Report Cards

Four times a year in elementary school, my parents would receive a card with a paragraph update accompanied by boxes filled in with a subtraction sign, a check mark (tick), or a star.  These three symbols either represented the effort a student was giving or the achievement level.  As I got older, the teachers began giving out A's, B's, C's, and so on.  This served as the Ohio-style of reporting to parents the progress their child was making--although, I imagine that the other states have the same system.  Combined with one or two parent-teacher conferences, the parents seemed sufficiently updated on how their child was doing in school.

In my school, our 'reports' were due this week to be proofread by the head teacher.  Parents in England only receive one report in summation of the entire year's progress and throughout the year, they meet twice for conferences with the teacher.  Before this year, each student received a two-paged typed report with a paragraph for each subject.  This used to take me about 24 hours to finish.  Thankfully, with some changes to the regime, every child has a one-page report with only five paragraphs to summarise their progress in reading, writing, mathematics, 'other subjects,' and general comments (my favourite one because you get to talk about the student's classroom behaviour).  We don't use a check mark or star, but rather a ranking system made-up of letters and numbers showing where the students are in comparison with age-related expectations.

This is still time consuming, but not nearly as much as it used to be.  Also, I have thought of a way to make it easier next year (and maximise my family time):  I can complete the general comments section before the end of the year.  If a child is a 'good listener' or 'kind to others' at the beginning of the year, he is usually the same ten months later.  And if the student is the opposite to that, it is rare that he can completely change his ways.  I have had a couple of breakthroughs this year, but I can't perform miracles.

Getting dizzy at the park

Jackson insists on climbing stairs upright and using the railing

Swinging away while watching the dogs at the park

Carefully guiding his trains along the track saying, "Choo choo!"

Developmental updates:  Jackson has officially grown out of his 12-18 month tops and pajamas, but he still fits into the pants (trousers in the UK).  We took a look around and realised that he's also outgrown his rattles, soft books, Little Tikes garden centre, ball pit, and some other 'baby' toys.  Yesterday, we packed-up a whole tub of clothes and wrapped-up and labelled his toys for the attic.  There is suddenly a lot more floor space for Jackson to run and ride his pirate ship and push his trucks and cars around.  There is also more space to play chase which excites him to no end.  This week, Jackson has developed a cough and lost his appetite a bit.  He seems to be in high spirits other than that, so we aren't too worried.  We'll see how he develops over the next week.  There weren't any new words this week, but he is saying 'car' every time we see one while driving or walking.  He is doubling his effort by saying 'car car.'  We're not sure why he started doing this, but he will probably retire to just the one 'car' eventually.

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.