Preschool Assessment

Last time Ben had one of these assessments at school (they do them in the fall & the spring), he was in the younger class, of older 2's and younger 3's.

Since he's moved up to the 3's & 4's class, his assessment is a bit different.  I'm interested to see how it compares to fall, since he'll be in the same class for both assessment's.

• He has mastered recognition of all his ABC's
• He can count to 15
• He has mastered all his shapes (circle, oval, square, triangle, rectangle, diamond, star & heart)
• He recognizes all the colors but needs help with gray.
• He's mastered his opposites
• He can identify all visible parts of his body

Note from the teacher: Ben is able to ID all the letters in the alphabet, basic colors and shapes   He is still working on his numbers 1-10.  He knows opposites & body parts.

He only needs one area of work with his large motor skills, and that's hopping on one foot.  Otherwise, he's mastered:

• running with control over speed and direction
• jumping over obstacles & landing on two feet
• climbing up and down equipment with ease (thanks, Tumble Time!)
• moves body creatively to music (that's probably my favorite ever)
• is willing to exercise (dude, when is this child ever NOT willing to exercise?  he is on the move from wake to sleep)
• jumping on two feet
• galloping
• throwing a ball (he's got a great arm)
• catching a ball (in my opinion - this still needs work)
• bouncing a ball

Note from the teacher: Be is great at large motor activities, he is able to run, jump, dance & gallop.  He needs a little more work with hopping.  He is able to throw, catch & bounce a ball.

showing off those gross motor skills :)

His fine motor skills are a mix of mastered and working on:

Mastered:

• using art materials to create
• showing hand preference (he's right handed)
• using table utensils skillfully (though he won't at home, he prefers to use his hands)
• paint & paste neatly
• making attempts to put on own coat/jacket
• stacking more than 4 blocks

Working on:

• using scissors properly
• cutting in a straight line
• beginning to draw human figures
• copying horizontal/diagonal/vertical lines

Note from the teacher: Ben is able to paint & paste neatly.  He is able to put on his own jacket and stack blocks.  He is working on drawing, writing & using scissors.

fine motor skills - thanks daddy! :)

His language skills are great.  He speaks in complete sentences, speaks clearly, takes part in conversations with others, expresses needs & wants clearly... according to their assessment, he needs work on dictating description of drawings (I'm actually not sure what this means) and showing an interest in books.  I strongly, firmly, 100% disagree with that last one.  Ben is a HUGE fan of books.  His room is LITTERED with books that he's read/looked at and has so many memorized, he basically reads by himself.

Note from the teacher: Ben is a terrific vocabulary!  He is getting better and better and using words with his teachers and his peers.

Social/Emotional:

Seems we've done some back sliding on sharing & taking turns.  I wonder if some of this is simply age or if competition from an increasingly mobile little brother plays a factor.

He's mastered:

• Shows respect & rights of others property
• is polite/courteous to others
• helps classmates clean up
• can attend to bathroom needs by himself
• separates from parents with ease (HOORAY!)
• seeks out other children to play with (favorite friends are Dayton, Noah & Cooper)
• Smiles & seems happy much of the time
• works/plays cooperatively with other children
• seeks help when needed

Working on:

• sharing materials
• taking turns
• keeping hands to himself
• listening while others speak/tell a story
• expressing anger in words rather than actions

Note from the teacher: Ben has very strong self help skills.  He is able to attend all his bathroom needs.  He is able to help clean up after playtime.  We are working on sharing and taking turns.

And her overall comments:

Ben is a very happy boy who likes to pay with lego's and cars.  He is really learning quickly and settling in to this class.  We are really working on keeping hands on his body and listening during circle time.  We will continue to offer him more challenges and support learning.

Updates.

So I was doing really good at posting several times a week and then I stopped.

It happens.

Last time I really did an update, I posted about Ben's 1st day of preschool.  He is LOVING it.  He is not pleased to see me when I come to pick him up after lunch.  I'm so glad we made the choice to send him, I think it's working very well for him.

