Our very good friend Brendan from Symbol Photography took some pictures for our family Christmas card.
We love them! They were taken in one of our favorite places- the Public Garden. Nothing is better than a Fall day in Boston. We have also updated our pages here with the new photos.
The kids are so big!
Here are a few favorites!
We had a fun-filled weekend that reminded us we have two very big kids now.
At swimming Saturday, Brendan was bobbing on his own, putting his whole face in the water and did jumps from the side without holding Ms. Siobhan’s hand!
Aidan got another stripe on his orange belt (5th one!), performed a few songs from Newsies for a community day celebration then went to movie night with the big kids at the karate studio- alone!
We got to look at a few pictures for our holiday card- the looked so old in addition to doing all these big kid things!
“Brendan has been working on being a more patient monitor in the classroom.”
Translation- he doesn’t yell at the little kids as much when he’s telling them what to do.
Overall it was an great conference with lots of great feedback. We absolutely love the way Fall conferences at Walnut Park happen. Throughout the month of November, parents sign up to observe in the classroom for 30 minutes, followed by a 15-20 minute meeting with one of the teachers. Before this happens a parent questionnaire goes home to solicit parent feedback and the progress report with a narrative update as well as observations.
Brendan, it turns out, is “age appropriate” in all categories.
Observing was very interesting. It’s amazing how they can be so different in the classroom. Brendan set up his work very orderly, independently concentrated on the task and completed it. Intrinsically motivated, he did not need a teacher to “check it.” The control of error is present for the children to know what they are doing is correct. It’s amazing. We saw Bren do a puzzle, practice writing his name by tracing and work on his weather book.
And the teachers think he is funny too. He has “read” to the class, he monitors the class, and he observes everything. Another benefit of his classroom is having the same teachers for three years. They really know him well.
As a team they decided the will not be cutting him any slack!