Smarty Pants!

!!!WARNING! THIS POST IS AN EXTREMEMLY LONG AND GUSHING MOMMY MUSHY POST!!!


Several weeks ago I got an email from E's teacher saying she was going to send home some "critical thinking cards" for her to work on at her own pace, at home. I know that this may have been partly done to try and appease me...I have asked a couple of times when the accelerated programs will be starting, and what (if anything) she is getting in or outside of class to challenge her accademically....I know it's just kindergarten, but goodness-no reason for her to be bored and understimmulated, right?? She gets enough of that at home! :)
Anyway, here is the email she sent:

"I forgot to let you know that I am also going to be sending Emma with some critical
thinking cards and a journal. Each card has a critical thinking activity for you to do in
the journal and return to school. Emma may dictate to you what to write or she may write
the response on her own. It's an at your own pace sort of thing, just return the journal
and cards back to school when you are done with them and I will send a new set. I only do
the cards with students that I feel are ready for the challenge, I find that they are very
useful in tapping into those higher level thinking skills"

I was very excited to see these, and super proud of Miss E for her continued progress this year. The first set of cards that came home are all about crayons. There's a set of cards with questions, and a box of crayons to help with visuals or activities. Some examples are:
-How is a crayon different from a pencil? Make a list.
-Give two reasons why you don't use crayons for most of your school work.
-Choose a color that best matches each of the following words: hot, cold, wet, dry, weak, strong, etc.
Then there are some cards that are more of an "activity" type. Such as:
-Make a long, interesting line using every color in the box.
-Take all of the crayons out of the box and put them in a row. Then put a book on top of the crayons and move the book back and forth. Write a sentence about what you notice.

So, it's not exactly what I expected. But it's something...and it does get her thinking. I told E we would look up how crayons are made. I know I could find a video online. So if nothing else, this opens up new research opportunities!
She'll only sit for a couple at a time, and I'm not pushing, so it's going slow. But maybe I'll post some responses soon.

Anyway, after me all but showing the teach and the principal the link on the Leander ISD site where it states that the PACE program IS offered in Kinder(long story)....Miss E got her official acceptance into the program.




Not that this means anything much. The teacher said she was already pulling material on E's level for her to have during small group reading, and that's basically what this program does. And I know E does get some different material for her small group time. I know she and her teacher had a discussion about compound words the other day when they came across one in the text. E came home and told me about this, and that she was to make a list of 3 compound words to show her teacher the next day. She was very proud to produce 5 words to show!
The teacher also sent home some laminated sheets for us to use after any book, which E seems to enjoy. These I really like. There are three sheets. One with a box to draw your favorite part of the story, then tell why it is your favorite. The second one has an "event map", with boxes to fill in "what happened", "when did it happen?", "how did it happen?", "why did it happen?", "where did it happen?", and "who was involved?".
The last page has three sequencing boxes to draw or write the beginning, middle and end events. I think these are GREAT practice for building comprehension.

Lastly, I'll share some from her report card. She was marked at "above expected level" for both of the first two nine week sessions. She has mastered all of the introduced benchmarks. Was accepted to the PACE program, and has been tested for the QUEST program (these results will be in later this month). She has gone from a "7" reading level (this was tested the first month of school) which is about a mid-first grade level, to a "16", which is late second grade. And the emails and comments from her teacher just encourage all my gushing!





Sorry readers, I know it's long, but I figured I'd go ahead and get it all in one post! :)

Oh, and one more pic of her on stage receiving her award for "Excellence in Language Arts"!

Peter Pan!

