Since the last blog post we literally have had no problems behaviorally at school. It really did seem like the kid just needed that full 30 days to get acclimated. We did take the advice of the professionals and have her tested for the gifted program to rule that out as a cause of her behavior issues. She did not qualify. She is right where she needs to be.
She has been doing amazingly well in the classroom. She is doing incredibly academically. Still very much ahead or in line with where she should be. Her reading has improved. She is learning Math etc. She is LOVING her school. She is proud of it. Loves to call herself a Santan Stormer (cracks me up). She still loves the school bus although she has to sit right behind the driver cause miss social butterfly was fluttering all throughout the aisles visiting friends too much. ha ha. She begs me to visit and to volunteer at school, which I do often. She comes home all the time and says Mommy there is a book fair and they need help, can you do it. Of course I say yes! :) And I have made so many friends with her classmates. They love when I come visit. They run up and hug me and beg me to let them eat with me. Sometimes it is me and 10-12 kids eating at our own table together. I once had a lunchroom volunteer ask me if I was a teacher and this was my class. Nope just a Mom. Well not just any mom... Supermom (ha ha)
So since our last post here are some of the fun activities I was able to volunteer for:
Sept- Grandparents Day, Smoothie Fridays and Scholastic Book Fair
Oct- Field Trip to Vertuccio Farms and Pumpkin Appreciation Day
Nov- Fall Carnival and Thanksgiving Craft
Dec- Holiday Shop, Snowman Craft, and Holidays Around the World
And here are pictures of my fan club (crappy phone pics) :)
Ella loves when I come to school to volunteer but she sometimes cries or has issues when I leave. Breaks my little heart. Makes me not want to leave either. Mrs Hughes is good about separating us when I come to volunteer though so that Ella can focus on her work. :) Which sometimes bums me out but I understand it is for the best for now. In addition to the above I am also coordinate at a grade level and volunteer at a class level for Kindergarten Art Masterpiece at Santan. This has been fun, challenging and rewarding. I was happy to do it since this 100% volunteer based program is the only way kids receive art in schools these days. Oh and Ella has joined a Girl Scout Troop that I co-lead AND she has been in dance school since the start of Kindergarten. Geesh! Busy busy!
Behaviorally Ella has been doing really well too at school She has only come home with 1 uh-oh gram back in September and that was for a playground argument with a girl from her class. They were both responsible and both got in trouble for it. But Ella really has learned from peer pressure and social consequences what is expected of her at school. That is not to say she does not still require special attention. I am sure she can still be a little hard to reign in sometimes. She can be a little restless, get distracted easily, and she can lack patience and doesn't like waiting for stuff (for instance when the teacher calls kids up by table and her table gets called last). She can get a little whiny and pouty while waiting her turn. Part of this could be personality and part could be immaturity since she is on the younger side of her classmates.
Socially she is learning a lot too. Some of it good, some of it I could do without. ha ha. For instance someone taught her the Trick or Treat smell my feet rhyme. Awesome LOL. Someone else taught her a naughtier version of Jingle Bells that I had to listen to during the Holidays. And most recently she walks around saying Ella and so and so sitting in a tree K I S S I N G... etc. But she is really cute about it, cause she still doesn't understand what it all means. So when she sings it she sings it about her and her friend Rachel, or her and her Sister or her and her Daddy. It is really funny, and all I can do is laugh.
My biggest struggle with Ella right now is teaching her to be less self centered. Her personality type is to focus on negative stuff. She tends to overlook the positive and focus on negative which is very frustrating for me since I am so the opposite. She tends to be ungrateful for what she DOES get cause she is so focused on what she does NOT get. I am so the opposite there as well. This really tests my parenting skills and patience at times. For instance you could give her a lollipop but if she get a blue one and someone else gets pink, she will focus on that and will be upset and pouty. That is a mild tolerable case of it. A not so mild case of it is when we left The Nutcracker (our annual Mommy and girls date day) and she threw a fit cause she only got 3 people's autographs after show and wanted autographs from the main characters. The reason she didn't get autographs from the main characters is because she got PHOTOS taken with them instead. Geesh. Photos like THIS ONE:
You would think she would be SO thrilled to have seen this show, gotten to go on stage after, met the characters, had her picture taken AND got autographs of some of the smaller characters, that she would not find something to complain about cause she would be on cloud 9. But that is just Ella and something I have to learn to not get too frustrated about, although it is VERY hard sometimes. sigh... this kid. Man is she gonna test me for a long time to come. Ha!
Our parent teacher conference prior to Fall break went great! Ella was excelling at everything. Her teacher didn't have concerns at all behaviorally or academically. What a relief!! Yay!
So fast forward to today! Where are we?? First week back from a long Winter Break and she is not struggling so far to slip back in her routine at school. Not testing boundaries like I thought she might. She seems great. And TODAY we got her FIRST OFFICIAL REPORT CARD. The first one of many we will get over the next 13 years!! And... drum roll please... it was AMAZING!!! She got all good marks (progressing or meeting the standards) in ALL areas academically. And for behaviorally she ALSO got all good marks (satisfactory or excellent) in all areas.
But here was the best part of all... Her teachers comments "Ella is a pleasure to have in class" Music to my ears I tell ya. When I think of what the teacher was telling me at the beginning of the year during those first few weeks. How she didn't know if she could handle a child as strong willed as Ella and didn't know if it would work out, to how Ella was one of the most challenging kids she has ever had in her entire career... to that statement above.
I am so proud of her I am crying. For some parents out there they might take for granted how easy it is for their kids to be referred to like that. It might come naturally for their kids to be people pleasers or to stay in line. But for a kid with a very strong willed personality you have no idea how hard it is to hear things like this. They are the kids that blaze their own trail, and follow their own lead, to a fault at times. To the point where it does get them in trouble and comes across as defiance to authority figures. They want what they want when they want it, they want to be in charge, they want to be in control, they want to decide what they are going to do, and they want to do it their way. All qualities that will make her an excellent leader someday but until she is mature enough to learn to compromise and learn when you HAVE to let someone else call the shots, it will always make it a little harder for her to conform.
I am taking my girl out to celebrate to the Rainforest Cafe (same place we took her to celebrate when she passed her entrance exam to Kindergarten.) It seems fitting. And I am going to order her this $15 piece of cake this time since I said NO last time. :)
100th Day of School is around the corner!!! Woo hoo!!!! :)
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