school conferences

We had parent-teacher conferences with both the children's teachers two weeks ago - an opportunity to learn how and what they're working on, get updates from their teachers about their behavior, check on their progress to state standards, ask questions, etc.

Liesl's conference last year was very easy - she had all the qualities necessary to become a successful student in kindergarten, and she indeed had a wonderful year. This year's conference was also mostly good - she's doing well and meeting standards and has many friends. But her teacher this year has a very intense focus on small details, and an enthusiasm for minutiae (in terms of reading comprehension and writing skills) that I can't quite understand, and so the conference was a little strange for us. I felt like she spent a lot of time telling us about these very small ways in which Liesl wasn't quite doing everything that the teacher was expecting in a given situation (most of which seemed perfectly normal to us), and we couldn't figure out if we were supposed to care (we didn't). Anyway, she's great, school is fine for her. She's reading all the time, including somewhat lengthy chapter books, and we assume the details will come. The funniest part of the conference was that she's apparently too chatty with her friend Ryder - they talk and talk all the time, and may need to be separated. That reminded me very strongly of my own childhood, especially in junior high school, when I was constantly being moved away from people because I was too talkative in class.

Sebastian's conference last year was sort of a disaster -- his teacher reported that he had a lot of trouble listening, focusing, carrying through on tasks, and staying seated; his writing was lagging in both penmanship and quality, and his math was abominable. (He apparently learned nothing in second grade math.) It was not a good day and we were worried. But then he had a really great year. He loved his teacher and made an effort for her; she was flexible and patient and creative in helping him develop his classroom skills; we focused more at home on completing homework ahead of time, and doing it well. By the end of year, things were much better in all ways.

This year's conference was, happily, just great. His teacher didn't have any of the same concerns with classroom behavior or focus, he's caught up with math and is now in the "challenge" math group, his writing sample displays an advanced vocabulary and an understanding of narrative structure. She said it was really outstanding, even in its first draft. Steve and I were so happy leaving the classroom -  relieved that Sebastian is maybe living up to his potential, that his hours of reading are finally showing in his reading comprehension and writing; and so happy that some of our focus and discipline at home is paying off. He's worked really hard and I'm glad that there are tangible results to be proud of.

Enchanted Toyshop ballet

On Saturday, Liesl and I went with Anne and Camille to see the Enchanted Toyshop, a ballet performance by the Portland Ballet (a preprofessional company). Thanks to Grandma Raab for the tickets and Popo for the beautiful dress!!!  Liesl and Camille both loved the show, especially the Blue Fairy - after each mini-act, Liesl turned to me to ask, worriedly, "is that it? is it over?" I was so happy to reassure her, over and over, that there was still more to come.

Liesl's unicorn horn, made by Courtney for the end-of-season soccer party, was a huge hit.
After the show, we met up with our boys, got some hot chocolate from Cacao, and went to check out the Christmas tree and caroling in Jamison square.

It was a great Saturday adventure -- in between, we ran errands and shopped for groceries and drinks for our Sunday Friendsgiving party -

PKI college basketball

On Friday, we took Sebastian and Liesl and two of Seb's friends to see the Phil Knight invitational college basketball tournament at the Moda Center. There were some really big names in college ball at the three-day tournament - Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, UConn, Texas, Stanford, Gonzaga - it was pretty exciting. None of the kids had seen a real basketball game before and it was fun to take them and get inspired for their upcoming seasons. We were way up in the bleachers but could still see all of the action, and it was cool to be there. Our first game was Butler vs. Portland State, and it came down to two points at the final possession. Our second game was Duke vs. Texas and was really impressive in terms of sheer athletic ability.

Battle of the Books

Sebastian is participating this year in Oregon's Battle of the Books (OBOB), a school-sponsored event where students create teams, read a list of books, and compete against other teams to answer questions about the books. Each school's champion then goes on to compete against other schools in the city and then the state. It's a great way to increase students' interest in fiction and provide enrichment - much like spelling bees, math competitions, and science fairs. I wish there'd been an Alberta BOB when I was growing up!

