What A Difference A Year Makes!

I've been meaning to post an update on Ella's schooling this year and I just keep forgetting to! 

This year has been night and day different from last year. Let me list the difference...

There has been no fighting when it comes to homework...PTL! 

Ella's short term memory has improved to the point where she is actually remembering things.

The baby talk has all but stopped! 

Ella's ability to get ready in the morning without having a meltdown has vastly improved. 

Socially Ella has excelled in regards to making friends...not that she had a big problem with that last year, but I feel like she's at the same level as the other kindergartners now. 

Height wise Ella has grown and is the same height as the majority of the other kids. 

Reading to Ella hasn't been such a struggle. We still aren't anywhere near where she needs to be in regards to the time we read or she reads to us, but I know we'll get there. I don't want to push her and make her hate reading. Owen struggled with reading as well and then in 1st grade he took off and now his teacher actually takes away his reading privileges if he's not doing what he should since it's the only thing he honestly cares about. 

Ella met all her speech therapy goals. 

Ella's ability to solve math problems has increased. In fact she loves math and has actually been teaching Zeke number bonds. 

Ella is able to write out sentences without help and you'll be able to figure out basically what she wrote. Last year all her sentences consisted of only MHL over and over again. 

Ella can now sound out words and she knows over half of the words she needs to know fluently before she moves onto the next reading level. 

Ella met almost all her IEP goals! Two of them she was at 50 - 99% in her progress. 

Ella's attendance has been much better this year mostly due to the fact that we now know she's allergic to dyes. 

All that to say....Ella Grace ROCKS!!!! 

She is honestly such a superstar!!! She's an amazing example of perseverance. She has loved getting that special school time outside of her classroom and I've even witnessed her being taken out of class when they were about to do something fun and she didn't make a fuss or anything. Ms. Davidson is super wonderful and usually lets Ella catch up on an activity that she may have missed or in the instance that I was in the classroom she came in at the tail end of the activity and was able to participate for a few minutes and that's was fine and dandy with her.  

My sweet girl is going to rock the 1st grade next year. I know it's going to have it's challenges, but just like the challenges that have come before Ella's going to face them head on and persevere! 

Another change that has been amazing this year is these two girls!!! Lilyann and Ella get along! Last year these girls were not friends at all, but now that Lily is a Kindergartner her and Ella's relationship has just blossomed. It's been such a sweet thing to see. On this particular day Ella decided to let Lily have this outfit because Lily always wants to wear it whenever she comes over. Later on it occurred to me that that was the outfit Ella wore to her first day of Kindergarten and I really wanted to save it in her keepsake bin. Rachael was awesome and let Lily wear it a couple of times and then she gave it back. 

I have loved seeing the progress my girl has made and I'm so excited for her future!!!