Paul is away sailing for the next two days so it’s just me and the cherubs home. It’s bloody cold so I know where I’d rather be. Bridie has been lucky enough to score an invite to see Annie on stage so it’s a lovely quiet house at the moment. I need to be packing too but thought I’d pop on here and give a quick update.
We’ve had a fairly quiet week. Beth is doing woodwork now and has told me she is making a treasure box. I can’t wait to see it. She’s so proud of the things she’d made so far this year, I think it’s a real accomplishment for her. Her Miss Piggy cushion was terrific, she made a hanging plaque with her name on it for her new room and now she’s making her box. She’s enjoying choir which is on a Friday and sings me the songs when I pick her up.
The house is doing well, the tiles went in this morning in the bathrooms, the painters are coming on Tuesday and the front steps are finished. It’s been several years since we first thought of doing this so as imagined we are all hanging out to get in. The kitchen is in and beautiful, it’s going to be so nice to be in a brand new house. We’ve always lived in old and crappy places (some more so than others such as the current one) so everything new will be amazing.
I made the kids soup for lunch. Beth does say some funny things. It was too hot for her so she asked if I could add some ‘coolphwip.’ It must be something that she heard in a movie. When I asked her to elaborate she said “You know – coolphwip – putting the emphasis on the h!” Yes ok, thanks, that clears it up! I do love how she uses big words appropriately though such as emphasis.
I finally got the copy of Beth’s goals for Semester one so I thought I’d share some with you. They’re very obtainable so that the kids can see that they can do them if they really try. With her reading it says that she can read the story and predict events by looking at the obvious objects but has limited understanding of predicting what will happen next without these, so they’d like that to improve. In writing it says they would like her to independently write the answers to reading comprehension questions in full sentences, 60% of the time. She can currently do this using short phrases with assistance. I had to laugh in the Speaking and Listening section :
Goal – Elizabeth will listen and respond to simple verbal instructions by the teacher 60% of the time. Current – Elizabeth follows and responds to teachers instructions only when she is ready to follow them. Hmmm that sounds like my Bethie!
Maths goals are knowing all of her money and what adds up to $1.00 where as now she can identify them all but not what they really mean. She can currently identify 2D shapes but they’d like her to know all of the different shapes, also on three dimensional shapes such as pyramids and cones. Beth can read time to the quarter hour confidently but she mixes up the hands when she writes and shows time on a analogue clock so this needs work. She can now mentally compute 50 addition and substraction sums (up to 20) in 14 minutes with an accuracy of 100%, this will be within 9 minutes in her goals.
In civics and citizenship Beth needs to independently name and explain the significance of each of the 3 symbols on the Australian Flag. In humanities they would like her to locate and label all states, territories and corresponding Capital Cities and surrounding oceans independently, she can now do this with the aid of a word bank. Health education will be naming 6 values from the Healthy Realtionship Program, she can currently name 3 – Respect, courage and friendship.
In Interpersonal Development Beth will learn to respect her classmates during work time by working quietly and not calling out, 60% of the time. She currently works quietly during the one on one assistance and can work quiety in group situations 30% of the time.
Wow, if they’re obtainable then I’ll be very impressed, especially the last one! It just shows that a ‘special school’, while modified, still has excellent educational and personal expectations.
I’ll leave you with a Beth funny. Beth had a rock and roll day a little while ago and took sunglasses with her for the performance. Last week on the Friday they had a free dress day and when Beth came out she had her sunglasses on as well as her casual clothes. I said to her “Wow, you’re looking pretty groovy today.” She said “Yes I am.” Then she told me she was being Lady Gaga. When I said “Oh are you?” She said “Yeah, cos I’m Ga Ga Gorgeous!” I laughed and asked who told her that. She replied “I did.” We had a good laugh, a real genuine laugh, all the way to the car. She sure is Ga Ga Gorgeous!