Seb was reluctant to join the OBOB, but we insisted and his teacher encouraged, and he found a team. That was a victory in itself, as Sebastian is not an enthusiastic participant in scholastic endeavors and generally avoids reading books he's not interested in (don't we all?). But he came home with this year's checklist of books and then actually borrowed one from the school library's OBOB table. He had already read three of the 16 on this year's list, a good start.

The first book he read - Blast-off - was fine - scary in parts, but he enjoyed it, which was a good start. The second book he read was called Dash, and told the story of a Japanese-American girl living in Seattle during WWII. After Pearl Harbor, she is shunned by her classmates and then her family is sent to an internment camp. She has to leave her dog, Dash, behind, because pets are not permitted. The story follows her family as they must adjust to life in the camp. At the end of the book, the girl has made friends, started school, and is reunited with her dog, but her family is still in the camp. Sebastian was very struck by the book -- saddened, shocked, surprised -- he had to stop reading for a day because he felt so sad about what was happening. He expressed disbelief that people had had to go through such a tragedy. And I was so delighted that he stuck with it, that the book spoke to him, that he truly felt the horrors of such a racist policy, that he identified with the story and characters enough to empathize... so good.

So OBOB has already, in my mind at least, been a success. Even if he doesn't read anything else nearly as good, even if his team doesn't win a single battle. I got to witness the effects of fiction on someone's sense of the world and their sense of justice, and I get all verklempt just thinking about it.

happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Hoangs - delicious food, lovely company, a perfect day. We played outside at the field and cooked during the morning, feasted at 1:30, and then lolled around in the afternoon playing games, watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving and Sound of Music, and talking. The men fell asleep; Anne, Sebastian, and I took our dogs for a walk to the pond; the girls had a dance party. Then we ate dessert for dinner. Delightful.

 

We decorated our dining room wall with colorful leaves listing some of the many things we are thankful for. 

 

Food (we went nontraditional): roasted duck, rack of lamb, wild rice gratin, scalloped sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts with pancetta; roasted spiced carrots; pickled beets; cranberry sauce; radicchio with dates, pistachios, and chevre; Cuong's homemade fig and pumpernickel breads. 

Apple pie and gingerbread bundt cake for dessert.

Seb's birthday party

Sebastian invited six of his friends to come over to our house for his birthday party: Ethan, Nathan, Wyatt, Frances, Cason, and Peyton - the usual suspects! He wanted food and cake and lots of time to play sports with his friends, and that was about it. I made a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and sprinkles, filled bowls with chips and pretzels, ordered a couple of pizzas, and made hot dogs.

First up: balloon volleyball, which has become a birthday tradition around here. We draw taped lines and there are strict rules about single-touch, no spiking, no reaching over the line, etc.

Next: food! They had all played a soccer game that morning, on various teams, and were starving (of course).

And then presents - soccer cards, an air-hockey game, books - great stuff.

We had been planning to play at our home and the school field, but the weather looked uncooperative and the field was in constant use for end-of-season soccer tournament play, and we couldn't imagine having all of them in our house for 3 hours, so we rented out the small turf field at PDX Sports Center and a minivan to transport the crew.

They played soccer, football, and dodgeball - Steve and I participated in various ways to even out the teams - and then we lined them up and made them run timed sprints and then relay races. Liesl was fast enough to keep up with the older kids, running the distance from one end of the field to the other and back in under 9 seconds. (Everyone's time was within a second - 8-9 seconds - including mine!) Then we had a throwing contest, a soccer ball juggling contest, and a dizzy race. And then everyone was sweaty and tired and we headed back home.

The kids sang the loudest, most off-key rendition of Happy Birthday you could imagine -- and devoured the entire cake. And then parents started arriving for their kids; such a good party for Sebastian.