Like last year, Daniel's teacher sent home the following assignment for her students' parents. I love this opportunity to see what's changed, and what hasn't...
The following is in response to your request to write about Danny.
What is your child like? What are the things you, as a parent, know that would be important for me to know? What are your child’s interests? I want to know how your child thinks and plays and how you see your child as a learner and a person.
Daniel, or Danny, has grown so much in the last year, but I can’t say that he’s changed very much, either. He is still full of passion and curiosity, and he can better articulate and focus his energy. He’s still very easy-going most of the time, and can still dig in his heels with the best of them. If he commits to an idea he will argue that the sky is green despite all reasonable evidence otherwise. He’s outgoing and laughs easily and often, and wants to be everyone’s friend. His developmental maturity combined with having an entire class of children his own age give us confidence that he will have more success socially with his classmates.
He’s happy being in the band as opposed to being the band leader, but seems to step up easily and pick up the baton when needed. He often has his own perception of the way things should be done, and steering him from that course once chosen can be a challenge.
He learns easily and well when he is focused, often picking things up after being shown/explained only once. He loves numbers and often works out problems and equations in his head. He reads very well, but often skips words or says the word he thinks should be there, instead of the word actually there (which, actually, seems to not be a wholly bad thing). He still gets easily frustrated if he doesn’t know a word, and is still not fond of reading pages with a lot of words, though he does want to begin reading chapter books. Somewhat of a catch-22, there.
Danny’s interest is restrooms seems to have waned, though since he completely lost interest in drawing this summer we may see them may make a re-emergence in his artwork and stories.
Danny also loves trains and swimming, Spongebob and iCarly, all of his cousins and his “wife” Emma. He still has his “dog sister” Phoebe, who must stand in for the human sibling he does not have. He is very afraid of bees, lightning, tornadoes and fire drills.
Danny has recently discovered card games, and has even made up his own game, called “Blanket Match”. It is really quite fun!
Dan still thinks outside the box. Although he very much wants to fit in with his peers, that desire hits a brick wall when it crosses his own agenda, or includes something he fears. He is very cautious, very careful of his personal safety.
Did I mention that he’s stubborn?
His snits never last long, and he usually has a smile on his face. He is a creature of habit, and sometimes gets addled when things change. He seems to want to listen better in class, and reap the benefits of good behavior.
He had a wonderful year with you last year, and we are anxious to watch him grow this year. While we were sad that you decided to leave the Multi-Age program, my husband and I are confident that things worked out serendipitously for Danny. We know that you are the perfect teacher for our son, and we look forward to supporting Dan’s education in as many ways as needed as he traverses this year, next year and every year thereafter.
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