The girls and I went to see Peter Pan today at Leander High School. Originally, this was meant to be a special outing for just Miss E and me. But, last minute work plans for J threw Lil' A into the mix. At first I thought we wouldn't go. To begin with, the matinee showing was smack in the middle of her nap time. I know at least some of you have witnessed what demons take over this child if I wake her prematurely...so if I decided to go, it would mean skipping her nap. I went back and forth and didn't commit until about noon. I got some lunch in their bellies, rounded up some snacks and drinks to stash in my purse (at tickets $8 a pop, I wasn't about to spring for concessions!), including a lolli each to have if they got antsy, and we hit the road.
There was quite a line and lots of confusion to even get tickets, but this turned out to be the most trying time of the afternoon. We found some pretty good seats. Everyone else was filling in the middle to have the best view. This very ideally left us some close-ish aisle seats (my first choice, in case we needed a quick exit!). As we settled in, Miss E was getting more and more excited. The band was warming up, she would practically squeal every time she thought the curtain swayed, the lights were dimming...here we go!!!
Oh. My. Goodness. It is the understatement of the year to say that I was impressed. I'll admit, I was surprised at the ticket price. It's a high school play, for goodness sake! No. Thie was a Production. HUGE cast. BIGTIME choreographed dance numbers (I'd put money betting the whole Indian tribe was the dance team-they were GOOD!). AWESOME set. I guess it's been too long since I went to a high school play. Not to give a number, but the last time I went to a high school play...I was IN the play!! :-)
Boy have the times changed. Peter Pan and Wendy and the brothers really FLEW! E's favorite part was the life size crocodile that would slink across the stage after Captain Hock whenever the tick-tock sound played. There was a Tinkerbell shaped light they would bounce around the set and Peter even held her in his hands in the scene where she drank the poison meant for him.
Lil' A thought it was a puppet show. She said more than once that she wanted to go see the puppets! And I totally confused her-at one point the nurse maid was doing a solo dance number between scenes, and A asked who she was. I confused her name with the dog's name...and said, "That's the Nana". Well, she immediately wanted to know where was Pops? Poor girl!
I enjoyed this so much just for myself. I cannot begin to articulate how exciting it was to watch Miss E enjoy this. She never left the edge of her seat. She would bounce up and down to the beat, clap and cheer at the end of each performance, squeal with excitement each time the croc came....she threw her hands to her chest when we thought poor Tinkerbell was sick with poison. I may have watched her just as much as I did the stage. I would choke up and get teary each time I looked at her. I don't know why, really. Maybe because I remember enjoying things like this when I was a kid? I remember going to Casa Manana (sp?), to the Omni for the Nutcracker. I remember those trips as special events that we did with my mom and grandmother, specifically, and now I am the one initiating the outings and building memories with my girls.
I know, it was just a high school play. A far cry from the Omni! But man, it was fun!
Oh, and A did great! She sat in my lap the whole time. Didn't hardly budge. She clapped and cheered whenever we did. And after a small snack at intermission, she promptly passed out for the remainder of the program!! Oh well, still money well spent!
Here is the only picture I got-I think it sums it up well. This is when we were waiting for the play to begin. E is so anxious she can hardly stand it, and A is so overstimulated that E is literally holding her head in place. Enjoy!

Ketchup

Oh. My. Goodness! Here we are again, another month-long lapse from blogging! Believe me, it has not been for lack of activity...but quite the opposite is responsible for my absence. I WILL catch-up. I WILL!!! I plan on blogging a bit on our Christmas events, and I will back date them, to keep some order. So if you're still checking :), you may have to scroll down for new views! :)

...just broccoli, please!

We had pancakes for dinner. (I think this is the title of an Eric Carle book?) Anyway, pancakes for dinner. I scrambled up some yummy eggs for Miss E and me, and just for kicks, asked Miss A if she would like any. Her answer: "No thanks, just broccoli, please!"
So for her sake, let me re-state my first comment. We had pancakes, and broccoli, for dinner. yum?

