Lots of people around here asked why on earth I wasn't taking Johnny out of school early to head to London at the same time John had to leave (he left Monday). I wasn't exactly sure myself, so I muttered things about being the room parent and feeling a responsibility to help out with end-of-year stuff and wanting Johnny to have "closure" this year since he didn't last year ... yadda, yadda, blah, blah.
Today I was really glad we'd stayed, because Johnny and his classmates put on a fantastic demonstration of what they've learned this year. Ms. Robertson is pretty no-nonsense, so this was serious business, folks.
Each student made a PowerPoint presentation that they'd created themselves. Here's Johnny holding forth at the smartboard. If you know Johnny at all, it won't surprise you that he was the most energetic and expressive of the presenters.
Midway through the presentations, we broke for a snack and to give Ms. Robertson a gift certificate to one of the many awesome spas in Chennai. I organized the snacks and the teacher gift ... See? I do have responsibilities.
Then the kids broke into small groups to present their rainforest projects. Johnny talked about his research on pitcher plants
and on anacondas.
Here he is with his rainforest partners. Woot! The teams painted a rainforest and labeled the layers(forest floor up to emergent), and then they put animals and plants at the levels where they would most likely be found. Johnny's group got creative and used their handprints to make some of the foliage.
After more snacking and chatting, Ms. Robertson presented each student with a certificate of appreciation, complete with a grip-and-grin shot for the cameras! Johnny's is for his vivid imagination and fantastic reading skills -- very fitting.
Some of you might know that we've had a lot of trouble with Johnny's behavior at school over the last three years. It started toward the end of first grade, peaked in second grade (at one point he was in the assistant principal's office every single day), and is beginning to taper off now (we hope). The issues are disruptive behavior (he takes being the class clown to unreal extremes) and, when he gets especially frustrated, defiance.
I won't go into all of our struggles here, but I will say that I've been so impressed with the way the school here has dealt with things. Ms. Robertson was a perfect fit for him. Her classroom is very structured, but she is flexible enough to understand that different methods work with different kids. We've also worked extensively with the counselor and the school psychologist, who have both been wonderful. For the first time, I feel like the teacher and administration have taken the time to truly focus on Johnny and what might work best for him.
We'll call grade 3 an overall success. On to grade 4! And we're so glad we'll still be at AISC!
Today I was really glad we'd stayed, because Johnny and his classmates put on a fantastic demonstration of what they've learned this year. Ms. Robertson is pretty no-nonsense, so this was serious business, folks.
Each student made a PowerPoint presentation that they'd created themselves. Here's Johnny holding forth at the smartboard. If you know Johnny at all, it won't surprise you that he was the most energetic and expressive of the presenters.
Midway through the presentations, we broke for a snack and to give Ms. Robertson a gift certificate to one of the many awesome spas in Chennai. I organized the snacks and the teacher gift ... See? I do have responsibilities.
Then the kids broke into small groups to present their rainforest projects. Johnny talked about his research on pitcher plants
and on anacondas.
Here he is with his rainforest partners. Woot! The teams painted a rainforest and labeled the layers(forest floor up to emergent), and then they put animals and plants at the levels where they would most likely be found. Johnny's group got creative and used their handprints to make some of the foliage.
After more snacking and chatting, Ms. Robertson presented each student with a certificate of appreciation, complete with a grip-and-grin shot for the cameras! Johnny's is for his vivid imagination and fantastic reading skills -- very fitting.
Some of you might know that we've had a lot of trouble with Johnny's behavior at school over the last three years. It started toward the end of first grade, peaked in second grade (at one point he was in the assistant principal's office every single day), and is beginning to taper off now (we hope). The issues are disruptive behavior (he takes being the class clown to unreal extremes) and, when he gets especially frustrated, defiance.
I won't go into all of our struggles here, but I will say that I've been so impressed with the way the school here has dealt with things. Ms. Robertson was a perfect fit for him. Her classroom is very structured, but she is flexible enough to understand that different methods work with different kids. We've also worked extensively with the counselor and the school psychologist, who have both been wonderful. For the first time, I feel like the teacher and administration have taken the time to truly focus on Johnny and what might work best for him.
We'll call grade 3 an overall success. On to grade 4! And we're so glad we'll still be at AISC!
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