Preschool Pre-K Assessment

Another first for me - in many many ways - yesterday.  It was Drew's first parent teacher conference at school, which is required for all Kindergarten aged kids.  This means anyone with birthdays before November first in the state of California.

Well there was an awful lot discussed at this meeting, some I wish I could've buried my head in the sand or put my fingers in my ears saying "La-la-la" but we'll save that for last just as his teacher did for me.  I'm just trying to suck you in to the very end.

They gave us a very lengthy packet which shows the results of his assessment on December 21st.  They rated on a scale of 1-5, 5 being mastery of the skill.  She prefaced by she does not give 5s because that means there is little room for improvement and nothing more to learn.

Social and Behavioral Skills

1. Child can usually inhibit body movements and keep his/her hands to themself while in line and during circle time - 4
2. Child is able to sit quietly for at least 10 minutes while attending to circle time or short story - 4
3. Child is learning to use his/her words to express their feelings and comes to get help from the teacher when needed.* - 2
4. Child participates in clean-up activities - 3
5. Child verbalizes or tries to verbalize his/her frustrations or problems other than physically acting out. - 2
6. Child is able to work in small groups - 3
7. Child attempts to complete a teacher assigned task* - 2
8. Child chooses a free choice activity and maintains his/her involvement in this activity - 4
9. Child easily separates for parents and feels comfortable in his/her school surroundings** - blank
10. Child understands the concept of sharing and taking turns -  3
11. Child seems to feel comfortable in school and demonstrates the ability to participate, and ask questions when needed -  4
12. Child shows respect for his teachers and classmates* - 2
13. Child follows direction and obeys school rules - 4
14. Child is excited to play with the other students in his/her class and seems to have several friends - 3

NOTES: The items above  are marked where we had discussions.
* - She said she really didn't think a lot of his emotional issues were necessarily immaturity but rather stubbornness.  For example, he gets frustrated, and he is no longer lashing out and punching the other kids - there has been a lot of improvement there, but he will whine and cry or throw tantrums. This results in being disrespectful to classmates and teachers.  Another example she used is when it comes time to put his shoes on, rather than asking for help to tie his shoes he'll whine that his shoes aren't tied.  His teachers say as soon as you ask we'll help, but he'd rather cry and whine than ask for help.

** This teacher isn't there for my drop-off (because it's also a before/after care facility) so she said because she doesn't see it I could fill in the blank.  I told her he rarely knows I'm even gone, so she'd put it at a 4/5.

Self Help Skills

1. Child uses appropriate bathroom skills (wipe self, flush toilet, wash hands etc.) - 4
2. Child can dress self. (Socks, coat, and attempts tying shoes) - 3
3. Child is learning to take responsibility for own belongings - 3

Personal Information (They ask a series of questions and post their replies)

1. What is your full name (both first and last) - Andrew "Middle name" Briseno (he inserted his middle name - I'm choosing to delete it because it is a public website)
2. How old are you? 4
3. What is your Mom's name? Brenda
4. What is your dad's name? David
5. Do you have any brothers or sisters? There is an arrow to this question from #6
6. What are their names? My brother is Luke, but he lives far away ** (see discussion below)
7. What is your phone number? He gave our house number (as in address house number)
8. Where do you live? He gave our street w/o house number or city and I'm refraining from posting again because it's a public website
9. Who are some of your friends? A bunny, His name is Andrew (I have no idea where this came from for the record)
10. What do you like to do at [Name of Preschool]? The puzzles that are little

NOTES: So his teacher asked if he really did have siblings.  Um, no, and the Luke he's referencing is my friend's son from Southern California (who ironically I'm going to see later this week) and he's met Luke twice - the last time about 18 months ago!  He randomly makes up who his siblings are - usually they're our friend's kids.