A's Christmas Program

Weeks and weeks of preparation led up to tonight's event. Two-a-day rehearsals for the kids, plus their regularly scheduled music time, resulted in some burn out, but overall, it went really well. We were up at the church almost an hour early. And to my surprise, we weren't the first ones there! A handful of families had managed to sneak in and already had their seats staked out in the front row! This should have been my first clue at how crazy the night would be. :)
After 45 minutes of running from class to class, checking on line-ups, props, settling wardrobe issues, re-fastening hairbows, and assisting with potty breaks, we were ready to begin.
Getting the 2s up on stage was not a huge deal. Although we rehearse with only half at a time, since there is a Tues/Thurs class and a Wed/Fri class, doubling a number like 10 is not a big adjustment. The sweet little ones sang their first song (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) and waved their gold glitter stars like champs. Miss A waved away! I'm not sure if she sang at all-she was on the very end of the row-but she stayed on stage, and that's all I hoped for!
Now, getting the 3s to join them for the 2nd song is a whooooole 'nother story. Like the 2s, we only rehearse with some of them each day. But for the 3s there's anywhere from 10-13 in a class, AND there are FOUR classes!! Sooo, getting all of them up there in an orderly manner was just not happening. One of the 3s teachers finally decided we were as close as we were going to get to "ready", and yelled out the "One, Two, Three!" cue to begin. Some began, more chimed in after the first "Jingle Bells", and by the end, I promise we had three different songs going! Oh well, live and learn, right!
Oh, the only thing I did notice from A was that she dropped her jingle bells a few lines into the song, and tried in vain to reach them without moving from her spot on the first step. Luckily one of the teachers in the front row saw her and got the bells back to her pretty quickly. She jingled to her hearts content!
Now we're ready for the 4s. Oh man. Twice and many kids means twice as many parents. Twice as many ignoring the "reserved for teachers only" seat signs, and twice as many trying to move in on my territory-one little circle of a spot on the floor, front and center, so all the kids can look to me if they lose place or forget a hand-motion. I had my spot staked out, then decided to stand to check out our line-up at eye level. Make sure none of the kids were totally hidden behind the one in front of them, etc. I stand up for 4 seconds, and start to sit back down, but there's a mom in my spot! Practically sitting on my feet. You have to understand, there was a parent to my left, my right, my back, and anywhere in-between that they could possible squeeze. All armed with video cameras.
I politely tap the head of the mom on my feet and tell her I really need to sit right there...and squeeze back into my spot. Practically in the lap of the person behind me. And so we begin. The kids did great. Thank goodness. I couldn't help with hand motions....I couldn't lift my arms from my side! I was sandwiched in!
Anyway, we made it through then trekked back to the new buildings to show the parents our new rooms. It was a good night.
I'll have to post pictures later-I didn't have my camera so I borrowed the school's digital. I'll burn my pics and post some after the break.
Oh, one comment on Miss E. She saw several friends from her class last year. There are 3 or 4 boys that are at the preschool again, in the "bridge" class, who won't go to Kinder till next year. I left her to visit in their room while I ran around before we started. I would peek in every time I would pass by that room. And every time, I'd see her in the middle of the pack of boys, giggling! blushing! grinning from ear to ear! Hugging their necks! Oh yes, she was eating it up! AND, I learned from one the teachers the next day, that apparently she heard one of the boys ask our E on a date! "Where would they go???" she laughed!

My Sweet Sicky

Poor Miss E! She started complaining of a sore throat last Saturday. Sunday I finally looked, and sure enough her tonsils were huge and had the white pockets. A sure sign of Strep. We got a Rx called in, and thought she was surely on the mend. Back to school on Tuesday, right?
Wrong!
We're on our 4th day home from school today. Tuesday night, I checked her throat because she was still complaining. Usually the antibiotic knocks out the pain by the 2nd day with Strep. I was shocked to see that everything was much worse! A call to the Dr. determined that she needed a stronger prescription. So we were back to ground zero. This morning she's still all swollen up and tonsils look the same as Tuesday night. We just took the 2nd dose, but it's only a three day dose! I'm hoping to see lots of improvement by this afternoon.
Meanwhile, I emailed her teacher and hinted that E would love some Get Well cards if any of her classmates had some free time. That afternoon she sent home a whole folder filled with cards and well wishes with a neighbor boy. E was thrilled! She read them all and went straight off to write a Thank You note. This is what it said:

To mi (she insisted it was better spelled this way) good friends.
Thank you for mi botiful get well cards. Love "E".

How sweet is she???

Wastin' Time

Though I rarely am satisfied with the details, I ask Miss E every afternoon about her day at school. Today she had a "good" day, got "purple" (the top level of the behavior chart), and got "accidentally" kicked in the eye at recess. Then she tells me, "but I just wasted all my time at free centers". Free centers is a free play/imaginative play time they get each afternoon, I think, before packing up to come home. This "wasting time" business didn't sound like a good thing to me, so I asked what she meant by that. She said "I just wanted to write."!
E's teacher has said to me several times before that E has a "passion" for writing. She LOVES to write. Really. She is always writing a letter, a list, an invitation, an idea...anything!
So today at school instead of taking advantage of her free play time, she sat at her desk and wrote her Christmas list, a list of all the boys and girls in her class (with a handmade graph), and charted the weather for the week. And she was VERY proud of her "quality work"! Crazy Kid!
Now just to work on spelling and penmanship.... :)