Moving to 'Green'

Gavin ran up to me after school yesterday in the car line, just as he always does, giving me a big hug before hopping up into his seat.  As soon as we started to drive away, he started telling me about his day, how his teacher was gone and they had a new substitute, not his usual one, and she wasn't his 'favorite.'  My mind flashed back to the subs we had in our building - some were amazing, and some you wondered why they even applied to be a sub.  I braced myself, wondering if I was going to hear a story about the latter, but instead he told me that she moved him to green, but he got to go back to the parking lot later.  Of course, he 'couldn't remember' why he had to move to begin with, but I was just proud of him for telling me about it.  The other time he had to move out of the 'parking lot' he never told me; his teacher ended up telling me about it a week later.  So much like me...afraid to tell me because he didn't want to get in trouble or for me to be upset with him!

A few hours later, I got an email from his teacher.  Another teacher had told her he was upset during the day, and she just wanted to check on him.  I told Gavin she was asking about what happened and that I really needed him to remember why he had to move to green so I could tell his teacher what happened.  That's when he shared that he hadn't turned in his morning work on time.  So, I replied to Mrs. R's email and explained what happened, reassuring her that he was fine and no longer upset.  Her response made me smile and I wanted to document it.
"Gavin is such a sweet kid!  He is a clone of a kid I had that is now in 3rd grade.  Super sweet, kind to everyone, super smart, but sometimes takes forever to get work done!"


It's been the only thing we've heard all year that he needs to work on - using his time wisely and finishing tasks.  Our little perfectionist takes forever to do his work!