So who has started thinking about Christmas yet?

I know it is only September, but Christmas is only about 3 months away.  And right about this time is usually when shops start hauling out their Christmas stuff to tempt the buyers into gearing up for the Christmas season. I haven't seen it happen just yet, but I'm sure pretty soon the Christmas trees and decorations will start going on display.

As a matter of fact I have started thinking of Christmas.  For one I want to do the little boxes again.  Not only was it a lot of fun, but it meant that we could do some quality activities again.  And of course the girls were able to experience the true meaning of 'giving'.  So that means I have to make little boxes again.  They didn't all stay nice unfortunately so I can't really re-use them and if I start now then I will have more preparation time to come up with some fun activities.  We will definitely deliver biscuits again to one of the local retirement villages (and in fact just next week Bianca will do this too as part of one of her home learning challenges).  But along with that I am also thinking of getting a few small presents together that the girls and I will take to the children's ward at Wellington Hospital and deliver it there.  I remember when we were stuck in hospital how frustrating it felt at times so maybe we might be able to brighten some children's day.

Speaking of Christmas - If you are looking for the perfect stocking filler - Bianca's teacher, Paul Forster is selling his picture book titled 'You're not eating me' that he wrote and published (how cool is that?).  It is this really cute story beautifully illustrated and along with it is a CD with 12 songs that Paul wrote including the 'You're not eating me' song!  Bianca has a copy that her teacher gave to her for her birthday and it is definitely one of her favourite things!  And I bet if you ordered a copy and asked Paul, he would even be happy to write a special message for the recipient.  Just think you can give somebody a signed copy of this book! How special!  To order or to get more information please email jo.paulf@paradise.net.nz.

School Feedback

And it is school holiday!  Hard to believe that there are only 2 terms left.  These school holidays we are not really doing much.

Next week Terence will be flying to Melbourne where he will attend some or the other course for work.  So it will only be the girls and I.

Caitlyn will continue with daycare (except Mondays and Fridays when she is home with me) and in the first week of the holiday Bianca will have a netball holiday programme Monday to Thursday for 3 hours each day.  Hopefully she'll not only have fun, but learn some new skills and techniques.

Bianca really enjoys netball and this morning's match was really good to watch.  Bianca played GK and the teacher was really impressed - twice saying "I really like you in that position".  At this age though, they rotate every week, so every week she plays a different position until she is a bit older.

Earlier this week we had parent-teacher interviews.  There are a few small areas Bianca needs to work on (nothing too big or serious), but she got really great feedback.  In particular she is turning out to be a really good teacher assistant.  This meeting confirmed again what we have known since the start of this year - Bianca is with the right teacher.  A teacher that not only believes learning should be fun, but that kids should be challenged to help them reach their potential.  And Mr Forster has put a lot of focus on Glossary which really really helps with building vocabulary.  So much so that Bianca often points out when she hears a glossary word in conversation or in an advert and will often insist on using a different word to describe things.  Maths too.  Bianca absolutely loves maths - which I'm so pleased about because maths was really a weak point when I was at school.

One thing that I've noticed about this teacher is that he has so much passion for what he does and that feeds through to the kids and I have seen kids so excited about school and learning.  Even doing the weekly homework sheet is something that Bianca feels very very excited about. 

And so I'm starting to feel just a little bit anxious about what next year might bring for Bianca.  You see - Bianca is gifted.  Especially with things like reading and spelling and vocabulary.  When she started school in Auckland, Bianca was a new entrant for 6 months and then started Year 1 the start of the following year.  At the start of Year 1 (age 5.5) Bianca was already reading past orange level (which was approximately age 6.5) and so along with another child in her class they started with proper spelling homework.  Her teacher always knew she was ahead and insisted on providing additional challenges and making sure that Bianca was at a suitable reading level and so on.

Then we moved here.

We really like this school, but Bianca's year 2 teacher (here) was very young and straight-away put Bianca down 2 reading levels because that's where all the other kids were reading at.  She simply did not have any suitable books for Bianca's reading level at that stage.  Bianca was already reading at silver level (actually beyond that, but her comprehension was tested to silver level at that stage).  And so at the age of 7 Bianca was at a reading level for 8.5 - 9 year old kids.  At first I didn't think Bianca's teacher really understood and as far as she was concerned all the other kids read to purple level and as long as Bianca was reading then that was all that was important.  I felt strongly that Bianca needed to be challenged otherwise reading would become boring.  So at that stage we got Bianca tested and armed with the test results met with the teacher and insisted they allow Bianca to read at silver level and since then the teacher made a real effort and offered some extra challenges.

This year, Bianca has had a great teacher. The teacher last year was good too, but I think this year's teacher is much much more experienced.  A teacher with a lot of passion for what he does.  It is obvious that it is more than a job to him.  It is obvious that he does what he loves the most.  Bianca loves glossary, she loves math and she loves singing (Mr Forster is known as the singing teacher).  Mr Forster writes his own songs and have published a children's book with a CD (You're not eating me which you can find on this website).

I can't help wondering who Bianca's teacher in year 4 will be.  Not all teachers focus as much on glossary and not all teachers are doing homework sheets.  For us it is really really important that Bianca will continue to be challenged and extended in class, something we felt Mr Forster has been able to do really well with her.  I wonder if the school will consider moving Mr Forster to Year 4 next year...