Ok. I'm taking the liberty to brag about Jack after I received the following e-mail from his teacher just before school got out for the summer:
I'm just sad you don't have any more kids coming my way! I meant everything I said in Jack's yearbook. Both of your kids are all-stars. I hope I can somehow instill in my own daughter that I CAN attitude.
Jack is up to 2400+ on his math number scroll. Wait until you see it! The rest of the kids are following his "lead". A handful are at 1000, most around 500, and the rest are almost to 500. The other teachers are pulling teeth to get their kids to even want to write in their scroll and most kids in kindergarten are around 200. There are 17 students in my class past 500. My teacher partner has 1 student in kindergarten past 500. When I taught first grade I only had a handful of students get past 1500 and we worked on them all year (we've only been working on them for a few weeks). The kids feed off of Jack's energy and motivation.
When a student gets to 500, we announce it and the class gives heartfelt cheers and congratulations (thumbs up, etc.). Jack pats people on the back, says "Great job!", and (I believe) his attitude and leadership is the main reason the scrolls have been such a huge success. This is the first year we have done math scrolls in kindergarten and I never imagined it going so well!
Jack just has the "it" factor. I wish I knew how to instill that in every child I meet. I try my best to inspire them all, but having a peer among them like Jack makes my job so delightful and rewarding because he helps set a morale in the class and models a love for learning. For everything we do, he says "Yes!". When I announced we were going to tackle poetry a few weeks ago... some of the kids groaned. Jack said, "I'm excited!" and the other kids followed suit. If Jack gives his stamp of approval, the kids know it will be okay. It sounds silly, but it is so true. Now they love poetry. I've really never met a child like him. You must keep in touch with me to tell me what your children are up to throughout the years! Mrs. Derocher
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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2 comments:
I'm glad this was worth sharing with your family and friends. It's hard to brag about your own kids, so I'm happy I could highlight some of Jack's many strengths in detail. I'm honored that you wanted to share this message with others.
I have always known Jack was a leader, I remember when he was in my preschool class and all the kids wanted to be around Jack. Both Jack and Grace will excell in whatever they do and its all because they have wonderful parents, friends, family and teachers. Miss Jeanelle
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