Saturday, September 19, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
FIVE IN A ROW
For Kaytlynn and Delaney's language arts, science, and social studies I have chosen to do something called Five in a Row. Each week, I choose a book to read...five times in a row. If you know kids, they love familiarity, and my girls think they are so smart since they are building on knowledge they learned yesterday...rather than connecting with new characters, setting, problem, etc. each new school day.
On my blog, I will discuss some of the books we gone over and what we have learned in each of them. For your interest...if you are interested, but also for our memories. As we are creating a lot of them by learning in this manner!
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.
We learned about gardening and all the vegetables in Mr. McGregor's garden. We picked blackberries at my parents friend's farm.
We learned about different types of communities...the differences between cities, suburbs and the rural areas. We focused on rural areas, and what they look like.
We learned about chamomile tea. We had tea at tea time together (which the girls loved). We talked about how plants are used for medicinal purposes.
We learned about obedience. Why we should obey and what can happen when we don't. We learned about listening to people that have proven themselves to be people of good judgement...and spending time with those people...not people like Benjamin Bunny.
We learned about England, and some of its cities and landmarks. The girls can now sing Big Ben's tune and tell you all about the tower and clock. They know and recognize its flag.
We also spent time learning about Beatrix Potter...where she lived, why she wrote, what she wrote. We learned a little bit about the early to mid 1900's. We learned about her childhood and adult life. We also watched the movie Mrs. Potter with Renee Zellweger (wonderful movie and both girls have watched it again).
We spent time learning about rabbits. We looked at where they live, what they eat, etc. And then we talked about other books with rabbits in them. We read several, including The Velveteen Rabbit and watched the movie that went with it.
We studied Potter's art. The girls learned about the type of art she used...and the difference between animated vs. naturalism.
The girls loved this book and I am so glad that it was our very first book to ROW.
On my blog, I will discuss some of the books we gone over and what we have learned in each of them. For your interest...if you are interested, but also for our memories. As we are creating a lot of them by learning in this manner!
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.
We learned about gardening and all the vegetables in Mr. McGregor's garden. We picked blackberries at my parents friend's farm.
We learned about different types of communities...the differences between cities, suburbs and the rural areas. We focused on rural areas, and what they look like.
We learned about chamomile tea. We had tea at tea time together (which the girls loved). We talked about how plants are used for medicinal purposes.
We learned about obedience. Why we should obey and what can happen when we don't. We learned about listening to people that have proven themselves to be people of good judgement...and spending time with those people...not people like Benjamin Bunny.
We learned about England, and some of its cities and landmarks. The girls can now sing Big Ben's tune and tell you all about the tower and clock. They know and recognize its flag.
We also spent time learning about Beatrix Potter...where she lived, why she wrote, what she wrote. We learned a little bit about the early to mid 1900's. We learned about her childhood and adult life. We also watched the movie Mrs. Potter with Renee Zellweger (wonderful movie and both girls have watched it again).
We spent time learning about rabbits. We looked at where they live, what they eat, etc. And then we talked about other books with rabbits in them. We read several, including The Velveteen Rabbit and watched the movie that went with it.
We studied Potter's art. The girls learned about the type of art she used...and the difference between animated vs. naturalism.
The girls loved this book and I am so glad that it was our very first book to ROW.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Long Time, No Blog
It has been really busy around here. I am enjoying my days teaching at Eickenroht Elementary school. Robbie, my principal and friend, has been doing a terrific job. We are so used to 1200 kids walking the halls that it is like heaven dealing with under 600 students. I have sent my order off for the new books and they should arrive in a couple of weeks. I set up for bookfair this week and the kids will be able to purchase next week. We will see how it goes. My head feels like it is spinning in so many directions. My assistant isn't even able to be there because her son has the Swine Flu.
I have signed the girls up for AWANAS for the year. Kaytlynn is in her 2nd year of SPARKS. Delaney left CUBBIES behind and started SPARKS as well. Tonight was their first night and Delaney has been sooo excited about going. When she found out that Ethan Crenshaw was not in her class though, she kinda freaked. So I asked if they could move her. They had no problem doing so, but then she still started crying saying she wanted to be with me. I talked to her about doing the right thing, even if we didn't want to...hugged her, reassured her that I would come back for her in an hour, hugged her again...and then ran off to deliver Kaytlynn to her class. I walked back by about 5 minutes later and she was all happy and listening to story time. I feel so bad for her when her shyness kicks in. She can be a manipulating child, but not when she is like this. She really is scared of the unknown and I hope and pray that it gets better with age.
