I've been wanting to blog for the past couple of weeks, but something is wrong with our computer and I can't open any of our photos. So I've decided I'll just have to post without the photos for awhile and add them all later.
Noah got a lovely new haircut last week. It makes him look quite different so as a family joke we are pretending we left Noah at the hairdressers and the new kid in our home is 'Connor' (when we were expecting Juliet, Hayden was really set on the name Connor if we were having another boy). The funny thing is that we've said Connor so much lately that I found myself shouting for Connor to 'come here' instead of Noah!
We are feeling very proud of Noah at the moment. He has come SUCH a long way since starting school 4 months ago.
The first 2 months were a little rough. He didn't seem to like his teacher much, he never spoke in class, he always sat at the back of the mat, and he never interacted with his teacher. He was also very, very slow at doing any of the activities in class which meant that anything of Noah's that was stapled to the classroom wall, was unfinished.
His teacher spoke to me a couple of times about her concern for Noah. She was greatly concerned about all the things above and even emailed me saying;
'Although he seems happy his inability to speak with any volume is hindering his assimilation into the class as he is so quiet in class that he is not interacting with with me or the other children to any great degree. I have noticed that he sits at the back all the time frequently looking distracted rather than being involved with what is going on. He will be sitting at the front from now on.
Yesterday he was told to try and complete his task, as to this point he seldom has. The activity he did in the afternoon, he did complete which was encouraging. I do think it is time to get somewhat harder on him now.
Oral language is a vital part of our classroom curriculum. Please help Noah by ensuring he has 'sharing' on Monday and Friday to show to the class. Going over the talking cards so that he knows what to say when we do them in class and ensuring that he knows what the pictures in his homework book are so he can share them also. A conversation about talking with an appropriate volume would be great as he is still continuing to 'whisper'. Please reassure him that making mistakes is how we learn, that it is okay to give things ago and to try. After all our motto in room 3 is "Keep trying, you can do it".
He has a hurdle to overcome, but he is the only one who can do it.
He will get there, however, until he becomes a more active participant in the classroom it will be a slow journey.
Kind regards
Margaret Menzies'
The email bothered me (as it would any parent) because I knew there were very specific reasons why Noah was acting so withdrawn in the class. He wasn't feeling connected to his teacher, he was feeling shy, uncomfortable and a little scared, there were some very dominant and over bearing children in the class, and a lot of pressure was being put on him to work quickly. I really felt he needed to be given time to adjust to school life without any pressure.
Time was exactly what he needed. Four months later and Noah is a completely different child. He is completely confident, raises his hand in class all the time, has made lots of friends, works much quicker and talks about what is going on in the classroom all the time.
This week I received an email from Mrs Menzies and this is what it said;
Hi Loretta,
Just to let you know how proud I am of the huge improvement Noah has made in recent weeks.
He is talking with so much more confidence, and is soooo much more involved in the class as a whole.
He has been doing a fantastic job as class leader and steps up to all the little jobs that he has been required to do.
His sense of humor is also starting to shine!!! Who would have thought!!
He is an amazing class member these days, both socially and academically.
Kind regards
Margaret Menzies
He also received a certificate and the class shield 2 weeks in a row for his amazing contributions to their class discussions, and for trying to make his voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
Hooray for Noah. We knew he could do it! And we are so pleased he has really shown his teacher what a great, friendly, capable, interactive little boy he really is.
Noah is still in New Entrance (Kindergarten class). He is loving the fact that he is now one of the oldest children since new children are starting school and coming into his class every week. His teacher says he is thriving on being the big fish in the pond.
He now has a good relationship with Mrs Menzies and really feels like he belongs in his class.
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