It’s that time of year again, only this year instead of visiting just Keera’s class we went to see Zaden’s as well. Parent teacher night now-a-days is completely different, than when I was in school. When I was younger parent teacher night meant, that our parent or guardian had to go sit one on one with the teacher. They’d discuss the good things that we’ve done, and the things we aren’t so good at that needed improvement.
Well gone are those days, now the teachers set up little stations around the class. It’s up to the students to show their parent(s), at each station what they’ve learnt so far in class. I’m not sure if they do this passed grade three, I’m sure I’ll find out next year however for now I enjoy this approach. I’m not big into the awkward one on one talks where basically you sit there saying “mhmm”, “yup”, “of course” “I agree” “oh” “yes” “what can we do?”, while the teacher goes on and on about my child. I like the fact that I can avoid the small talk, and the teachers are still present in the class so if I’ve got questions I can ask.
Over the last couple of years with Keera in school, all of her teachers have approached me. They usually have a compliment about something that she’s improved on, and then follow-up with something she should work on. I welcome this discussion, because I feel like they actually want to discuss the kids with me. They aren’t obligated to talk to sit there and discuss the kids, since we don’t have a one-on-one appointment.
Our first stop was at Zaden’s class, he’s in Kindergarten. He showed us how he completes a sentence, and how to count out how many syllables there are in different words. He then showed us how to write different words, and he had to find the letters with little letter magnets and spell them out as he spoke the word out-loud. His final task was putting together flash cards with the numbers and the little drawings of pies.
Some super cute ideas there, easy things I can do at home to help Emilee get ready for preschool and kindergarten. He also showed us around his class where his teacher marks the weather and days of the week/month/year. I love the kindergarten class set up, it’s always a mixture of fun and learning.
When we walked into Keera’s class it was a completely different atmosphere, believe it or not while Zaden’s class was all paper and hands on. Most of the things in Keera’s class required her to use a computer, or the computerized white board! She showed us their math program that they use on the computer/white board, and her math as improved she just needs to keep working on it. 🙂 They have the little blocks that help them count with different units (I can’t remember the English word of what it’s called).
She demonstrated the differences between what floats, and what doesn’t float. We were able to watch some of her oral presentations that she did on the computer, I thought that most presentations happened in front of the class. It turns out that they record themselves on the computer for their presentation, pretty advanced for third graders in my opinion. My favorite part about parent teacher nights is being able to see the kids new art, and projects!!
We took the kids out to eat at Subway as a celebration, since they are doing great in school. I’m happy to say that Keera’s been improving on her math, and she’s interacting more in class asking questions and socializing. She’s been showing more confidence, during her oral presentations as well which is a huge step forward for her.
Zaden’s issue isn’t his lack of socialization, it’s been difficulties with his French. Even though we had him put in preschool, his French was basic when he started kindergarten. Since the kids are in a full french school, they are expected to talk in french all the time on school grounds with the exception of English class. His teacher told us that Zaden’s french has been improving, and that he’s been speaking full french sentences.
I’ve also noticed a change at home, he’s been asking me some things in french he’s never done that in the past haha. Overall we are moving in a positive direction with the kids schooling, and I’m excited to see all the new things at the next parent teacher night.