Danny Boy

There is a little boy in my class who started school with very few school related skills. I have posted about him before and how much I appreciate his sense of community and other areas of strength, but when it comes to writing, math, reading etc, it is pretty obvious that he entered school without a lot of experience in these areas.

The first time we colored a pattern, his page was basically scribbles. I had explained to the class that each child should choose two colors and alternate the colors in a pattern. I provided a model and showed them, talked about the different colors, and "read" the pattern so they could hear the alternating color words. For Danny Boy, a pattern did not happen. He scribbled. That's it. There was no attention paid to the lines or to selecting only two colors in order to create a pattern. Last week, we colored another pattern. This time, he chose pink and orange and completely blew me away by mastering the pattern coloring. He totally got it! I was so proud :0)

Although he is still behind his peers, I can tell that things are starting to click and he is really trying hard. He keeps telling me at the carpet that he is being "piet." Good thing we just learned the /q/ sound because to him "piet" means not talking while I am teaching.

I really have high hopes for this little friend and I am so proud of the progress he has made!