They did an assessment on him and he did very well.  According to their worksheet, by the end of 36 months (3 years) he should be able to recognize:

• shapes: circle, oval, square, triangle, rectangle, diamond, star & heart.  According to them, he's mastered all but circle, triangle, rectangle & diamond (which, I don't agree with - Ben knows circle, triangle and diamond.  I'm not sure how the assessment is performed, so I don't know why he didn't get it correct when they asked him)
• colors: brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, black.  He is still working on purple (he often calls it pink) and black (which he often calls brown)

They also say by the end of 36 months he should be able to:

• count out loud to 10
• sing the ABC's
• walk up stairs with alternating feet
• put on shoes
• open door by twisting knob
• turn pages in a book one page at a time
• play with other children for a few minutes
• repeat common rhymes
• use 3-5 word sentences
• use the toilet
• express affection openly
• express a wide range of emotions
• jump up
• name 6 body parts
• build a tower of 4 blocks
• wash & dry hands
• sit for a story
• sing songs and participate in finger play
• put together simple puzzles
• hold a crayon and make marks

The only one of those that he can't do is put on his shoes... and to be fair - what shoes? ;) He can put on his boots just fine.  His sneakers he can't.  So those are things we'll work on, help him nail down those shapes, figure out what colors purple & black are and start practicing with shoes.

Hannah & Emma stayed the night - they had fun covering themselves in every available burp rag they could find...

Other than that, things are mostly the same around here.  Nick hasn't been asked to travel again, so my fingers are crossed that he doesn't.  I really dislike it when he's gone (and I know he does, too).  It's hard on Ben - before he was clueless but now he knows and he doesn't like it.  I got an opportunity to make some money from home that I'm really excited by.  A mom in my mommy group has an Etsy business and since the birth of her 2nd baby, she hasn't been able to keep up with her shop.  She hired me and another mama to help her with some sewing prep work.  I'm really excited and kind of nervous - excited for the extra cash but nervous that she'll think I suck and not want to use me any more.  Hopefully that doesn't happen!  I'm going over tomorrow to talk about the work and get started.  Wahoo!

I finished Ben's little 1st year scrapbook and I heart it a bunch.  :)  Now I'm working on a regular sized (12x12) book for his 2nd year but I'm slightly stumped.  Before I started the mini book, I had already scrapped his first birthday on to 12x12 layouts.... obviously I didn't include those in his 8.5x8.5 book but I'm not sure what to do with those pages.  Stick them at the beginning of his 2011 book?

why, yes, those are bat jammie pants... Ben's new thing is insisting on jammie pants at nap time

I'm still struggling to find that balance between the "job" and then "fun" - if I make time to do the "fun" (like scrap or read or whatever) it seems the "job" (or... house work ha ha) suffers.  If I spend my time doing the job, the fun stuff doesn't happen.  With Ben in school, I'm starting to find a routine a little bit but mostly my mornings go by in a blur.  Especially Monday's - Monday is grocery shopping day, so I take Ben to school, go shopping, come home, feed Matthew, put away the groceries and it's about time to go pick up Ben from school again.

So there you go.  An  update.  Of sorts.

Preschool!

Ben started preschool this morning!  I was nervous he wouldn't be able to go - he spent most of Sunday saying he didn't feel well.  I don't know how much if it was truly not feeling well (he had some tummy troubles through out the day and a low fever that evening) and how much of it was being nervous about today.  We even went and had a picnic lunch that day and he spent more time voluntarily laying down on the blanket than playing at the park. 

But up and off we went this morning.  He was a little unsure at first, I could tell he wasn't that interested in going but I got him excited to wear his back pack and showed him the sign (free printable from I Heart Nap Time) I printed off for him and he was excited to run out and take pictures before we left.

I was afraid one or both of us would cry when it was time for mommy to leave (he had said "I want mommy to go" before we left the house), but he did great.  We found his cubby and put his backpack away and then the teacher led him outside where they were playing while they waited for the rest of the class to show up.  I barely got a hug out of him before he was off and playing - which is great!

They have cameras in the room and I peeked in a few times.  I grabbed a screen shot of him having snack - it's not the best quality so I circled him in red.  I'm so weird, I know.  The other times I looked in, he was playing and then they were having story time while another teacher set out lunch.

The teacher told me what a good boy he was - no potty accidents (YAY!) and she was impressed by how polite he was, how well he listened, how well he took turns & shared and how smart he was.  I'm so proud of my little boy (and us!  we worked hard to get him to have good manners and good listening).

He's excited to go back on Wednesday and I'm excited for him!  What fun this will be!!