Welcome to Third Grade

Even though things are going well right now, I can't help but have concerns about third grade.

Before I go into this, let me sum up my concerns regarding Elena in previous years:

Public Pre-K:  Will Elena be accepted by her peers?  YES.  Will her teachers be able to handle integrating her in the classroom/playground?  YES.  Will she be able to keep up academically (if you can say that, in pre-K) with her peers?  YES.  Will Elena realize she is different?  YES.

Kindergarten:  Will Elena be accepted by her peers?  YES.  Will she be able to navigate her new surroundings?  YES.  Will she enjoy the bus?  YES.  Will she fit in socially, as the kids grow older?  YES.  Will others tease her? NO.  Will she keep up academically?  YES.

First Grade:  Will Elena be accepted by her peers?  YES.  Will she be able to navigate her new surroundings?  YES.  Will she fit in socially, as the kids grow older?  YES.  Will others tease her? NO.  Will she keep up academically?  YES.

Second Grade:  Will Elena be accepted by her peers?  YES.  Will she be able to navigate her new surroundings?  YES.  Will she fit in socially, as the kids grow older?  YES.  Will others tease her? YES.  Will she be able to handle this?  YES.  Will she keep up academically?  MOSTLY.  

Elena had a great year in second grade, and I learned several important lessons.  One, she absolutely needs to be in a good seating arrangement to do her best work.  Her second grade classroom offered a lot of choices, one of them seating arrangements (kneeling, sitting, standing) and she almost always chose kneeling--and her kneel was an awkward side-kneel-slouch position where she was struggling to be comfortable and unable to use her hands to her best advantage.  Neither her teacher, nor aide,  nor I ever realized how important this was to her work at a tabletop until the end of the year.  Another deficit, if I can call it that, was she was behind in her math concepts.  They teach 'number sense' rather than rote math (how I learned it)--it's more a global approach to numbers and how they relate to each other, and I think it's absolutely a better way of learning math--provided the child can see the whole 'number sense' picture before the end of the year.  Elena had pieces, but couldn't grasp the entire concept...and Jason and I were at a loss of how to help.  We didn't want to confuse her by teaching her "our way" of doing math, so we got a tutor (Elena prefers the term "Math Coach") and having him over the summer helped IMMENSELY.  

My biggest apprehension regarding third grade is the testing.  There are more standardized tests in third grade than fourth and fifth--either b/c they are getting the kids used to it, or they are trying out new ways of testing.  Either way, Elena's few test experiences weren't all that great.  Not because her scores were terrible (they were not great), but because she thought she did fantastically, and that "it was easy".    We nodded our heads and left it at that, hoping that as the concepts (specifically, math) sunk in more her realization of her testing performance would become more accurate.  Let's hope so, anyway.

Regardless of how I might be nervous about third grade, the most important part is that Elena is enjoying learning--which she is.  She is more independent than ever, uses her crutches less than ever (only to lunch, PE, and recess), and enjoys her teacher, her subjects, and her classmates.  Her educators have always been, and continue to be, approachable and willing to work with me/her aide/her IEP/her PTs/etc. to help her succeed and integrate as seamlessly as possible.

I don't expect Third Grade to be a breeze...but there's a lot to celebrate as we approach this new challenge.

Let's do this!