School Open House

This past week was Penelope's school's Open House. I was excited to get to meet and get a preliminary feel for them and how I think they will be able to work with Penelope. It's hard to judge because with Penelope doing so well so far, it's hard not to be optimistic about everything. However, I know in the back of my mind that things will not stay this good the entire year. But a person can only hope.
I am so impressed with her teachers and the program they have. In Ohio, her Middle School is ranked #1 with the Dept of Education out of like 750+ schools. I think of what challenges we had last year and I wonder how they got that ranking. But I know it's about testing and all that. Penelope is in the minority of students who have been formally identified as disabled (as they put it.) But this year, her teachers seem awesome. Their is a multi-layered approach to their program. She has 3 teachers, but there 3 additional teachers that "support the curriculum" of those teachers. Regardless if a child has an IEP or not, they assess each students strengths and weaknesses and customize their approach with those students, and a "Reading Lab" or "Math Lab" instructor works with them on their weaknesses. Kids with IEPs get the same approach but may have additional help depending on their accommodations. It's all very coheasive. The Intervention Specialist, besides working with the IEP students, also co-teaches the regular classes and provides additional support to all the students. Her Language Arts Teacher, Mr. Kramer, is a second career teacher and this is his 2nd year. However, during Open House, he talked about the way he disciplines students. It goes right along the line of RAD parenting. He says, "I don't get angry or judge them. But there are consequences. If they forget their reading log, they stay in for recess and do their reading log, etc. Then it's over. No big deal. We move on." I got a chance to talk to him and he said, "If I didn't know she works with the Intervention Specialist, I would never had guessed she had an IEP. She is doing great!" In his classroom, he had hung up letters he had the kids write to him to tell him about themselves. Penelope's was so sweet. She wrote how pink is her favorite color "Pink brings out the best in me." And she wrote about Math "Oh my, math. Oh how I love math." She also wrote about how she sometimes gets sad, but when she is sad she will do stuff to make herself happy again. She will draw when she is said. Then she put "P.S. I draw when I'm happy too. :)" She is so funny. Her Math Teacher is the Intervention Specialist and there are only 10 kids in there. Her Science/SS teacher is the most traditional. But she has been teaching as many years as I've been alive so I can see why she is that way. But even for 6th graders.. I mean, she gave us a Syllabus. I didn't even know what that word was until I was in college!
And hi-tech. Oh my... They have these things called Smart Boards. It's a computer monitor basically that is projected onto a large white screen. Not a monitor or TV but a screen. But instead of using a portable mouse or keyboard, they just touch the screen. Just like you'd use a mouse to click, highlight, drag, etc. It has a keyboard function so they can type right on the screen. They have their own websites, that they post their powerpoint presentation versions of their notes, articles, blogs, pdf versions of homework worksheets - whatever.
And Penelope is doing so good! I wish there was a mountain near by that I could climb and scream off the top off to tell people how good she is doing! She had a SS test today. She started studying for it on Tuesday! She didn't even get the Study Guide until yesterday. She was "writing words down out of the book" as she called it. I said "You are taking notes?" She said "Yeah, that's it!" On the way to therapy yesterday, ON HER OWN, she got her study guide out, which was basically 20 vocab words and made note cards. By the time we got home from therapy she had all the words down pat! I ended up talking to her today right after the test. I asked her how it went. She said "Oh my gosh Mom. It was sooooooooo easy!"
The reason I got to talk to her is that her social issues with Amy and Mary have escalated. Mary "dumped" Penelope for Amy because she was tired of having to deal with them fighting. Just wrong. She was devistated of course, but she is handling it so well! She even had this bratty boy call her a retard today. Penelope got mad but was able to calm herself down pretty quickly. She had met with the School Guidance Counselor and the Intervention Specialist yesterday and today. I spoke with the IS and she said how totally impressed they both are with how far Penelope has come from last year. How well she was able to communicate what happened, how she even thought about it more over the night and was able to give them more insight. How mature she was in developing a problemsolving strategy, and then how she even implemented it with the boy that called her retarded. She tried to resolve it herself first, and then when that didn't work, she asked for help. It was all wonderful to hear, and can only add to my pride for how far she has come. But I still want someone to deal with this issue with Amy and Mary. I still couldn't get a straight answer out of her as to what happened. She kept focusing on Penelope's problemsolving success.. I don't know if it just wasn't the issue or she had kids around and couldn't talk. I will let it slide for now.. She understands what my issues are. But I am proud of Penelope. So proud!