Ben's Biography Project, Simon's Kindergarten Conference and Other Things....

The third graders at our school all write a biography as one of their big projects for the year. I think Ben has been working on it since January or so! They are supposed to choose their mom or dad (although a couple kids did grandparents, so I will keep that in mind for when Simon goes through!) and they came home with a list of questions to ask their subject.

I knew what this project entailed, thanks to parents who have gone before me,  so I encouraged him to write about Tom, not me. (although he was leaning that way anyway.)  You see, once the book is published (they send them off and they are hardbound and everything!!), they have a biography party and the subjects are invited in to hear the kids read their biographies.

You have to sit in the front of the room and pictures of you as a baby, teenager, now and with your child are shown while they read.  Very, VERY sweet, actually... and if Ben had really REALLY wanted to write about me, I would have gone along with it, but I would have been beet red the entire time and wanting the floor to open up and swallow me whole.

Here's a picture of Ben reading his biography to Tom that one of the other moms sent me.  :)

I want to post the actual book (I posted it on FB) but I am having photo rotation and placement issues with Blogger, so maybe later.

He did SUCH a great job... Tom said Ben's a really great presenter. So funny. I kind of thought he'd end up having my public speaking issues since we had such a hard time with him being nervous about his economics project earlier in the year. (although he ended up doing a FANTASTIC job!!) I guess he's over his stage fright, because Tom said he wasn't nervous at all!

Since Tom was at school for the party at dismissal time, I seized the opportunity to schedule Simon's belated Kindergarten conference kid-free while daddy watched all the boys play on the playground.  Whew.

It went well. He's where he needs to be and she doesn't have concerns about him being ready for first grade, although we definitely need to keep up our work over the summer to make sure he doesn't lose ground. His handwriting has improved by leaps and bounds and he is doing a great job with stretch spelling. They are just starting to write sentences, which he seems to be doing well with!  I got a laugh out of one example from his journal that she showed me that said, "On the weekends, I like to upgrade my Lego sets." LOL! He cracks me up.

He's not where Ben with his reading and writing at the same point in his kindergarten year, and I was kind worried about that for awhile...(Not because I'm comparing them... but what else did I have to base my expectations on?) I was concerned more because he didn't seem to be making any steady forward movement than anything else. But now he's making a lot of progress, so I feel better. I know they are unique and different in their strengths and abilities. Simon's also a little younger than Ben was (both chronologically and in just in overall maturity) and just a different kind of kid all around.

The teacher said he does well with math and is really quick with picking up patterns. I think that's so interesting... and it really fits with what I know about how his brain works. :) Definitely my builder/creator/doer.

There are some concerns with his attention and focus, (daydreaming, zoning out) which we're just watching. It's kind of perplexing because I've never really seen that in him, except with homework... but SO much is going on in our house during homework time... so I've noticed it, but never thought much of it. Actually, as I type this, he's sitting, where he has been for an hour, intently concentrating on building a Star Wars Lego set.

I do think he's a super sensitive kid to anything like not getting enough sleep, not feeling 100% for whatever reason. He also gets a little overwhelmed sometimes by all the hustle and bustle at school and I have to wonder if the days there are focus issues aren't days when something like that is at play. But, time will tell...  it's most definitely a possibility, just given the fact that he's in our family.... so we'll just watch and wait.

Anyway, so that went well. I asked about his teacher for next year because, why not? I knew there wouldn't be an answer, but I had to try.  ;)  But yeah, no answer on that.

Moving on... that same day, Jonathan had his very last Two and You class.

Early on, I told him I wanted to take a picture of him with Miss Sally... he had other ideas.  Miss Sally had brought in a new cd player. He posed with it. LOL!

He danced up a storm that day... this is him during Bear Hunt.

And with buddy Lillian.... 

Finally, I got my Miss Sally picture. ;)

Whew. Crazy Friday!