgrims, in any creative way Rosie wants.

6 comments:

  1. That sounds more like the Rosalie that I know. The teenage part is not surprising at all.

    Are we going to make sure "the boy" does not get the same Kindergarten teacher too..

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  2. Sounds like Rosie has a great teacher who really sees the best in kids. that's wonderful.

    It's amazing the difference a new teacher can make. We had a terrible year with Hana last year--tears almost every morning. She hated school. This year things have been so much better! She actually likes to go to school.

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  3. Glad to hear 1st Grade is working out so well. After some bumps Jim's doing much better this year in, ahem, the dreaded Behavior category.

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  4. That's wonderful! I'm so happy to hear it.

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  5. Mom - I think we can make a solid request for multi-age for Dash. If that goes through, we would avoid the teacher Rosie had for K.

    Mary Lynn - I totally agree! There was such a power struggle last year with the teacher trying to force Rosie to do things. Now, Mrs. Clark sees her doing her best and encourages it. Amazing. I'm glad Hana is having a better year, too.

    Thomas - Hey, man, good to see you back here! So Jim's coming around, they all do, right?

    Kelly - Yeah! Thanks. And like my mom said, this is more like the Rosie we know. :-)

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  6. One other thing, I mentioned that Rosie's doctor was pushing for an ADHD diagnosis and Mrs. Clark seemed shocked. She would never have thought Rosie fell in the attention-deficit-hyperactivity realm, and is a good judge of her students who might be (there is already one or two on ADHD meds in the class). We'll keep our minds open, but for now, she's not showing problem behaviors.

    Heck, she even cleaned her room AND Dash's a couple nights ago without being asked!! That's a landmark achievement in her world.

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