First Kindergarten Conference

Ms. Reagan sent a note home last week and asked if we could go ahead and schedule a conference. She included that it was time for everyone to have a conference. We scheduled ours for yesterday at 3:30. Neil couldn't come because of work.

On Monday, the day before, I mentioned to Tyrus that I was coming to his school the next day to meet with Ms. Reagan. He said:

"Mama, you are going to be so proud of me!"

I'll admit, he was in the backseat and I was driving when he said this and I kinda bit my lip because I honestly didn't know what she was going to say.

Tyrus was 100% RIGHT!!!!

I was there for about an hour and we talked about a lot of things. I'm going to try and touch on everything that was discussed. Makes for a long post, but memories are important. :)

• Remember when I posted his progress report a couple of weeks ago and I showed that his BLT score was a 17? Well, she told me that was a very good score for this far into the year and that his score was the 3rd highest in the class!!
• There are 3 reading groups in his class: Green, Yellow, and Red. The Green group is the most advanced reading group. Tyrus is in the Green group. This means that he is in the group that is currently reading the highest level AND she said that he is almost done with that level and will be moving forward.
• She has seen major improvement in his coloring. He is more willing to take his time and color inside the lines. Neil and I have noticed this too at home.
• She said that if she taught nothing but Science, Weather, and Animals that Tyrus would be the best student in the class. He is very fascinated with anything having to do with these subjects.
• In fact, she recently bought the class 2 frogs for a class pet. She said that when she was in the pet store she thought to herself that if she had one student that would love a class pet that it would be Tyrus. She was correct. Tyrus sits close to where the frogs are kept and he is constantly watching them and asking her if he can feed them. He usually is the one that feeds them everyday because he loves it so much.
• The kids got to make suggestions on the frogs names. Tyrus suggested "Fire Frog". The class voted and decided on Max and Ella.
• She made the comment that, "Tyrus really thinks outside the box". Her example is when she gives them a worksheet that has groups and tells them to count how many are in each group, Tyrus will mark the items off as he counts them. It sounds small, but she said he is the only one in the class that does this.
• She said that Tyrus has an answer for everything and, a lot of times, she can't argue with him because he's right. She gave an awesome example that had us both laughing. One day she gave the class a worksheet with a picture of Mickey Mouse on it. She instructed the kids to choose a color and paint Mickey's shirt that color. The color that they chose would be the "team" that Mickey was on. When they were finished she told them they could turn the sheet over and color whatever they wanted on the back. 5 seconds after handing the sheet out Tyrus had flipped it over and was drawing on the back. She walked over and asked Tyrus if he was finished and if he could show her what team Mickey was on. Tyrus got a mischievous smile on his face and turned the sheet over. It was untouched. Tyrus said that Mickey was on the white team. Then he said, "Ms. Reagan, white is a color." Ms. Reagan said I couldn't argue with it. He was right. This PERFECTLY describes our Tyrus. Such a stinker!
• He has a couple of friends in his class and she says they are good friends to have. His favorite friend is Carson. The other day they were having reading time at their desk. Carson and Tyrus sit on opposite sides of the room. The room was quite and all of a sudden she heard, "Tyrus to Carson, Tyrus to Carson" and then she heard, "Caron to Tyrus, Carson to Tyrus." The little stinkers were acting like they were talking on walkie talkies because they were both reading submarine books.
• Tyrus is always asking if he is staying on Task and if he is still on green. This is their behavior rating for the day. Green is the best. She said that it is great that he notices that there is a consequence to acting out. Neil and I have drilled into his head the importance of behavior and we discuss his behavior everyday. I am so happy that he thinks about these things.
• He has, about once a week, gotten a little note home saying things like, "Tyrus has a difficult time staying on green today" or "Tyrus kept taking his shoe off today". I asked her if everyone was receiving those notes home and she said "absolutely". She includes those notes so that we can discuss their behavior. Most of the time he will receive those notes, but still be on green.
• Also, we are really working on Sight Words. Tyrus can sound out a word, but then when you ask him to say the word he will say it backwards. For example, if I hold up the word "bat" he will say "bah-ah-t", but then he will pronounce it "tab". She said this was normal for their age. They are pronouncing it in the order they remember it. She said it would be a concern if he was still doing this in the spring.
  
• Tyrus knows all of his letters and all of their sounds.

Now, to keep this update "real" I want to include anything negative that she said about Tyrus. In all honestly, she didn't say anything negative. She went on and on about how smart he is and about how he is always making them laugh and thinking outside the box. I asked her if she had received any attitude from him at school and she said that he never speaks to her with attitude. He speaks to her like he knows he is right. We have gotten a little attitude at home, but I'm thinking it has a lot to do with being tired after school.

I think I walked out of that room with the biggest smile on my face. All doubt that I had about Tyrus was completely gone. I couldn't believe that I considered holding him back. When I went to pick him up I grabbed him and gave him the biggest hug and told him how much I loved him and how proud I was of him. I just couldn't let him go. We still had some time before I had to get Mary so I took him to Kroger and bought him some candy corn, a Matchbox car, and a Dr. Pepper. He was pleased and he knew that we were proud of him. This weekend we have a date planned to go see a movie.

Tyrus, you were right when you told me that I would be proud of you after the conference. I am so proud of you for all the hard work that you put into Kindergarten. You amaze me everyday sweet boy. I love you more than I could ever type on this blog and I can't wait to see what else Kindergarten has in store. Love you Buddy!!