I have signed the girls up for AWANAS for the year. Kaytlynn is in her 2nd year of SPARKS. Delaney left CUBBIES behind and started SPARKS as well. Tonight was their first night and Delaney has been sooo excited about going. When she found out that Ethan Crenshaw was not in her class though, she kinda freaked. So I asked if they could move her. They had no problem doing so, but then she still started crying saying she wanted to be with me. I talked to her about doing the right thing, even if we didn't want to...hugged her, reassured her that I would come back for her in an hour, hugged her again...and then ran off to deliver Kaytlynn to her class. I walked back by about 5 minutes later and she was all happy and listening to story time. I feel so bad for her when her shyness kicks in. She can be a manipulating child, but not when she is like this. She really is scared of the unknown and I hope and pray that it gets better with age.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Were You Good Today?
I picked Delaney up from Dana's yesterday and she met me at the door asking me "Mama, were you good today?" So cute! I found out later she probably asked me if I was good...because she hadn't been. Apparently, she feels the need to only work in about 5 - 10 minute spurts and wants to play for about an hour before starting a new activity. Dana jokingly said that She and Ethan were made to do Kindergarten together because they both have the attention spans of a peanut.
I can post this now, because today she didn't ask me if I was good today...and she got lots of brags from Ms. Dana for doing all her work in a more timely manner :-) I love my Darling Delaney.
I can post this now, because today she didn't ask me if I was good today...and she got lots of brags from Ms. Dana for doing all her work in a more timely manner :-) I love my Darling Delaney.
New School Year...
I dropped Delaney off at Dana's house 2 days ago for her first day at "school". They were going to get to go swimming so Delaney showed up prepared for that. When it got time to leave the back to school swimming event, Dana had them get dressed. She asked Delaney where her underwear was. Delaney just looked at her and reassured Dana that its okay...pulled her dress down and just went back to business as if nothing was wrong. Doesn't everyone skip wearing underwear while wearing a dress on their first day of school :-)
Kaytlynn had a good time at the party as well. Who wouldn't at a small mansion with a 3 level pool and a pebble brook that lead down to a large pond stocked with fish, surrounded by kids your age? Add hotdogs and you have a kids heaven on earth! Kaytlynn got on the top level, and without thinking twice did something fancy off what's called a "jumping rock" and landed about 5 ft. lower into the 2nd level. Dana said her eyes got big and asked Kaytlynn "what did you just do". Kaytlynn smiled and said "a flip". Dana then asked when she learned how to do that. Kaytlynn just smiled and said proudly "just now". She is always going to be my girl without fear.
Kaytlynn had a good time at the party as well. Who wouldn't at a small mansion with a 3 level pool and a pebble brook that lead down to a large pond stocked with fish, surrounded by kids your age? Add hotdogs and you have a kids heaven on earth! Kaytlynn got on the top level, and without thinking twice did something fancy off what's called a "jumping rock" and landed about 5 ft. lower into the 2nd level. Dana said her eyes got big and asked Kaytlynn "what did you just do". Kaytlynn smiled and said "a flip". Dana then asked when she learned how to do that. Kaytlynn just smiled and said proudly "just now". She is always going to be my girl without fear.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
School Fire Drill
I've been taking the girls to school with me each day as I work to get the new library set up. It has been fun just spending time with them each day. They have fun playing with wikki stix, watching movies and most of all...pushing each other around on chairs with wheels...and yes, someone gets hurt everyday while they do that! But it is such a big room that I think those chairs are calling their names!
A couple of days ago, the fire alarm went off. The main system was reading that the fire was in room 801. Since it is a new building, no one knew where that room was, so that we could investigate. I'm getting the girls shoes on so that we can leave if necessary, and people are still saying they don't know where the room is. Kaytlynn, sort of repeating what she is hearing, asks where room 801 is. Delaney answered in a voice that sounded wayyyy tooo put out "I don't know where it is. NO ONE knows where it is....except God. He knows where it is, but He's not telling ANYBODY!
Too cute!
