Too cool for school

This is what happens when their great aunt sends a goody box:

Maceo's PK4 Student-led conference: Not a bully after all

Nick and I recently met with Maceo's two teachers, Yu and Shen, along with Maceo, in a student-led conference that lasts about 75 minutes and is designed to empower the student to show his parents what's he's learned thus far in the school year.  Admittedly, Nick and I were a little nervous because Maceo has been on a pretty rigid daily green/red behavior chart that, shall we say, not everyone in the class is honored to be on.  

We've received specific feedback about him being too physical on the playground and generally unable to keep his hands to himself.  So, needless to say we were more than surprised when, in this student-led conference, Maceo's teachers had a lot of praise about him and helped us to understand that some of his physical behavior on the playground had to do with sticking up for his wee little best friend, Adam Berg, a years-long playmate of this that represents the 5% growth chart end of the spectrum while Maceo clearly occupies the other end of that chart.  They have a sweet relationship and Maceo seems to be quite protective of little Adam Berg.  Succinctly said by Maceo's lead teacher, "This is why we haven't called you for a behavior conference about Maceo."  They were able to see the dynamics going on on the playground and respond accordingly - which is not to over-respond. And this is one of the many reasons why we are so pleased with Maceo's experience at Yu Ying.

And so that Nick and I remember what transpired at this conference in which Maceo shyly yet proudly walked us through numerous stations in which he demonstrated his math skills, read The Hungry Caterpillar in Chinese to us, and showed he is starting to learn some Chinese characters, here is a quick little list of what his teachers had to say about him:

• He's really trying to speak only in Chinese to his teachers now.  He apparently is learning Chinese well enough to be able to understand the side conversations the teachers are having in between classes and transition times.  
• He's helpful in serving as a role model for a friend of his who recently became a Rhino by transferring into his class. Seamus, the transferred student, seems to have a crush on Maceo.  He apparently has asked his mother if he can wear an eye patch like Maceo does at school. 
• Maceo's not very picky about his friends.
• He can be very vulnerable and sensitive.  
• He's often the first to be where he needs to be in transitions - on his spot on the carpet, to his seat at the lunch table, etc....
• He'll be in a play in April about the Three Little Pigs and he wants to be the pig who makes his house out of brick. (He's no dummy).

There are a few more months of school for Maceo before summer break which will conclude his second year at Yu Ying. He's one of the lucky ones in that he will have had Chinese immersion for two full years before transitioning to a 50/50 Chinese/English setup and it's amazing and evident that it's paying off.  It was a pretty exhilarating thing to see our kid look at a bunch of Chinese characters on a page, figure out what they said and translate it for us into English.  And to do it without a sense of how incredibly hard that really is. Well, to our adult minds at least.  Here's to looking at our budding kindergartener and hoping it's as lovely of a year as this one...but with less hitting.