Friday, February 1, 2008

Pre-School Oral Reports

Yep, you read that title correctly. Jonni had her first oral report this week. In pre-school. A little sooner than I expected. They were studying space for the month of Febuary, and so Jonni's report was to be on Mars. John helped her, since he is the space nut, not I. They decided the best route would be to pick some pictures, and then Jonni could describe them. Jonni picked six pictures. That's a lot for a soon to be five-year-old, I thought. Here are some of the cooler ones;
This Olympus Mons, the biggest mountain on Mars and Earth.
It is also roughly the size of Arizona, and an active volcano.

This is a sunset on Mars. That teeny tiny dot is the sun.
Anyway, so pretty cool, but still, I was way worried about her handling an Oral Report. As a safety measure, John wrote all the dialogue on the backs of the pictures so the teacher could help her. We have been assured many times that Jonni is extremely shy at school, and I just didn't know how she was gonna do this. It turns out we needn't have worried. Jonni was flawless. Not only did she do the things we practiced with her, she brought a book on space she's had at home for awhile, flipped to the section on Mars, and proceeded to expound upon her original report. The teacher said she went on for a full ten minutes, with no mistakes, and as she was reading over Jonni's shoulder, all the book stuff that she didn't practice with us was correct as well. Needless to say, her teacher was beyond impressed. Most parents just print something out, apparently, and the teacher reads it to the class while the student just stands there. She has never had anyone do what Jonni did, and she's been teaching pre-school for like twenty years! That's m'girl!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Smart. Thats what she is. Smart. Like me. Smart!

J

timpani76 said...

I think you guys being really dedicated parents helped, but Jonni is going to end up in the gifted classes in school.

Tell Jonni HAPPY BIRTHDAY from Vance!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's amazing. What a smart girl she is. Liz - I wanted you to know that I'm always checking your blog to see how you guys are doing. :)
-Jeanette

lizS said...

jeanette! you lurker! why haven't you said anything yet!!!? i'm always all sad that no one comments! !@#$! any more lurkers!? REVEAL YOURSELVES!!

Anonymous said...

O yeah the thing Liz left out is that the pics that she posted, and most of the ones Jonni used are not artist's renditions but are actual photographs from the surface of Mars done by a pair of rover robots that have been there for a few years or so now.

J

lizS said...

john also informs me that olympus mons might not be and active volcano. it was a some point i assume, but might not be any longer. see? him space nut. me, not so much.