I went to a Parent/Teacher conference today with James's teacher, Ms. Brigita. Ms. Brigita pretty much confirmed my opinion..... that James is a fabulously brilliant child! lol
She says that he's the most academically advanced child in her class. She said he's the only child that can and will count past 20 without prompting and is impressed that he understands that numbers come in groups of ten (i.e.: He doesn't remember the word for 30... when counting he goes 28, 29, 20-10.. but if you tell him that 20-10 is 30 he will continue counting 31, 32.... with no prompting). She pointed out that he can identify his name in print and knows all his letters. She touched on the fact that he speaks very clearly, has a large vocabulary and a very descriptive way of talking.
She also says that he is very vocal and musical. She is VERY impressed that he changes words in songs and makes up different lyrics to go to the melodies of songs. She told me that he sings all day long, not just in circle time. He makes up songs to describe the things that he's doing or changes lyrics to fit what he is playing with. No other child in class does THAT either!
He handles writing implements correctly and uses them with equal dexterity in either hand. Neither she nor I have been able to catch him with a "preference" or a "dominant" hand. I even asked him this morning when he was *markering* (as he calls it) "Buddy, which hand to you like to write with??" He pointed to his left hand and said "I like to write with this hand", and then he pointed to his right hand and said "I like to write with this hand TOO!" (I mention this because there has been some question as to whether or not he is left handed, remind me to blog about that later...)
He doesn't play "with" kids as much as he plays "beside" them. We chalked this up to him not having a lot of experience with other kids. It's mostly always been James and me hanging out. But that when he does play with other children, he uses his words and is very kind.... if just a little thoughtless and grabby... if that makes sense.
She also mentioned that he's not a big "sitter" at school. He'll sit wonderfully for circle time, but has problems sitting and doing a project... He's like a bumblebee going from station to station. We think that may be because he is way more stimulated at school. She mentioned that he loves to play with the trains and the blocks and all the stations where you "create" things".
So there you go. I have a highly intelligent, creative child. Well... as I always say.... like Mother like Son!!
Since I'm bragging, I will add here that James can read any word that has short letter sounds, no matter the length of the word. He is ALWAYS trying to sound out words we see. He knows that when two O's go walking, that they make the "oo" sound and that when two E's go walking, that they make the "long e" sound. He can do simple addition and subtraction. We do adding games with our fingers and any objects (such as blocks or apples). He counts just about everything he sees.... sometime he even slows us down because he insists on counting or reading something... sooooooo much fun in the produce dept of the commissary... let me tell you!! lol
