We went to see Mrs. S first. She said Junior is doing a great job. He has improved not only in his work, but in his attitude. He still needs improvement in some areas, like staying focused and not talking so much, and putting more work and pride into his artwork and handwriting. We were so proud, listening to everything Mrs. S had to say about his recent growth. She is definitely a teacher who expects a lot and it was nice to see that she is impressed with his efforts.
I told her that we always discuss with him how he needs to take more pride in his artwork assignments and handwriting because those will be easy grades to bring up if he just puts a little more effort into his assignments. I told her that his uncle and grandfather have terrible penmanship and I think he takes after them a bit. I know he can print neatly if he takes a lot of time but even just going at a normal pace, he has so much trouble making neat letters. She seems to think he could do a lot better than he is doing and did show me a couple of examples of good writing from him. I know it is possible. And as for his artwork, she said, "He is a wonderful artist! I know he can do it! His only problem is waiting until the last minute to do an assignment and then, for instance, drawing something quickly and not coloring it in." I know what she is talking about because sometimes he will have to draw something as part of an assignment and he will do it as fast as he can and I will ask him to do it over and take a little time and the difference will be amazing.
But overall, she gave us such a good report. She said he is such a good, sweet boy. And she is so proud of the growth he has shown. It made me feel so good to see that she obviously likes him so much.
Next, we went to see Mrs. S and Mrs. J. They had so many wonderful things to say about Chicken-hair. Mrs. S is his main teacher so she spoke the most about his improvements in his behavior. He started out the year not having any problems behaving or listening. And then after our trip to Mexico over Christmas, he came back a little wound up and had some trouble getting back into his routine. He actually took at least a month to start behaving like his old self at school again. It wasn't anything extreme, but just a notable difference. Mrs. S said that he has definitely gone back to his old self, having no problem behaving. He listens and does what he is told. She is very impressed with how quickly he is learning to read and both teachers mentioned how hard he is trying to improve his artwork -- fine motor skills.
And then Mrs. S started talking about what kind of boy he is. She said he really gets so excited about religion and we mentioned that we have noticed the same. I told them that they must be incredible religion teachers because he is so fired up about it. Mrs. S went on to say that he is such a kind boy, showing so much kindness to his friends all the time. She said, "He is just beautiful. He really is. He is so beautiful inside." And then she grabbed a tissue and said, in a half-joking way, "I mean it! I am going to have to grab a tissue because it will make me cry!" and we chuckled a little but I saw that her eyes filled up with tears. I started to say something to ease the tension but it took her a couple of minutes for her eyes to stop tearing up. I was so touched. We have noticed that she really seems to care so much for him, but to see it like that -- I was going to start crying, myself!
We left the school feeling so happy. Not only are we so proud of our boys, but we feel like they are just in such a great environment. They are being challenged but they are being cared for and loved. Today is just one of those days that all feels right with the world =)
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