Off to a GREAT Year!

Alayna is not only doing well socially she’s a rock star academically. She’s one of the top students in her class and he’s already trying to write sentences and reading small books!
 

Her teacher said she is joy to have in the class. 🙂 We couldn’t be more proud of her! 

We went to Eli’s Conference next. He has Ms. Davis. She is AMAZING!!! She’s very good friends with the boy’s 1st grade teacher Mrs. Smith, who is the Gold Standard of teachers. Ms. Davis is definitely giving her a run for her money though. We are so incredibly thrilled with her. Eli’s had some stinker teachers and it has been a wonderful blessing to him to be in her class this year. 

Ms. Davis couldn’t stop talking about how much she loved having Eli in her class and what a great kid he is. She said he’s a lot of fun because you can give him a hard time and he “gets it”. 🙂 (Must be from the years of training from his sarcastic parents..lol!) 

She told us that he’s one of the two top students in her class and that he brings a lot of laughter and joy to the classroom. It seems he’s a bit of a class clown but he knows where to draw the line. 😛 One of the favorite jokes he likes to play is when Ms. Davis lets the girl line in first and he and his buddy like to slide in trying to go unnoticed as one of the girls. When they get caught Ms. Davis says, “Christine and Elizabeth is that where you are supposed to be?” LOL! She said if they are going to pretend to be girls she’s going to call them by girl names. Jared and I thought it was hysterical!

Eli has really come out of his shell this year. Last year was a tough year for him with some bullying from a close friend and it affected him in a lot of ways. This year he’s a new “man” and it’s so awesome to see him grow into an outgoing, confident, self assured person. He is also becoming quite a performer. He’s been chosen for a small group solo in the 4th grade program and in chorus! He also applied for the school’s Peach Helper Program and was chosen for that as well! 🙂 He and a friend apparently went to Mrs. Smith’s class one afternoon and asked her if they could sing “The Counties of Arizona” to her class. Being the awesome teacher she is she said of course! She later wrote me and told me about how cute it was!! I was blown away when she told me. Hahaha! He’s quite a little show off. 😛

Eli is in his 2nd year of A.L.P. (Accelerated Learning Program), but this is his 1st year of the “pull-out program” where he leaves his regular classroom and goes to A.L.P. for Math and Language. Both Ms. Davis and his A.L.P. teacher Mrs. Warfield gushed about his writing abilities  They said he’s so advanced for his grade level that it must be a God given talent. His use of similes in one writing sample she showed us she said is something 4th graders aren’t typically capable of! Mrs. Warfield also said he LOVES math and he’s very good at it. They both said he’s a wonderful student and pleasure to have in their classrooms! 🙂 What parent doesn’t love to hear such accolades about their child!?! 🙂