A Ray of Sunshine

This school year is quite stressful. I have so many things that I could blog (rant) about. I won't though. It is depressing enough to have to live though it. Why relive it in this blog. Instead I will write about my ray of sunshine in my class.

A is a doll. I was really worried about her at the beginning of the school year. We had an IEP on her within the first few weeks of school starting. Her scores were SO low but die to the fact that she had no discrepancy, she remained in my room. I was quite angry about that because I thought it wasa huge disservice to her. However, I kept my happy face on and worked hard with A. She worked even harder. She amazed us all by making great gains academically. Since August, she has jumped from being a non reader to reading at almost a 2nd grade level. Wow!

Math is much harder for her. She has never quite understood what we were doing. I work with here every day to try and help out but she is always many steps behind. Never once has she given up or complained though. I admire her so much for this. Right now, we are working on one the hardest concepts of the entire year, 3 digit addition with regrouping. She brought me her page to check it. I was amazed because it was complete. I was even more shocked to find that all of the answers were correct. I asked her who helped her with it. She told me that she did it on her own. I told her that I wanted to watch her do it myself. I didn't believe her. So then, A smiles up at me, knowing that I don't believe her and says, "ok Ms. V., watch me!" I did and was blown away. SHE GETS IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hugged her, apologized and did the happy dance with her.

A has so many issues that the rest of the kids don't have to deal with. That being said, A is not going to let any of her issues stand in her way for success. She proves to herself, to me, her parents and the rest of our class that she is a hard worker and part of the group. I wish that the rest of the class had her drive.