We had Olive's parent/teacher conference tonight. Chris held down the fort while I volunteered at the book fair and then attended the meeting with Mrs. Smith. The short of it is that Olive is doing excellent in school! She got a 51/51 on her beginning-of-year assessment, and has surpassed her grade level expectations. She got a 16 where the expectation is 10 on her phonemic awareness test (hearing the first sound in a word). She did perfectly on the math test they gave her (showed her flash cards with up to 5 dots on them and she had to tell how many dots there were without counting them, just by eyeballing them). Mrs. Smith has her seated at a table with her back to the chalkboard because, she says, she knows she can trust Olive to be responsible enough to turn around when it's time to do so. She did say that sometimes Olive will poke the boys that sit at her table, or get too talkative when it's rug time. I asked if she's a troublemaker, more of a stinker than the other kids, and she said no. She said Olive is right on par, socially speaking, with the other kids, and that she's making friends. Olive and I talked when I got home about all these things. I praised her like crazy for all the good things, and asked her to talk to me about bugging the boys she sits by. She said they just get on her nerves. So, we talked about using words instead of being pokey. She was pleased and warmed by all the praise I gave her. She really does love school, and we are reinforcing a bunch at home. Love our bright little girly.

I was seriously so impressed with her carrots.

Olive got to take Grandma Gail to school with her today for a Grandparents' Day lunch!

Olive made gender-specific business cards to hand out at school. She got a phone call from a girl in her class after school today. Totally Chris Barragan's daughter.

Olive's school had a free-dress day today!

Today on the way home from school I asked Olive how she's liking her teacher, Mrs. Smith. She said, "She's good...but there's just one thing. She says when we don't listen, we get a grouchy teacher." I had to laugh.