If you follow my Instagram you will know we had Baby bears parents evening. This is our first proper parents evening we have ever had for Baby bear which was a little rubbish if I’m being honest. I’ve spoke about this before with every step of Baby bears transition into reception. Covid has changed the ‘normal’ for all of us which is completely understandable as we have to do these things to keep everyone safe but that doesn’t change the fact it means missing out on big events. Parents evening may not seem like a big deal to some parents but for us (mainly me) Baby bears first parents evening was kind of important and a milestone. Again, I have spoke about this feeling before also but with everything we are going through infertility wise I am finding myself clinging to every step/event/milestone of baby bears incase this is my only chance to experience these things as a mumma.

You maybe wondering how our school hosted parents evening this year in light of Covid and all the restrictions. Our school hosted it through Zoom, we all got appointments like we would normally but we had to book it over email and we stayed home instead of going to the school. As you may know I am a Teaching Assistant so I know roughly how face-to-face parents evenings go but with the changes I must admit I was slightly nervous. This could also be due to me being on the parents side instead of the TA side.

As soon as we started our parents evening, his teacher thanked us for putting so much time and effort into helping Baby bear at home. She also told us how proud of Baby bear she was for how well he has settled in and is now doing in Reception. His teacher then showed us his learning journal they have been doing for him since he has started. As she was showing us his teacher went through where Baby bear is at in the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) and what the plan was moving forward for him. We spoke about Baby bears ability using scissors, she explained when Baby bear first started they were concerned he lacked the muscle strength in his hands/fingers to use scissors. However, since doing their ‘Funky Fingers’ activities each day his teachers have now found his muscles are strong enough his hands however are not big enough for him to be able to open the scissors wide enough to cut. To help Baby bear both at school and home with this ability we have got him a different style of scissors to help him which are working.

We then spoke about baby bears ability to identify his colours and shapes. His teacher explained to us that Baby bear struggled to identify his colours when asked to colour in a circle with a certain colour he could do it with no issue. He was also unable to identity any shapes other than a circle, triangle and square. I was shocked to hear this as at home Baby bear knows all his shapes and colours without any hesitation. We had to same issue with him at nursery, if Baby bear doesn’t want to show you what he knows he wont. This is what Baby bear is doing at school now, as well as myself telling his teacher Baby bear could do these things, his teacher informed us that she has heard him saying the shapes and colours he ‘didn’t know’ when he thought no one was listening.

His teacher is also having this issue with him regarding his counting and identifying his numbers. When asked Baby bear seemed unable to could past 4 however when he is playing he can count to 10 without issue. Due to this they have had to mark him down as unable to do it so we have now had to take a step back to only counting to 5. His teacher said they are hoping that Baby bear will start ‘playing ball’ soon and show his ability so they can make it down properly. However, until then we are working on counting to 5 and only identifying 1-5. I’d be lying if I said this isn’t annoying as we all know he can but Baby bear won’t show all his knowledge unless he wants to (which doesn’t happen often). His teacher also explained how they are having a little issue with Baby bears focus, she explained that Baby bear is a summer baby who is very social so this isn’t something she is concerned about just something we need to work on to help him.

Before ending Parents evening, his teacher told us about how well he has settled in and how he is doing socially. If you know Baby bear you will already know how social he is so we wasn’t shocked to find out he is a super social little boy with amazing vocabulary and no fear/struggle letting his teachers know what he needs or thinks. At the end of our parents evening, I asked his teacher if there was anything we needed to be concerned about, but she ensured us that in the areas he is behind he isn’t behind enough to worry. She explained that the issues we are having with baby bear will hopefully correct themselves with time and Baby bear learning that as much as he can have fun, play and do his own thing at school he also there to learn.

All in all we are super proud of him and how well he is doing at school. We are going to keep working with him at school so hopefully he shows them his full ability soon.