First Grade

Wow! It's amazing what a trip to the classroom can do!

I took the entire day off today. I found coverage for my own classes and I paid a sub $50 for an entire day, even though the sub only really worked with one class. And I went to Mara's school for the whole day.

Mara sang, "You're going to be a first grader!" over and over and over again, on the way in the door. I think she was pretty excited, though.

I took extensive notes, updating on the classroom status and Mara's attention/productivity every few minutes. Overall, what I noted was that the teachers were really great at making transitions from one part of class to the next. There was floor time, seat work, floor time in front of the Smart Board, and reading groups. There was also time for teachers to work with students one-on-one. It's definitely a teacher-led class, and it's obviously curriculum driven ("No, I'm not going to show anymore cursive, since that's what you'll learn in 2nd grade."), but Mara did not seem like she was suffering or falling behind. Any time she had the chance to read, she seemed to enjoy reading, which is important to me. And I know she's doing fine on the math, even if I think manipulatives would be a much better way to teach math than worksheets.

On the way out the door, I spoke with another parent who is a big player in the educational system, and he said that this teacher has a reputation of being really good with the kids and really bad with the parents. Well, now I believe it.

I didn't even leave to go look at another class. I no longer think it's even worth considering a class change. I no longer want to pull the principal into it. I (whew!) no longer have to consider pulling her out of school and jumping through hoops to homeschool and work full time.

When I get a chance to type up my notes, I'll might post them, or at least some more thoughts on them. But for now, it's sufficient to finally feel at ease with Mara's teacher this year.