I forgot to post this originally, this was about 2 months ago.  I took you to work with me to check out the new Salesforce offices, and you had such a good time.  On the train ride home, you were using my phone to taker pictures, and then wanted to record me while you asked me questions 🙂

I had the best conversation with you earlier this evening. It started by you telling me you have to ask me something serious, and telling me to sit down, look you in the eyes and pinky-promise to tell the truth no matter what.

You made me nervous. lol.

One of your first assignments, or my first assignment rather, was to fill out a questionnaire about you for your teacher 🙂  Below is what I wrote.

1st Grade – Personality Assessment

*Apologies in advance if this is too wordy, I can’t help it when talking about my daughter 🙂 *

1-

Brooklyn describes herself as a ‘Sporty girl’ – She made me write that 🙂  Brooklyn can have a very timid personality when encountering new environments and situations.  Once she finds herself comfortable with the environment, she will open up and reveal her more sincere personality.  

Her more sincere personality is very caring, sensitive, funny and sometimes outspoken.  She won’t always be the first person to speak up, but when she does she definitely has an opinion to share and that she wants you to hear.  Brooklyn is also very intelligent for her age. I realize every parent will probably say that about their child, however with Brooklyn it is true 🙂  You might find her to be bored or distracted on occasion while doing her work. I typically find this is because she is not feeling challenged, and I would recommend challenging her more if possible.

2 –

Interests include Swimming, playing with her friend Harris who lives next door, playing at the park, watching ‘kid toy shows’ on YouTube, learning (she loves to ask questions to have a better understanding of how things work),  more swimming, gymnastics, ballet.

3 –

There aren’t too many things she has a particular disdain for, nothing very specific as far as material things or places, but here are some more common dislikes of Brooklyn

1. Not a huge fan of reading (by herself),
2. going fast (car rides when mommy drives 🙂 )
3. Strangers
4. Mean people
5. Being the center of attention or having the spotlight on her

4 –

To elaborate on my answers to question 1 – I think it’s important to point out her behavior in the classroom.  She had an issue in Kindergarten with speaking out of turn, not raising her hand when she answers questions. She really worked on this and made significant improvement by the end of the year.  Also as I pointed out, I think Brooklyn has a tendency to get bored when she is not being challenged. A lot of the work (especially reading, writing – these are her strong points) she will finish quickly and become bored, or she might just take her time because she finds it easy and will wait to the last minute.

She also has a tendency to look at other people’s papers.  I believe this happened today with David 🙂 This was also an issue in Kindergarten, however after engaging Brooklyn and really digging into the core of the problem, I am confident that it is not because she is trying to cheat, or get answers, or anything else that would be considered negative.  I think this is because she is just curious as to what other people are doing, and if they are keeping up with her or not. Brooklyn can be very insecure at times, and by checking other people’s papers this provides some sort of a measurement to herself as to how well she is performing.

5 –

The core elements of this question have been answered already, but I will expand a bit.  Brooklyn best learns via positive feedback. If positive feedback is provided, she will excel.  Please do not interpret that as me saying to provide positive feedback if it is not warranted. If negative feedback or constructive criticism is necessary, please do so.  However, tone of voice is a huge thing for Brooklyn. She does not respond well to a ‘mean’ tone of voice, and gets very self conscious when approached like that.

Today was your first day of first grade!  You were so excited last night and this morning 🙂  Your teacher this year is Mrs. Nagy, and she already loves you 🙂  Your friend Avianna is in your class and you are super excited about that.  Your other friends Reagan D., Reagan L., are in the other 1st grade class, but you still get to play with them at recess.

You started new swimming lessons at California Swim Academy and have been doing amazing!  You’re received a ribbon each week you’ve gone so far (3 in a row)!  We’ve been swimming almost every day this summer, and you have  been improving so much by yourself, it’s so fun to watch you excel in activities like this 🙂