And .... it's melting

Tonight was the TKD Halloween party. We went with the zombie look for all 3 kids (some "Vulcan Zombie" Star Trek *may* have been at fault...) Our crazy snowstorm with over 22 inches of snow is perfectly melted: dry streets and big heaps of snow on the grass. Perfect for trick or treats!

The boys had their conferences today. Sam is still too shy to fully "let" his teachers know where he's at - she thought he only knew 19 letter sounds. Ha! He can sound out words better than Ted! But til he loosens up, he refuses to read in class, so they can't adequately evaluate him. Luckily he's my 2nd and I'm not worried! His math is pretty amazing. They are doing things like "what are the different ways you can make 10?" and he'll reply (using his fingers, heaven forbid he SPEAK!) "5+5, 2+8, 4+6" etc. I think that's so cool. All in all, he's happy and doing fine. Cutie.

Ted's conference was intense! He had picked out 3 selections from each notebook to share with us. They have writing notebooks, journals, math, science, and probably more. I was overwhelmed. I am most impressed with how MUCH writing they do. In K/1, the only writing, other than a one-word reply, was the 15 minutes of journaling they did in the morning. Here in 2/3, it's all writing, all the time! He is still reversing letters but his writing is MUCH neater and cleaner, which is a direct result of his teacher gently encouraging to do his best work at all times. I LOVE this teacher! We set goals together (Ted, his teacher and parents). They included working to make sure the letter reversals are corrected, always using neat writing, esp in homework assignments, agreeing to check over his work in timed tests (they do Fast Facts and he'll usually have about 3 wrong (out of 100) that was just carelessness - since he finishes those tests early, use that time to re-check, not to pull out a book.) All in all, he is ROCKING. We've had private meetings about his reading and I feel confident that between his teacher, his tutor and his DAILY reading group (!), he is getting the support he needs.

I came down with a cold yesterday and spent last night and most of the morning in bed with the aches. I feel better tonight and the post-nasal drip is helping with the sore throat. Oy!

Tomorrow is pumpkin carving, soccer and Trick or Treats!