Way back when Emily was in 6th grade, her teacher, Ms. Grey, asked parents to write about thier children in a million words or less. I posted what I wrote about Emily on our blog. I wish I were more organized and tech-savvy to find the link to that post and put it here, but I'm not. It's a nice idea that maybe I'll do later.
Anyway, you get to read what I wrote to Gavin's fifth grade teacher who made the same requests of parents:
Gavin is the youngest of seven children. His three oldest siblings have flown the nest, so he talks to them on the phone and looks forward to holiday visits. This summer, his oldest sister had a baby, so he’s an Uncle! He has three older brothers, who sometimes make life tricky for him, but are also sources of wisdom, rides to the store to get candy, and annoying TikTok phrases. He sometimes wants to be more grown up than he actually is.
This little guy is academically oriented. He loves to read BIG books. He rarely reads a standalone novel because he likes the challenge of tackling a whole series. He might say reading is his favorite subject, but he also loves math. He likes to do “advanced math” when he can and feels pretty smart when he understands his older siblings' math homework. Because these things come easily to him, he doesn’t always understand that things don’t always click so easily for other students. I hope he will accept invitations to help others with compassion and see a different point of view.
Gavin is very organized and motivated. Sometimes I think he’s an old man in a little guy’s body. He likes to be on time to school, so he lays out his clothes the night before and encourages me and everybody else to do the same. He reminds us to pack lunches and computers at night to avoid last minute forgetfulness. He often is the first one up in the morning and always gets up right when his alarm goes off.
Gavin is a lefty. This is fun for him in some of the sports he plays: baseball and basketball. He likes to swim, but chose not to participate in swim team this summer. I think it’s because even though he likes swimming, he hates to be cold.
Gavin started playing the trumpet in band last year. Over the summer, he started piano lessons and loves learning and playing duets with me. Music is like math to him--it just makes sense. He likes to discover new patterns and tricks for playing songs for his family and friends. We have heard a lot of Heart and Soul and Chopsticks at our house lately. :)
Like his siblings, Gavin loves kids. I know, he is a kid! But he has fun playing with kids that are younger than him. He’s hoping he can volunteer to help the kindergarteners this year.
The first thing he noticed in your classroom is all the great books you have for kids to read. Even though he likes big books, he and his sister also love to go to the library and bring home stacks of picture books. He enjoyed the picture books you read to the class during the first week and brought home some excellent picture book recommendations to his family.
We’re looking forward to a great 5th grade year!!
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