Testing, Testing, Testing...

Yesterday we had Phoebe's Kindergarten placement test. It really isn't a test, more of an evaluation to see where kids are when they start Kindergarten. I was able to talk to Phoebe teacher and let her know that she is already advance and I would like to discuss getting her moved to 1st grade. The teacher looked at me a little funny but said she would do it. When we arrived at the class room she had a bunch of questions to ask Phoebe. She passed them off like the teacher was talking down to her. Then we came to the reading part. The teach asked if Phoebe would like to read it to her. So the teacher put her finger on the first word and said, "Can you read that?" Phoebe read the whole book the teacher couldn't keep her finger moving fast enough! I think that is when she really took me seriously. So we went from the beginning of Kindergarten test to the end of the year Kindergarten test. Phoebe passed that with flying colors. So the teacher said she need to go to a 1st grade teacher to get some more material that would show us where she was at. She asked Phoebe to write her a story while she was gone. Phoebe immediately started writing a story about her three new stuffed puppies she got for her birthday. When the teacher came back she had books from 1st and 2ND grade! Phoebe read the 1st grade books pretty well and read some of the beginning of the second grade! Second grade has a little bit bigger words and she tried. After a little bit the teacher asked Phoebe if she would like to go play so she could talk to her parents. She said that in all of her 25 years of teaching she has never had kindergartner as young as Phoebe so advance. She said that Phoebe blew her out of the water! She agreed that Phoebe would do fine going to first grade but wanted to talk about a lot of other options. Jake and I listened and we ended up talking for two hours! I really appreciate all the time Mrs. Moore took with us. Phoebe is our first kid and we don't know what we are doing when it come to school, so we wanted to hear all the options. It finally go to the point I looked at her and said, if this was your child, what would you do. She said she would have a tough decision too, but she said she would recommend keeping Phoebe in Kindergarten, and getting her in the advanced reading programs and the gifted program. She said that a teacher/or aide would be able to come in and work with Phoebe on am or individual level. She would have to get tested to see exactly where her reading level is at and then the gifted teacher, the reading specialist and she (the kindergarten teacher) would get together and build a curriculum built around Phoebe! WOW! My daughter really blows my mind! Jake and I both felt like that was right. It just set right with us. We called Phoebe over and told her about what we where thinking. We then asked her what she wanted. She simply replied, "I feel comfortable here." That was enough for us. We agreed and the teacher said that we would talk to the other two teachers and get back to us and have the new curriculum done by the 10Th of September. I really like how on top of things Mrs. Moore is. I feel like I am trusting my daughter to a woman who really cares about her.
One of my favorite moments during the testing was when she was asked what the difference between and triangle and a rectangle was. This is what she said, " A triangle has four small sides that are all the same a rectangle has two short sides that are the same and two long sides that are the same." Uh, I don't think I taught her that!
Another funny part was when Mrs. Moore asked Phoebe to read a page from a Frog and Toad book in the first grade reader. After a few paragraphs she asked Phoebe if she could skip to the end and read the last page. Phoebe was visibly upset because she wanted to read everything that book had. The teacher flipped the page to the end and Phoebe stuck her finger in the place of the first page and tried everything she could to explain to the teacher that she needed to read the story from the front to the back. Jake and I just laughed. Then I promised her that I would take her to the library to check out Frog and Toad books.
Phoebe was also told that she could only check out ONE book from the library. She couldn't understand why she couldn't take more. She told the teacher that her mom lets her take five from the library that she goes to.
That kid cracks me up! What an adventure motherhood is! There never is a dull moment. I am so excited for her to start on Tuesday. All other grade have started but Kindergarten doesn't start until after Labor Day. She keeps asking when she can really go to school. Poor thing. I hope she can survive till then!