We had Will’s spring parent-teacher conference tonight. It went so well. They are as impressed by his drawing and creativity as I am. They described him as “bright” and shook their heads in wonder recalling the conversations they have with him.
They were particularly excited to show us his ‘not a box’—a project the class has been working on for a few weeks. They read a story called Not a Box, about all the things a little boy turned a box into. The kids then each got a box and got to turn it into something. Will chose a ferry, and the teachers were eager to find out if he had gone on a ferry recently because they said he was incredibly specific about how it needed to be. It needed to be green and black and have a section on the outside for walking around. In short, it was modeled after the Seattle ferry we rode at Thanksgiving! There weren’t any ferries in the book, which is why they were so particularly excited by Will’s choice and his very specific vision!
They mentioned his artistic skill and his amazing drawings, which I was delighted with because I feel like in the last month or two his drawings have gotten RIDICULOUS for a 5 year old! They also love the tremendous recall that his drawings show—they are usually very specific objects from memory.
I was surprised to see that he could identify a few of his classmate’s names, and it was really fun to see some of the drawings that he has in his classroom portfolio that we hadn’t seen yet.
We’re very glad that their only area of concern is one that has been on our radar, too…his tendency to shut down when under pressure. It’s like he loses the ability to process and function when he feels disoriented or threatened. It’s something we’ve been watching and will continue to watch and hope to give him a few tools to help him deal with it as he gets older.
Another great conference and I feel so grateful for it. After that one horrible ambush conference at his first preschool (he had several good conferences then switched to a new teacher and his conference was horrible—but she was having him write and cut with his left hand, thought he was 4 and not 3 and just generally showed a complete lack of knowledge about him while telling me how far behind he was) conference time has made me incredibly nervous. Even though it was a one-off, and the 3 other teachers he’s had in his academic career have all gushed over him, it really makes me feel for the mommas that go home from a conference with bad news!
