First Grade here we come!!!

** sorry for my little unscheduled blogging break - my addiction ran its course but not until I finished the whole series of books! 

We had Cate's IEP last week and she has been official placed in a 1st grade classroom!  The process of this IEP was smooth and effective.  The teacher gave the team a copy of Cate's assessment scores and I was really excited.   She actually met quite a few of the kindergarten goals, and even exceeded one (she knows all her three dimensional shapes (cone, cylinder, etc)!  The areas where she is behind are not a surprise and are frequently related to her speech delays - like rhyming and things that require counting, she loses it between 12 & 18 in my opinion its part because they all sound about the same when she says them.  The IEP states she will be placed in a typical first grade class with small group for reading and math.  Her small group time will likely be in a different classroom but hopefully that can minimize distractions and will help her keep up on those important base skills.  The rest of the day there will be para-professional support and adult supervision during non-classroom activities like transitions and assembly.  (Cate decided to take a walk into a dark classroom the day before the IEP so that was non-negotiable!)  We are so lucky to have such an amazing team at Cate's school.  The entire team really knows her and wants what is best for her.  We didn't have a single dispute, everyone was on the same page.  The team was receptive to our ideas and great about answering our questions and more than willing to make compromises where necessary.  We did decide that Cate will start the year without assistive technology but will be evaluated at the start of the school year for a "mini-mouse" or other computer related items to help with her tiny fingers during computer lab.  The OT says she will "definitely be a writer" so we decided against help like keyboarding for spelling test or other language arts right now to be reevaluated later if we don't see the expected progress.  The last part of the IEP is related to testing accommodations and since 1st grade only does one standardized test that is read orally and includes pictures answers, we only had to write in small group testing.  She will also have small group or alternative testing available during normal class time if it is necessary.  Because get this - she probably have weekly spelling tests!!  I'm just not sure I'm ready for spelling test and math tests!  I'm still surprised every time she reads a little phonics book.  Where did my baby go?   Another great piece of news is that a friend of my mother's who teaches first grade has offered to be Cate's tutor over the summer!!!!  That is even better than getting ESY since the program in our district isn't really right for Cate.    I'm sure both Ric & I will be a mess at the "crossing over" ceremony at the end of the year.  Its crazy to think about our expectations when she was born vs how amazing she is doing now.  My girl is AWESOME!!!

playing outside with chalk - the pressure washer blew up so the deck was fair game while it waits to be cleaned - bet I'll regret that decision.

Cate loves to play with mulch, she will do it for hours - this was against the rules though the rubber mulch is suppose to stay with the play set

mmmm - what can I do with this??

a summer nap for sister

sometimes its fun to play while Lucy sleeps but

its fun to play when she wakes up too!

We tried really heard to just let the girls play outside with minimal supervision (Ric was working on the screen porch).  It was easy last weekend while the pool was still closed but we'll have to be much more vigilant now the cover is off.  I love spring but I can't wait until that pool is really open, especially since Lucy is getting to be a swimmer too.