3RD 9-WEEKS REPORT CARDS

Once again, Cora had perfect academic scores across the board!

Her behavior, on the other hand... For the first time ever, our girl has had multiple "red" days at school, including notes home. Since this behavior at school has coincided with some extremely poor behavior at home in regard to how she's treating James (physically and verbally) and some increased sassiness/back-talk to us, she has been writing a lot of lines and apology letters lately, and we have had much discussion about inner beauty being more important than outer beauty. We think (hope!) it's starting to resonate with her, as the "green" reports she's brought home from school the past few days have been accompanied with her proclaiming that she acted "beautiful on the inside" and with a "kind heart" towards her classmates. The upcoming 4-day weekend and plenty of time with her brother will show us whether she's really taken it to heart. Fingers crossed.

 James continues to score very well academically, but had a few more drops (3s to 2s) than we saw last report card. This was expected, based on his recent progress report, and one reason we went ahead and had him tested for ADD earlier this month. While his scores are still wonderful and will easily pass him to second grade, we worry about the overall drop in performance and as I said previously, are looking into ways to help improve his focus at school, as well as allow for a specialized testing environment from here on out. He brought home a huge stack of seat work today, and looking through it, we were very concerned about the number of blank or nearly blank worksheet pages (yet with extensive drawings on their backs, mostly of video game scenes). We picked one at random and had him sit and do it at home, and he completed it (slowly) with very few mistakes, so we know he can do it, it's just a matter of getting him started (and focused through finishing...)

As far as James' behavior, every score was an X rather than an S this time around, which is also a drop. We know why, and while we aren't upset with him, it's still hard. He is such a good kid, and it really hurts his feelings to bring home yellows, oranges, and reds all the time. Every "bad" behavior color report he brings home is accompanied with notes of "not focusing, not following directions, not completing work". While we know how important those attributes are to learning and doing well in school, we honestly feel like his teacher expects too much from 6- and 7-year old kids (especially the boys), and could stand to throw a few more greens in there, for morale's sake. His TA has hinted to us multiple times that if it were up to her, James would not be bringing home those "warm" colors nearly as often, so clearly there are differences in expectations, even within classrooms. 

Jay and I are very proud of both James and Cora. First Grade and Kindergarten seem to be flying by... Before we know it we'll be posting final report cards and gearing up for a summer of fun and adventure!