The report card

He's not perfect. We already knew that.

But I was interested to hear what his teacher would have to say about AJ at conferences Thursday night. Overall, he's doing quite well. His teacher says he's very smart, friendly and detail oriented.

Two areas needing improvement are listening and using time constructively. Hmmmm... sounds like the exact two reasons he lost his "green" status the prior week. Among the carefully worded comments: "We continue to work on Alex following directions the first time given" and "Alex is often thinking about something else and not focusing on the task at hand".

There are many more points on the plus side. His math skills clearly didn't come from me, because that's his strongest area, followed closely by reading and art. Teacher comments include: "Alex always gives me quality work" and "Alex is a great friend and often helps others".

The teacher assured us that we have nothing to worry about, and nothing in particular to work on with him.

Meanwhile, she shared with us a note the librarian had given her. AJ's class visits the library each Tuesday and each student gets to check out a book. The majority of time, AJ comes home with a book about a president that's geared to older kids. The librarian took special note when he chose Millard Fillmore - the thirteenth president. She suggested he open the book to make sure it was one that he really wanted. AJ responded, "Oh yes. I really like the government because I'm going to be the president someday."

And what does AJ think of school thus far? Mrs. Boese gave us the results of a report card she'd had the children complete. His favorite things are gym, show and tell, free play time and riding the bus.