Happy Dance!

I'm doing a Happy Dance right now.  Woot Woot!  Today was parent teacher conference.  Not something I look forward to. This started out as a typical P-T conference.  The teacher telling us that she thoroughly enjoys Ster.  (I guess if he is going to be good for someone, it better be his teacher).  I'm happy about that.  She also told us once again that he won't write anything for her - they are supposed to write every day, but he turns in blank papers all the time.  He can spell pretty good - but he just can't write a complete sentence.  He leaves out minor words like "the" "and" "a".  Minor words =)  Then, the bad news.  They did their mid-year testing.  Where Ster should be for mid-year 4th ---- he isn't anywhere close.  He is way behind.  It doesn't really surprise me - which is sad to say.  The teacher did say that she didn't think he was trying - and that if he put forth an effort he would be closer to his age group.  With his disability, he does get help with his tests - not answers given to him, but he can have someone read the questions to him (with the exception of reading).  However, he has to ask for help and he didn't do that.  So, when they do their testing in January she is going to put down that he needs the questions read to him.  For fun, she opened up some pamplet that had sample questions and answers and levels and crap like that.  She pointed out the level he should have been at and asked him to read.  He read aloud just fine and then answered the question (but I am 99% positive he saw the answer first).  She thinks he'd do much better if he was allowed to read the questions aloud - so she is going to put him in a separate room so he can read aloud to see if that helps.  (Ster's concern was which room he'd be in. Like that matters.)

I mentioned a happy dance, didn't I!  Well, after that news we went to see his Math teacher because he scored extremely low on math (like 1st grade level - and we know he can do better than that).  I asked her how much he was struggling and she gave me a funny look.  She explained that they are working with fractions and they are all getting the basics but seemed to be shocked with simplifying fractions (it has been so long that I had to ask what that was!).  Again I questioned what we needed to do to help him and she told us....hold your shorts!....that he was in the "upper triangle of the class - meaning that he was ready to move onto the next level."  WOOT WOOT!  My child, the child who is in resource for reading writing and arithmatic, is in the upper level!  She said he has caught on extremely fast - and that he is really good with his multiplication. But like the other kids, he is struggling with simplification - but they will be working some more with that.  She also said that she'd like more participation out of him, but if she asks him a question he always gets it right.

I can't express enough my excitement.  I'm usually being told how the teacher has to devout more time to him because he gets frustrated and worked up and then shuts down.  For once I'm being told that he is really good at a subject and isn't behind his classmates!  Woot Woot!!!  (Okay, so he doesn't have to write a paragraph so that is probably why he is doing better - but who cares - he isn't the lowest in the class!!!!)

That earthquake you just felt?  No, it was not an earthquake - just fatty patty dancing around.