Collin's Fall 1st Grade Conference

Adam and I met with Mrs. Blackwood and Miss Jones tonight to discuss Collin's progress in 1st grade at Hillcrest. Overall they feel he is adjusting well to his new school. His reading has not progressed since last spring, but Mrs. Blackwood feels that intellectual growth is similar to physical growth in that it happens in spurts. Because Collin is not reading at grade level, but doesn't qualify for special services at school, he has qualified to work with a literacy tutor named Cathy McNally, an AmeriCorps volunteer from the MN Reading Corps. She provides one on one support for 20 minutes each day to help Collin become a more proficient reader. By January, the goal is for Collin to read at level 16, and at level 28 by the end of the year.

In regards to his social development, Mrs. Blackwood offered that Collin is very likable, and that other kids feel comfortable around him and want to be near him. Miss Jones added that he always has a friend to play with on the playground, and that he's usually rounding up kids for a game of kick ball.

Mrs. Blackwood also wrote the following:

"Collin was reading at level 4 of our DRA reading assessment at the end of kindergarten. He continues to read at level 4. I also assessed him at the level 6. He had enough errors that I had to stop the assessment. Collin at level 6 was omitting words and making guesses at words based on their beginning sounds. The skill that I am working on with Collin is accuracy [saying the words that are on the page, as they are written]. We are looking carefully at the beginning and ending sounds and also using our reading finger to help us with accuracy. At times I notice that Collin goes back to reread if what he has read does not sound right. That is awesome! It is what good readers do. Collin knows 51 of 125 sight words. Keep practicing your words and doing your reading each night.

Writing: In first grade the students are working on writing adventures from their lives. They draw a picture and write words to go with it. They may write about something they did on the weekend, or something that happened at the bus stop. Students brave spell words as they write. Students slowly say the word that they want to write. They write down the sounds they hear. They underline words they are unsure about. Students have also been writing letters and lists. Collin sometimes has a hard time thinking of writing ideas. He is using lots of punctuation. We are working on putting it in the right place.

Math: We are working on unit 2 in math. We are counting pennies and nickels. Collin knows how to make tallies. He can write numbers in order. Collin would benefit from practice in writing numbers 3 and 4. He writes them backwards at times. That is very common at the beginning of first grade. We are working on solving addition problems. We practice by using manipulatives, counting on the number line, and counting on our fingers. These are great strategies for the beginning of first grade. We are working toward memorization of math facts. We do timed tests called Mad Minutes. On addition facts to 10, Collin scored 19 out of 20 correct in 2 minutes. Way to go Collin!

Behavior: Collin is a very nice boy. He is kind to others. We are enjoying having him in our class. We are exited to get to know him even better! At times Colin needs reminders that outside is a good place to make mouth noises, rather than in the classroom."