Yes, I know my son writes like a 3rd grader. That’s completely my fault. Really, genetically my fault. I had almost perfect grades throughout elementary school, except for those persistent S’s and even a few Ns in handwriting (C and D equivalent). I never realized how illegible it was until I was browsing through some old Father’s Day cards that I had sent my dad over the years. I picked one up thinking it was from when I was in elementary school . . . only to read, “Thanks for all the help with college stuff.” Oops. So, yeah. I promise we’ve worked on it (a lot), but he got the short end of the stick in the handwriting department. In spite of the messy papers he’ll hand in, he’s really bright, loves to read, and is an enthusiastic student who wants to please you. You’ll love him.
Fourth grade teacher? You are so lucky that my son started reading in the last 6 months. You don’t even know what a bullet you dodged there. He may still put you to sleep with the monotone and stilted voice he uses to read out loud, but at least he no longer sees the first few letters of a word and guesses. I’m hoping you can get him to love reading, cause so far I’ve struck out. He’ll do it as a chore, but he’d rather play Legos all day long than pick up a book. He’s actually a natural at math, but his squirreliness gets in the way of his brightness at times. He’s certainly not your traditional excellent student, because he doesn’t care about being perfect. He’d rather plow through and get on to having fun. I hope you like that about him. It’s nice to have him around to balance out those neurotic perfectionist types.
Yes, my son is loud. He has two older brothers to compete with for attention — he didn’t get the nickname “Loudy McLoudsAlot” for nothing. If he’s enjoying himself, you will know it. We put him in second grade because he’s tall for his age, but with his July birthday he’s probably the youngest student in your class. He’s still a beginning reader — partly because he’s young, partly because we spent the year roaming around the world, and partly because he was working through a beginning reading program that has been missing since we moved here. Ironically, I found it tonight. He loves books, is excited about reading, and has good phonemic awareness so I’m expecting things to click for him this year. Don’t worry about him needing speech therapy. He doesn’t actually have a lisp. He listens to the Ramona Quimby audiobooks every night and copies her speech patterns. He was ridiculously excited to see that there was a Howie in your class. I apologize in advance if he wants to call him “Howie Kemp” like in Ramona the Pest. As you’ll see, he is funny (sometimes to a fault), enthusiastic, and a people person. If you can keep him on task, he’ll be an excellent student.
I hope you have a wonderful year (and that I didn’t screw it up too badly).