1st Grade

I wrote such a big post last year about Sammi's parent/teacher conference and all about what she was doing in Kindergarten.  I don't have as much to say about 1st grade, just because school is not as "new" of a thing any more.  Her conference went really great! I really like her teacher this year. She is very creative and does some neat projects with the kids.  She also has a student teacher for the first half of the year and she has been really great too.  She has done some really cool extra projects with the kids. Over the last few weeks, during "Titan Time", which is when they break up into reading groups, they read a Magic Tree House chapter book together. Then, they used a program called Voki, to create their own characters from the book. They animated them and were able to put their voices over the characters and add backgrounds and cool things. They are going to present their books to each other's groups using their Voki characters. It seems like a cool, fun project! So, Sammi has been enjoying that.  She also loves when they do science lessons.  And they also had a Japanese Day a few weeks ago. They took their shoes off the whole day, and had some Japanese food and sat on the floor and learned all kinds of cultural things. She really liked that too.

Anyways, so her teacher also brought up the gifted program.  She is going to keep her eye on Sammi and look into it more and thinks she could be a good candidate for it.  They do some kind of assessment test for reading at the beginning of the year and her score was off the charts. Her reading level is currently a 3.4, which is equivalent to a 3rd grader almost half way through the year.  She is also really good at math and has been coming to me with questions like "how many 4's are in 12?". So she is thinking through things like multiplication.  And her teacher said she doesn't need to count out addition anymore, but has most of the facts memorized.  Her teacher said she also has the creativity and imagination for the program. Sammi really does love to learn so much and is always so interested in so many subjects.  She devours books and then comes to me and tells me all the cool facts she learned from reading a book about Panda's, or Reptiles, or whatever it is that day she interested in.  I'm pretty sure, if she could, she would love to just go to a museum and follow a guide around all day asking questions. :)  Anyways, that girl has some special gifts from God and hopefully if she was in a special program it would help quench her thirst for knowledge.  I don't know all the details about the program yet and we will definitely need more information before we decide if it's the right thing to have her tested for it or not. So we'll see!

Sammi's teacher also said she was very well behaved.  I asked if she was able to sit still and not interrupt because at home she tends to be very busy and restless and often interrupts when someone is speaking. But, the teacher said she doesn't do any of that in school and is always helpful and listens. She was actually chosen as the star fish winner for October. A student from the class is chosen once a month for demonstrating good behavior or something special. Sammi was chosen because she is always helping the teachers and other students.  She got to have special ice cream that day!

Anyways, Sammi really loves school this year! We feel very blessed by the gifts God has given Sammi and we pray and hope that she learns to use them for his glory!