Curriculum Nights

Smith Curriculum Night
I went to Dallin's curriculum night and met all those teachers he talks about. His English teacher is Ms. Vera Sue Lewis from Taylor! Talk about a small world! She saw me and said,"You look so familiar". I recognized her from Taylor but didn't know her name.
As for Ms. Fillmon the now famous AA World History teacher, I was impressed. She has a very hands on way of teaching and they will be doing lots of projects. The desks are even facing each other split down the middle for discussions. She didn't mention movies at all but sure enough I've already been emailed to approve a couple of them. They are so far just documentaries on Egypt and Islam so we'll see how this goes. I definitely feel better having seen her class and the way she works it. I don't think I need to do anything else for now. She was very helpful with Dallin's low grade from those first two assignments and was impressed he's in Marching Band. He's already brought it up with 100% on the assignment this week.

Brinton Curriculum Tuesday
With 4 kids and only 3 sessions and Wes working late, I was glad that they changed Brennen's combined class curriculum to Thursday night. I went to Josh's room first with Mr. Headley and was asked to pay $50.00 for field trips this year. He seems to love Science and I think this will be great for Josh. Then I went to Chorus and was asked for another $50.00 for the fun things they are doing this year with Brookly and Brennen. Then I went to Brookly's classroom and Mr. Wolf and learned why she has already had so many "sticks" pulled. He admitted that he has about 40 rules and it takes a while for them to learn all of this. She got hers pulled at various times already for things like paper under her chair, telling the boy tapping next to her to be quiet, not keeping her pencil down when he gave the 5 seconds to do so because she saw a mistake on her paper and had to fix it, etc. Hopefully she'll catch his vision soon. I just want to sit with all the teachers and tell them all about my wonderful children and give them the right first impression! Josh, Brennen, and Brookly were tested for gifted, or ELP, and we'll see how that goes. Mr. Wolf pulled me aside and said Brookly did well but we haven't heard anything yet. Then it was off to the whole first grade together in the library for Jarom. Mrs. Calise is just so sweet and she seems to really like Jarom and his energy. She is so perfect for him!
Thursday Brinton Curriculum Night
For Brennen, I went tonight and learned some new things. His teacher, Mr. Ortiz, was an English Second Language teacher and was asked to take the combined 3/4 grade class because there was not enough funding and low enrollment. That means no money for another teacher for each grade. Mr. Ortiz seems nice and Brennen was excited to see him when he was working at Costco (a second job many teachers here seem to have). Mr. Ortiz seemed to confuse Brennen a little with someone else, but I learned that he has to be careful not to talk in that class if he wants to keep recess. I think it will be a great year for all of the kids. They all had their Back To School Blessings the Sunday before school and they were beautiful. I'm sure they'll adjust fine with time. I need to get those typed up for them. Here we go!