Elizabeth's Turn

School Conferences last night.

Our time was set at 6:40, I got in at 7 I think. It really irks me when other parents are late and take more than their allotted time. The 6:20 parents were waiting too and got in at my time I think. Poor teacher too. At 7 I saw her walking around looking for the 7PM parents. Maybe they got tired of waiting too.

Elizabeth is doing great!
They took a Singapore Math test in Sept to show what they knew. She got like 19 out of 50. In March they took another one to see how much they have learned. She got 46 out of 50. Way to go.

Her Chinese comprehension is amazing. Elizabeth can write multiple sentences with the goal being an essay. She can read and understand it very well. That test was a 48 out of 50. Her teacher explained they have to practice writing characters all the time with the expectation that memorization will cement the characters in their brains. Its working with Itty. :-)

I also got to see some of Elizabeth's recent work. We now have a wonderful picture of a solar system in our kitchen. She got them all in the right order and used the correct Chinese words for the individual planets. :-)

Elizabeth also got great reports from her Gym Teacher and Art Teacher. Her regular report card was all S, S+ or E (Satisfactory, Exceeds) Great Job!

We do need to work on her English reading though. The kids took a computerized test last year and again in Feb. Elizabeth is on target with math but her English reading is below the norm. I knew that was going to be the case and have figured out a plan. When we get back from spring break, Ella will be going to bed at 8 with reading time before that. Then Elizabeth and I will have some one on one time for her to read to me before she goes to bed at 8:30. I am also going to give her more computer time with some fun web sites that help with reading and math.

That's the hardest part of being a single mom. I work 8-5, get Ella by 5:25 and Elizabeth by 5:45. Then its home to make supper with some play time and homework time if needed. There isn't much time for many other things before its bedtime. I wish I could change my hours but that won't happen until both girls are at school. My day-care hours are 7:30 to 5:30. But, even when they are in school, Before-care starts at 7 so I couldn't change my hours much. I'll have to start doing some meal planning so I can have fast healthy meals for us to give us more time. If I could talk the girls into taking their baths while I make supper that would be sweet but I don't think we are at that stage yet. Baby Steps. :-)

I welcome any ideas about how to help Elizabeth get better at reading. I love to read and she really wants to read her books so I hope soon she will be reading to me with great success.