On to Grade ONE

I can't believe my baby is moving on to grade one next year. I am so very, very proud of everything she has accomplished in the past year. She is absolutely excelling at school and piano and her social skills have really come along too. She is no longer the shy, timid child that she was in the past. She has definetly come out of her shell and her more vibrant side is emerging.

Emma has been such a trooper since returning home from Iceland and Holland. Between her teacher, the special education teacher, Gerben and I we decided to persue placement in grade one for Emma next year. I had absolutely no idea the hurdles we would have to jump through to get her there. I guess it is extremely rare for a child of Emma's age to be accelerated. They say that a child under 7 cannot be accurately assessed for giftedness and therefore is not a good candidate for classroom acceleration (skipping a grade.) Needless to say, Emma has gone through test after test after test so that the teachers could document just how bright Emma is. In the end she is tested at an early grade 2 level. A full 2 years and a bit ahead of her age. Finally, she was given a test called at CCAT (Canadian Cognitive abilities Test.) I believe she is the first student to ever take this test because this version is brand new. It's a standardized test for children in Senior Kindergarten or Grade 1 to assess their learning levels. When the results came in Emma's scores were high enough to identify her as gifted by Ontario Standards and therefore gifted in the eyes of our school board. It turns out she scored amazing on it and that in itself is very cool because this test is actually meant for a child 1 to 2 years older than Emma. All I can say is...Way to go Emma! After weeks and weeks of tests we managed to get Emma the placement that she needs for next year. Emma is considered a exceptional student and will be attending grade 1 in the fall.

Friday was her Kindergarten Graduation. It was so cute to see all the little kids up singing and doing the chicken dance. Emma will miss some of her fellow JK friends but she is super excited about going on to grade 1 with some of her other friends.

Here's a few pictures of that wonderful day.