Prior to leaving work to attend Lily's parent/teacher conference I called Lily to see what she scored on her test and make sure if anything happened I was prepared. She told me she scored 100% on her reading test, but they moved her down a level in reading. There is a long back story that goes with this one, but to make a long story short she tested at a third grade level, but the teacher had her start at 2nd grade level. She's been getting all 100% on her tests, but the night we had girl scouts, she rushed through reading it and scored a 60%. I mean yea its bad, but everyone is entitled to have their bad days. So instead of rewarding her (which she has never done) for getting 14 100% in a row, she moves her back for getting 1-60%. So, as you can imagine, I was pretty upset and ready to tell her where I stood on that issue.
She started off by telling us Lily was very smart. She's always the first one with her hand up and she always has the answers. The only negative thing she said about Lily was that she rushes through things. She could get everything correct if she slowed down just a bit. She first started talking about her reading. She said she isn't worried about her progression. She was way above the class level as far as reading went. She said she even was moving her up a level or should have. This is when I mentioned to her that she moved Lily down a level. So, we talked about it in detail. She said each score that Lily didn't score 100% on, which is about 3 in total, she could have if she just slowed down. Ms. Maddox apparently left class for 3 weeks and handed it over to a student teacher, so she has been out of the loop. I was worried Lily wasn't being challenged at all. Ms. Maddox assured us that things are going to change.
We finished the meeting on a very high note. She mentioned many times how smart Lily was. She also said she may be speaking out of turn, but she thinks Lily is a gifted child. She said they don't test for it in first grade, but recommended I test her next year and get her in extra classes if she tests well. She said Lily just gets it and gets it fast. She memorizes and remembers things really well. If they don't have a teacher's aid in the room, Lily is the one she asks to help the other kids with reading or the computer test. She just needs to slow down.
So all in all, I was very happy with the meeting. The teacher isn't as hard as I thought she would be. I'm not sure if Lily is gifted, but I'm glad she recognizes that Lily needs extra attention or maybe extra work to do.
Thanks for keeping up with our family!
<3
