Calliandra and school

Calli showing off the ornament she chose herself on the Christmas Tree. I had already made sure she had ornaments of her own, one ornament for every year, an angel theme, plus a couple extra special ornaments. I give the kids ornaments every year and so when they're out on their own, they'll have enough to start their own trees off well decorated.

School was a big culture shock for Calli, to have so many kids, about as many in her one classroom as in Bethel altogether. She was dismayed at how unruly they were, and how long it took for them to calm down in art, gym, music. She had trouble with math, evidently the symbols she learned were not the same as used here, once that was translated off she went, she loves math. She has since blossomed, excelling and having fun. Every term she has made the A-B Honor Roll, the Citizenship Honor Roll and the Principal's Honor Roll (for making both of the other two) After each report card, the Honor Roll kids have had a field trip, Roller skating, to a Bounce house, and to the movie Oceans. She had an excellent time roller skating, never fell down once, despite it being her first time. When she would start to fall, she would move into a squat position, and then pop back up. By the end of the time, she was even able to skate backwards - That's our athletic girl!
The trip to the Bounce House was chaos and fun, She dragged around the boy who was supposed to be leading her, too impatient to go at his slower speed. It was a blast for her and she was all over the place, going down the slides bouncing in the trampoline like area. It was great.
Later her class went to Pewabic Pottery, Bill accompanied them, and made plaques. It was really cool because the teachers had applied for a grant so it was a free trip for both third grade classes. Bill said if he ever decided to go on a bus with 55 screaming kids again, just to shoot him first! I'm not supposed to know, but they made the plaque for me for Mother's day, I can't wait to see it.
She just went last week to see the film Oceans, she enjoyed it, and enjoyed learning about the different sorts of life in the ocean. Neither Bill nor I were able to attend with her, so I can't say exactly what it was about, her Parapro went with her.
The first month of school, before her math Braille was straightened around, Calli had to take the MEAP, the Michigan Educational Assessment Program Test, she had to read the questions and then her Teacher would fill in the scan tron. She did so well, we are really proud. Her Reading score was 297 out of 421, partially proficient, 300 would've been proficient. Her Math score was 300 out of 425, Proficient. Incredible, and I know her scores would be so much higher if she were to take it again today, she has come so far.
The first term, Calli's English skills were not graded, but everything else was, and after that term, English was graded too. Her grades on her report cards, for all terms, are; Oral Language, 1,1,1; Writing NA, B-, B-; Spelling A, A, A, Reading, she went up 10 levels, she is still behind her age group but is catching up rapidly; Reading NA, B, B; Math B+, A, A; Science A, A-, A-; Social Studies, the class that is the hardest and most foreign to her, B+, B+, B. Her Other classes were only graded at the end of the second semester and she got Art, B; Music, A; Global connections, A; Media, A, Phys ed, A. Her citizenship grades were 1's across the board in all her classes.
We got these notes from her teachers on the report cards: Calli works hard every day. She has shown nice improvement. Keep up the wonderful work Calli! and Calli is a polite, kind and well mannered child.she makes an effort to learn in all subject areas. Keep up the great work!
Calli was also given the 'Polite and Proud' award for her class this last month. It's just incredible, she gets so many awards we've started a binder for her to keep them in.
Calli also joined her school choir, it meets every Tuesday, and this year the concert has a patriotic theme. Yep, Star Spangled Banner, Fifty Nifty United States, This Land is your land, America the beautiful she's learning them all in one fell swoop. she even has a solo verse in This land is your land. She's also in the school district choir, this is probably her toughest bit, these are some fast songs, sung faster than she can read the words. We've taken her other music off her MP3 player, and only put these three songs on so that she can practice and not get distracted. It's very tough for her but she's up for the challenge.
That's our Calli, loving a challenge, learnign all she can, and still being well behaved and happy. She is a joy this girl of ours.