Parent-Teacher Meeting

Had my first parent teacher meeting this morning at Shekinah.

The session was well organized with 5 mins allocated at each 'station' with the teacher in charge of each subject 'based' there.

First up was Miss Sue who's in charge of Project Approach. The kids had learnt about themselves (parts of their body, skeletal structure etc) last term, and animals this one (categories of animals: mammals, amphibians, reptiles etc, animals as pets and so on). With these themes, they learnt by watching short programs, making craft work, coloring, doing matching exercises etc. Miss Sue said AN loves craft work and is one of the few students who can do her own cutting. AN started random cutting after her 2nd b'day. She had ample practice! Miss Sue also said AN is one of her favorite and is very much like her own daughter at this age.

Next up was 杨老师 (chinese teacher, Miss Yang) who teaches Chinese. She too has good reviews on AN, saying that she's very participative in class, outspoken and willing to learn. She's so eager that Miss Yang has started teaching her to write 手 (hand) because AN started practicing it on her own exercise book by herself. This word belongs to part of her syllabus for next term and she asked if we had been teaching her at home. I'm ashamed to say that I had been really caught up with ER and not been spending enough time coaching AN. But she's cultivated her own routine of sitting down for some writing exercises after she gets home from school and had lunch at my parents' place. She learnt to write her chinese characters all by herself and surprises mum and I each time she shows her work to us after she finished writing.

At the last 'stop', I met Miss Ivy, AN's form teacher who teaches them Maths and English. Like AN's other teachers, Miss Ivy had sweet things to say of AN too. According to her, AN is very keen to learn and learns fast too. She takes a lesson or 2 to teach AN numbers with number rod (some Montessori teaching tool) and AN mastered it in a session. She's now teaching AN Spindles. Was told AN speaks well (huh???? I am quite frustrated that AN had been speaking really broken English since we came back....)..but she probably meant AN is verbally expressive (regardless of the quality of her language skill). And that AN is strong in both Maths and her English. She asked if AN had been attending enrichment classes before we returned. Yes, if Gymboree is enriching enough (it sure is! AN loved all the fun activities so much and I missed watching her go through them each time we went...)

It is encouraging to hear that AN enjoys learning and learns well, is very likeable in class by all her teachers and peers alike etc...but I thought it would be nice to hear something else about AN. Not that I hope to hear that my daughter hadn't been behaving, but AN is not perfect. I wanted to know if her teachers have the same problems with her in school like I have when I teach her. It does get on my nerves when she's easily distracted, and stubborn (insisting that I teach her something else, or that I'm not teaching her correctly...-____-"').

Miss Ivy agreed that AN does day dream. She gets distracted by her friends sometimes or stares into space. The good thing is, she's able to snap AN back and when AN finds her way out of her dream, she's still able to continue from where she left off and needs not go back to the starting point and redo her activity.

Ok, at least in this aspect, AN is not too different in school (that she day dreams).

But Miss Ivy insisted that AN is not stubborn in class at all. She mentioned that many children are different in school because of the environment. So, AN being stubborn at home may not necessary mean she will be in school. 

Good to know, because if she's stubborn in school, that will make it hard for teachers to teach her..and for her to learn.

At the end of the 15 mins, I was very assured that AN had been learning well and that she's not a slow learner like I'd been worried about. In fact, from all 3 teachers' feedback, I wondered if I should be tapping more on her eagerness to learn before it dwindles off in the next few years. Was considering enrichment classes because of this, BUT BUT BUT...with enrichment classes, will she feel overwhelmed and have her enthusiasm killed prematuredly??

I think, we'll just stick to music, and probably something dance-related (she had been asking when she'll be going for dance lessons. hehe).

For now, I'm thankful that she's enjoying school, enjoying lessons and enjoying all the academic exposure she's receiving and is even seeking out more on her own. 

Below are some of her work from her lessons for the past 5 months. 

Yes, she's behind that chicken mask.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9