Parents’ Evening – Meeting and then Raising the bar, Good or Bad?
Last week, on Thursday (24th March 2011), was Parents’ Evening. It was the second formal Parents’ Evening, we’ve had since Georgia started at Reception. Technically it was Parents’ afternoon, given that our scheduled time was at 3:20 pm….still minor details
It was really nice that this time round, there was more news, perhaps because a good 7 months have passed since the children started school, and having had more time to both get to know the children and work with them to assess their capabilities and standards, there was simply more information to share.
Georgia’s class teacher was as always, approachable, friendly and very reassuring in wanting to know if there were any ‘issues’; C was mentioned (by me), given that we have almost constantly on a daily basis been regaled with ‘Tales of C’. Beyond that, Georgia is doing very well in academic terms.
That aside, similar to the last Parent’s meeting, new targets for achievements were set. This consisted with a prior conversation, between teacher and Georgia, in which Georgia was asked, what she thought she was already good at. This time, she said ‘writing’. And two targets were set for her, a) to spell words independently and b) to count in 2s.
Now here comes the bit about ‘raising’…you see, we have been doing, well, singing to be exact, multiplication tables, and at this point, Georgia actually already knows her 2 times tables. I was actually really surprised to find that, that she can recall the answers to most, if not all, the 2 times tables, but mainly because she’s learnt them by singing along to a multiplication CD.
We have been trying to reinforce the idea through a work book that explains multiplication using ‘sets of’ and so far, I think Georgia understands the concept.
So mean (maybe, Tiger, is a more accurate description) mummy that I am, I actually asked for more than just the 2s. It didn’t take very much to convince Georgia’s teacher that she actually already knew the 2 times tables, and she promptly added to the Counting in 2s….10s and 5s.
So there we have it…it’s all my fault, that Georgia is going to have to learn the 10 times and 5 times tables as well, (I think she already does know the 10s), and it’ll add a couple more weeks on to her achievements progress.
She is to colour in a pretty picture of ‘presents’; one present to be coloured in for every time she manages to complete related tasks. When all the presents are coloured in, she is to take the sheet in for a ‘reward’. As school’s reward consists of a certificate, Georgia has asked “Will you get me a real reward too?”
“Yes Georgia, of course I will.” After all, it’s partly or rather entirely (!) my fault, there are more targets now. Still…
Well done Georgie girl!
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