Christian's Progress Report (Meet the teachers session)

We went to his school this morning for the biannual 'meet the teachers' session.

The english teacher surprised us by saying he's intelligent and academically advanced. I raised my eyebrows and she kept repeating herself. She divulged that they let him sit in the 2nd row during class because he knows most of what's being taught already. Sometimes it appears as if he's distracted and not paying attention but when asked, he gives mostly correct answers. I pointed out that he refuses to listen when i try to teach him (she says he's not like that in class) addition and she said compared to his classmates he's already very good.
I found out that's cos they are still teaching things like numbers, counting, shapes and colours. Gosh. This school is really not very academic. (But P said it's a good place to build character and learn social skills. Sigh.)

She also mentioned that he's a leader. When the class was playing with blocks two days ago, he proclaimed that he wanted to build a wall. He proceeded to build one that took up most of the space in the room they were playing in, and his classmates took on his project, with him giving directions. She said they are trying to teach him to learn to be a follower too, cos there's a time for everything and he needs to be able to follow teachers' instructions. :)

The wimp in school; kept crying to be carried by Daddy

They didn't tell us much that was news to us when it came to his bad behaviour though.
One thing that stood out for both the English and Chinese teacher is his stubbornness and persistence. The English teacher said he's very observant and would prattle on about all that he sees when they go out to play.. and he'll repeat himself over and over again until he gets acknowledgment.

The Chinese teacher says she gets frustrated with him sometimes because he can be so stubborn and unwilling to own up to his mistakes. He'd not look at her when told off, and ignore her when she asks him to look in her eyes when she corrects him. Sigh. Hopefully that'll improve as he grows up, and that he won't get more stubborn. Though.. P and I are probably the cause of it, being rather stubborn individuals ourselves.

On a positive note however, she observes that he's better able to sit and listen during class instead of wandering around distractedly. His mandarin has also improved leaps and bounds and he is able to take the initiative to question her in mandarin (i.e. pester her) when he does not understand something.

Some comments in his "Progress Report" book this semester -


Verbal linguistic intelligence
"Christian is able to construct sentences to express his thoughts and feelings. He can inform the teacher of his needs or wants verbally. He is able to answer questions reasonably and understand and follow instructions well."


Logical mathematical intelligence
"Christian is a logical thinker and likes to solve puzzles. He can identify colours, shapes and patterns readily. He can count using objects and quantify the number of items with ease."


Musical intelligence
"Christian can easily learn a new song and will sing while doing other activities. He enjoys songs with rhyming words and finger plays too. When asked to stand in front of his class to lead a song, he may feel shy at first but after a while, he is more comfortable and will lead the group."


Bodily kinesthetic intelligence
"Christian has shown improvement in his self-help skills and is able to dress himself with minimal help from the teacher. (Wow he hardly does that at home!!) He may need to work on his fine motor skills more but has clearly shown progress, especially with his penmanship."


Visual spatial intelligence
"Christian displays his creativity in creating and building his own versions of boat, car, or airplane using legos. He is able to follow instructions when doing art activities and gives his best effort to complete it, though at times he does not like to get his hands dirty. 

Intrapersonal intelligence
"Christian takes pride in his accomplishments and gets upset when he knows that he did something wrong. He makes his own decisions and does not follow his friends blindly. Sometimes he gets uncomfortable trying new things and will resist at first, but with encouragement and assurance, he is usually able to try it out."

Interpersonal intelligence
"Christian will usually observe before he is engaged in activities. He has shown improvement in his social skills and relates well to his friends. He will show sympathy and even encourage his friends when he sees them crying."

Naturalistic intelligence
"Christian loves the outdoors. He likes observing plants and animals and examining unfamiliar things. Sometimes, he does not want to get dirty and this limits his exploration. He will get assurance from his teachers first before he tries to touch or feel items found outdoors."