Spelling Tests and school progress

It seems like time is just going by faster and faster. The kids have started weekly spelling tests in school. I hope this isn't embarrassing for my kids down the road, but I want to have a record of their progress and this is the easiest way right now for me to do that. Last week was their first test, and here were their words:

an
at
can
cat
had
man

And two "Challenge Words":

catch
add

Peanut got 100%! And Bubba only missed one. He forgot the "a" in "had". I worked with them all last week and he knew that, so I think he must just have been hurrying and forgotten it. Still, they both did very well.

Their first term of the school year is now over and they are both doing very well. The grading is now a number system instead of letters, so it won't make sense to anyone unless you're familiar with it. But, to sum it up, they are both exactly where they are supposed to be in everything. They are making significant improvements in reading and writing. And they are working on simple addition. Both doing very well.

Bubba has the best handwriting in the class. Seriously, if you saw it, it looks like at least a 6th or 7th grader's handwriting. I will have to scan something in and post it so you can see it. He also excels in coloring, and the teacher often uses his coloring as an example to the other kids of the right way to color. He writes and illustrates little comic books at home all the time and he was really excited to show them to his teacher. She liked them very much and put them on the classroom bookshelf so that his friends could read them. When I was there on Monday, I noticed that several of the other kids had made some as well since they saw Bubba's. He was tickled that they liked them so much that they wanted to make them too. The teacher told us that they will be starting writing workshops in January, and he is really looking forward to that. We may have a little author on our hands.

Peanut is really excelling in her reading. They have different levels of books that they can choose from to bring a book home every day for their reading homework. Peanut is in the most advanced level of books, even getting into easy chapter books. She is very good at sounding things out and loves reading. Makes my heart happy!! I love reading too, and I thoroughly enjoy watching her loving it. The teacher told us that they will start testing for the Advanced Reading program in January, so we'll see how that goes. I think she'll be one of the first ones in the program. She also is making great improvements with her handwriting. She has not been so neat in the past, but she is working really hard on taking her time and doing her best work.

They are both in the top 5 in their class in reading. Woohoo!! Way to go Hinds' kids! The class is broken up into groups for their group activities that they do everyday. And the teacher told us that she groups them according to their skill level. They are in the group with the best readers.

She also said that they are both very good friends to their classmates. They speak nicely to the other kids and are both very popular. Bubba especially is a great helper to his friends and to the teacher and she made sure to point that out to us. All in all, they are doing really well and we're just so proud of them. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to get it all down before I forget.