Parent/Teacher Conference- What to expect or ask?

[Ell-Bell]

DS (3.5) has been going to a great Montessori school for about 2 1/2 months now. We have our first parent conference this week and I'm not sure what to expect.

What kind of questions did you ask, and what kind of things do you expect to be told?

We don't really have any concerns, except maybe that he always talks about not being allowed to observe other kids' work and I'd like to know more about that (I'm hoping that there are times when he IS able to observe). I'd also like to leave knowing that his guide has some idea of his abilities with language/numbers, and to find out how she approaches him with lessons (she has said that he refuses lessons often as he would prefer to socialize).

Just trying to get an idea of what to expect.

[kittykat2481]

[SomedayMom]

What we got from our first p/t conference was a list of the different areas and things that the kids work on in those areas with a notation of whether he had mastered an area, was developing in an area, or had not been introduced to it yet. They gave me an idea of where he most likes to work and how he is doing socially and academically. I had a few relatively minor things to discus with them and we covered that.

My biggest concern at the preschool level is his social development. I want to know that he's happy and enjoying himself. Then I want to know if he's working on anything that he might need some assistance with at home too. I also wanted to make sure that at his age he was doing a variety of works in different areas even though he has his favorites.

My other child is 2 and he's in the toddler program and it is just nice to hear about his days and what he's doing since he doesn't have the capacity to do a lot of explaining to me She also had videos for me of him doing some different work

[GuildJenn]

We mostly listen at ours. This year I think we will also be discussing what direction we would like to head in educationally and how they perceive our son as a learner, what his needs are in the classroom, etc.

Our school gives quite extensive reports twice a year with the activities and whether they've been presented, mastered, or not yet presented, so we have a good picture of where our son's in terms of learning at when we get those. It's more the general overall picture that we look for in the conferences.