A couple of days ago, the fire alarm went off. The main system was reading that the fire was in room 801. Since it is a new building, no one knew where that room was, so that we could investigate. I'm getting the girls shoes on so that we can leave if necessary, and people are still saying they don't know where the room is. Kaytlynn, sort of repeating what she is hearing, asks where room 801 is. Delaney answered in a voice that sounded wayyyy tooo put out "I don't know where it is. NO ONE knows where it is....except God. He knows where it is, but He's not telling ANYBODY!
Too cute!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Our house update...
I know that I need to update my blog with words of our family vacation, but I wanted to post pics of the vacation as I wrote about it...and since I can't reach the computer that has those photos on it...I will have to post about something out.
So I figured I would post about why I can't reach the computer!!! Our house is a complete MESS. I am soooo happy as to WHY its a mess...but still, it is quite aggravating. I never knew how stressful getting our house done would be. We started with our tile last Tuesday. They worked from 7:30 A M to about 7:30 PM everyday. They took Sunday off and they didn't get finished until last night...(Wednesday)...which means I had 6 strangers laying tile in my house for over a week. But it meant more than that...WE had to move everything...from room to room 3 TIMES....For example...we had to move the living room and kitchen into our dining room...for them to lay the tile...They did it...then we moved the refrigerator, table, couch, etc. back so that they could lay the tile in the dining room...Then we had to move all the original stuff back to the dining room, after the dining room dried, so that they could grout the kitchen, eating area, and living room. Then we had to move all the stuff back for good so that they could move the dining room.
Lets not forget that any shelf had to be emptied, so that they could move the book case, to tile underneath. It took Todd 1 1/2 days to box up all of our shelves in the house...
And the worst parts, you couldn't walk where they had tiled for 24 hours and you couldn't walk where they had grouted until the next morning....and the DUST...I have never seen so much dust. We can't really stay there too long because our eyes and noses and throats fill up with gunk. (Thank you again, Dana, for housing us.)
So you would think I would be happy that they were done. And I was...I went to sleep last night with a smile on my face as Scooba was scrubbing my kitchen floor. I told Todd to have a good day at work as I watched him leave...and about 20 minutes later, as I was about to walk out the door with the girls to go to work...2 men ring my doorbell...and they are there to do the sheet rock. I let them in and they start telling me "this was supposed to be cleaned out." This area needs to be cleaned too. I call Todd...he says "oh, I must have misunderstood". REALLY? So as he is driving home to fix this...The guys keep asking me when he is going to get there. I really could have curled up in a ball and started to cry....I won't even go into the girls not being able to find shoes or socks...because the house was a mess. Some things are better not dwelled upon. :-)
So I figured I would post about why I can't reach the computer!!! Our house is a complete MESS. I am soooo happy as to WHY its a mess...but still, it is quite aggravating. I never knew how stressful getting our house done would be. We started with our tile last Tuesday. They worked from 7:30 A M to about 7:30 PM everyday. They took Sunday off and they didn't get finished until last night...(Wednesday)...which means I had 6 strangers laying tile in my house for over a week. But it meant more than that...WE had to move everything...from room to room 3 TIMES....For example...we had to move the living room and kitchen into our dining room...for them to lay the tile...They did it...then we moved the refrigerator, table, couch, etc. back so that they could lay the tile in the dining room...Then we had to move all the original stuff back to the dining room, after the dining room dried, so that they could grout the kitchen, eating area, and living room. Then we had to move all the stuff back for good so that they could move the dining room.
Lets not forget that any shelf had to be emptied, so that they could move the book case, to tile underneath. It took Todd 1 1/2 days to box up all of our shelves in the house...
And the worst parts, you couldn't walk where they had tiled for 24 hours and you couldn't walk where they had grouted until the next morning....and the DUST...I have never seen so much dust. We can't really stay there too long because our eyes and noses and throats fill up with gunk. (Thank you again, Dana, for housing us.)
So you would think I would be happy that they were done. And I was...I went to sleep last night with a smile on my face as Scooba was scrubbing my kitchen floor. I told Todd to have a good day at work as I watched him leave...and about 20 minutes later, as I was about to walk out the door with the girls to go to work...2 men ring my doorbell...and they are there to do the sheet rock. I let them in and they start telling me "this was supposed to be cleaned out." This area needs to be cleaned too. I call Todd...he says "oh, I must have misunderstood". REALLY? So as he is driving home to fix this...The guys keep asking me when he is going to get there. I really could have curled up in a ball and started to cry....I won't even go into the girls not being able to find shoes or socks...because the house was a mess. Some things are better not dwelled upon. :-)
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