Circle Time

The spelling Caste System in J's 1st/2nd grade class goes something like this:

Octagon: 3rd grade

Square: 2nd-grade

Circle: low 2nd grade

Triangle: 1st-grade

J has been a triangle since the start of the year. Rigth where he should be. He's not going to be invited to the Spelling Bee Contest anytime soon, but he's right at his level. This has never been a cause for concern to either D or me. He does wonderful on his weekly tests. More often than not he brings home 100 percents. This, however, has prompted some inquires of his own. Why, if he gets 100 percent almost weekly, is he not moving up to the next level?

He finally asked me enough that I turned around and asked Mrs. S. She told me that the only way for them to move up is if they get 100 percent or miss very few on the pretest. Cold turkey! She thought it was cute that he was so interested in moving up the ranks and promised that the next time he did well on his pretest and if the circle words weren't too challenging, she would move him up for that particular week only.

Some weeks later he was:

The words were a little more challenging and on Friday he came home with only about a 75 percent score. No worries. We were proud of him for the effort.

A couple of weeks ago at conferences, however, he was dying to have Mrs. S spill the beans. He contiuned to prompt us to ask her what was going on. And then she told us: He had been moved up to a circle. You'd have thought he won the Nobel Prize I was so proud of him. This was his goal. He worked hard, and he met it. I loved the enthusiasm I saw in him. I wish I could bottle up just a little bit of it so that he'd always have that sense euphoria at his fingertips as a reminder of what hard work can accomplish.

A dose of reality came in his backpack the other day. He won't be running circles around these words. But he worked a little harder and ended up with 11 out of 14 right. I have no doubt he'll be posting 100s really soon here. And I can't wait to see the look on his face then!