Language and Listening

1. Child can verbalize his/her first and last name - 5
2. Child can complete a two step simple direction - 4
3. Child can share an idea, experience or description - 4 
4. Child has heard a variety of stories and participates in follow-up discussions - 4
5. Child practices accepted patterns of speech. (However, irregular verbs are still emerging) and is easy to understand. - 4
6. Child can engage in socially appropriate conversations - 4
7. Child can participate in informal creative dramatics. (Play house, puppets, role playing etc) - 4
8. Child has developed a beginning sense of phonic awareness - 5
9. Child can sing and recite the alphabet - 5

Writing, Spelling, and Recognition

1. Child recognizes his/her first name - 5
2. Child tries to write his/her first name using lower case letters with a capital at the beginning (see attached) - 3
3. Child can copy draw, and reasonably trace a line and a circle (see attached) - 4
4. Child can identify and name at least 8 of the basic colors (red, purple, white, blue, green, pink, yellow, brown, grey, orange, black) - All were checked
5. Child can identify and name some of the basic shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, diamond, star, heart, moon) - all were checked
6. child can recognize and name at least numbers 0-10. She only went as high as 25 for this part of the assessment and he got all of them.
7. Child can recognize some letters of the alphabet (Upper and lower case) - He got all of them.

Above is the "attachment".  They are working with him to spell his full name and not just Drew (which he's learned to this point) so the proper upper/lowercase for Andrew is slower.  Then the lines were her doing one, and him having to do the same thing as well as a small tracing sample.

Math Skills

1. Child can count to 10.  During the 1st, assessment, the child counted to 100 without skipping.
2. Child can count concrete objects up to his/her age. During the 1st assessment, the child could count objects up to 100.
3. Child can identify 2 objects in terms of large/small, tall/short, long/short, more/less - 4
4. Child can recognize similarities such as color, size, and shape - 4
5. Child is beginning to count by 10s to 100 - 5

Large Muscle Skills

1. Child can identify general body parts (back, stomach, legs, arms, head, etc) - 4
2. Child has had experience throwing/catching balls - 4
3. Child has had experience with block building - 4
4. Child can walk backwards - 3
5. Child can walk on his/her tip toes - 3
6. Child has had experience with keeping their balance.  (On a a balancing beam, standing on one foot, hopping on one foot etc.) - 4
7. Child can jump with both feet off the ground - 4
8. Child is beginning to learn how to skip - n/a
9. Child is beginning to learn how to gallop -  n/a
10. Child can propel him/herself on the swing - 2

Small Muscle Skills

1. Child tries to grip crayon or pencil correctly - 2
2. Child can cut with scissors holding scissors correctly, with thumb facing up - 4
3. Child can mold clay into a desired shape, such as a ball or snake - 3
4. Child can manipulate puzzle pieces to go in their desired place - 5
5.  Child is successful at stringing beads - 4
6. Child can complete the attached figure with at least 6 characteristics - 5

They started the circle for the head and the stick for the body - Drew drew the rest.

Teacher's written notes: Drew is an amazingly bright child.  He amazes us on a daily basis!  He is always eagar to learn new things and picks things up very easily.  I am concerned about his emotional maturity and we are working on that.  We have seen improvement since the beginning of the year.  Ms. Kirsten

We chatted about where how Drew has had to take the role of helper at school since he knows the answers to everything and it's hard to know if other kids are repeating what Drew says or if they actually know it.  So he has to sit alongside the teacher and she'll ask the questions and then ask Drew whether her answers are right.  They do this with the language, math and sign language areas that they incorporate into school lessons.

We also discussed in detail about whether she recommends he go - TK vs K.  She said he'd be bored in TK and she thinks the emotional side will come with time.  And her remark was that her son was held back in 2nd grade (an October birthday) so Drew could always get held back later in time.

Then the biggie... what I bet you all held on for the entire boring post for...

She said and I quote: Drew is an excessive self-stimulator.

Yep, my child likes to hump things at school, preferably the side of his cot at naptime.  But she said he returned a book to the "library" and "stimulated himself" at the bookcase.  She says we need to do something about it and have a chat with him, and if needed speak to his pediatritian.

Can I just tell you how badly I wanted to disappear at that moment?!?