1st Grade Parent Teacher Conference

I looked at Carrie before we went in. "Hyper, can't sit still, but friendly and does well?"

Carrie nodded. "Sounds like Shane."

Guess what the teacher said?

Shane is hyper, but well meaning. He rolls around on the carpet, so she's learned to let him sit on a medicine ball or be moving behind the group so that he won't distract other kids. She thought he was goofing off at first, but whenever she asked him a question he was spot on. She looks at letting Shane move around some as a learning accommodation.

Speaking of accommodations, there was one that I thought was pretty neat. Maybe it's common knowledge among 1st grade teachers, but I've never heard of a 'personal telephone.'  

Shane talks and sings to himself incessantly. This doesn't stop him from learning or working, but it can distract others. He has a headset he can wear with a hollow piece of plastic. It lets him talk quietly but amplifies the noise he hears. That allows him to talk to himself, but now he's doing it much more quietly. Brilliant.

The rest of the behavior conference was things I've heard before.

Things to work on:
Shane has trouble taking commands the first time. It's not that he's defiant, but he doesn't like to stop what he's doing and he seems to think at least a couple asks are required for it to be a serious request. When he's working in a group, he gets frustrated quickly when people don't agree with him. He can be dramatic.

Things to encourage:
He's precocious. Both Shane's preschool teacher and now his 1st grade teachers have called him "an old soul." Shane likes to talk, discuss, and has insights. Apparently, he's pretty funny. Shane likes school and his classmates. He's good at pretend play ("with all the screens nowadays..."). Shane's very curious and interested in learning. There was a lesson where the teacher wanted to use magnets. Shane was mesmerized and wanted to know why the magnets worked one way and not the other. She abandoned the lesson, but it became a great learning moment.

Academically, he's doing great. Math is Shane's strongest subject. He enjoys reading, spelling, and his writing has come a long way in one quarter.

Left: Beginning of the year. Right: After he was sick recently (Carrie was impressed by the picture. Shane wanted to know what strep bacteria looked like, so she googled it. He recreated the image she showed him).

Shane didn't hear any of this. He was at TKD day-camp. I went to vote and work afterward. Carrie hopped on her own projects at home.

However, Carrie was in a good mood when he got home. She made some gak from a kit! She made Shane close his eyes and then dumped it in his hands.