Aaron's teacher has been back from maternity leave for a month or so and he seems to like her just as well as the sub. I like her, too. Aaron started off the year eager to do his homework and finishing the entire week's worth on Monday afternoon. But slowly he's been less eager and going slower with it. One day, while doing a color by number, he told me he likes challenging stuff. I asked him if what he was doing was challenging and he said no. But he said he likes challenging stuff. Because it is fun.
However, some pages, usually the ones involving drawing a picture and writing some sentences about it, quickly become frustrating for him. There is a fine line between work that is too easy and work that is, in his mind, way to hard. But he is improving on that.
I met with his teacher yesterday to discuss keeping him challenged and she was very understanding. She is going to try to switch out the math homework, which has been well below his ability, but mentioned we might want to practice folding and cutting at home. They do a lot in class and I think he is a little slow and maybe gets frustrated with it. He is not big into craft projects at home and I haven't pushed it, but she made me realize these fine motor skills are also important. I think I will try to find some folding and cutting exercises that are math oriented since he likes anything to do with math.Penmanship is another area we need to work on, although he has improved since the beginning of the year.
The books she sends home at night to read seem too easy for him, but when I asked about it, she pointed out that he needs to not only be able to read the words, but to remember and comprehend the story. So now, instead of just having him read the story, afterwards, he tells us the setting, the characters, and what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story.
He also does a website called raz-kids.com. He logs on from school sometimes, but he can also do it from home. They have books he can read and/or have read to him, and then there is a 5 question quick on each book. He is on Level D, about half-way to Level E. It is nice because there is a reward system of stars to encourage him to read and he can progress at his own pace. All of the kids in his class do raz-kids, but most are on lower levels.
We are also planning to sign him up for the Accelerated Reading (AR) program. It is for kids in grades 1-5, but Kindergartners can also participate at the teacher's discretion. He can't do it at home like raz-kids, but he can read books and then take quizzes on the school library's computers. Each school library book has an AR reading level assigned and number of points he can earn. There are some incentives like being entered into a drawing for a book and recognition in front of the school when you reach certain level of points.
Outside of school I am planning to try doing a math co-op with some other kids who have a high interest in math. I really want to keep up his interest level, keep him challenged, and have him be around other kids who are as interested in math as he is.
