Thursday, October 6, 2011

Elementary Parent Teacher Conference Report

Elijah is an outspoken and prominent member of the first grade. He is extremely serious about his work, and now that we've introduced goal sheets and the guidelines have been laid out, he is much more comfortable and ready to set about addressing his agenda of productivity. He is very good at catching on to subtleties and has an excellent memory for details and procedures. He is quick to become perturbed and express his dismay with a situation, but accepts consequences when they are explained. Elijah is a strong personality and well-liked, though his attention seems to be directed much more toward his own work and ideas than to connecting with his classmates, whom he sometimes seems to accept as a part of the scenery.

Elijah is a strong reader, and should be encouraged as he extends his skills with books of the appropriate level. We are working on memorizing the addition tables, but he could always use extra practice at home, in the car, or anywhere you have a moment. We are in the process of going over the formation of letters and cementing good habits while we still have a chance. His pencil grip can be awkward, and we are trying to reinforce good habits at school. Elijah can practice this at home as well, perhaps in a journal or daily passage to copy.

***

Hannah continues to work hard and take full advantage of what's offered in the classroom. She is an excellent role model for the younger children, and she takes her responsibility seriously. In the past few years, she has shown increasing interest in activities which allow for artistic expression - both written and visual- but is equally engaged in purely academic pursuits. Hannah is interested in everything we put on her plate; the question always seems to be how she will have time to get everything she wants to (and is assigned to) work on. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and as easily beam with glee over the prospect on an interesting work as she can "shut down" when she feels overwhelmed. In the end, Hannah seems to fully enjoy school and always manages to play the role of responsible student when she needs to.

Hannah is a strong reader, and her always-lagging spelling is still making its slow progress. She has been interested in works about capitalization and punctuation, which has had a good effect on the mechanics of her own writing. We will be writing in cursive by the holidays, so allow her to practice at home. Help Hannah to build up her speed and accuracy with the multiplication facts; we'll use these in our upcoming work with double digit problems, after which we'll have plenty of time to explore division by year's end. Hannah has shown a great deal of talent and interest in both visual arts and written expression, and would always enjoy chances to do more at home

Thursday, September 29, 2011

March 2011

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Hannah made slime out of cornstarch and water for a Brownie badge

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Night School at Montessori - Hannah demonstrates how to figure out speed (distance/time)

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Night School - Leah paints a shamrock

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Night School - Elijah adds (remember, this is kindergarten!)

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The girls enjoy their new hand-me-down water table

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We headed to St. Louis during Spring Break

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We saw the arch (a pretty great picture, if I do say so myself!)

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We enjoyed the museum under the arch

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We didn't enjoy being at the top of the arch as much as I expected... Well, Elijah liked it.

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After starving them by not eating lunch until nearly 2pm, they thought this was the BEST TASTING lunch ever! We were at The Magic House, a children's museum in St Louis

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We met Bob the Builder

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and saw Bob's friends

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pretended to be construction workers

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stood in a bubble

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scooped pretend ice cream

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worked at a bank

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went grocery shopping

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and scooped sand. The Magic House is by far our favorite children's museum... even better than the one in Indy, in our opinion.

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I don't recall the story behind this painting of Hannah's, but I like it!

January and February 2011

So, it's been many moons since I posted anything...  I blame Facebook.



I thought I'd upload some pictures and see what we were doing earlier in the year.


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Trent allows Leah to pet him.


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A new collection of Build-a-Bears

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Elijah being stubborn and attempting to put his pajamas on over his bathrobe...

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All dressed up for church

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Ready for... kindergarten?

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More snow

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Sisterly love

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Trent being Trent


FEBRUARY

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Trent and Leah... again

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Messenger bag I made for Hannah's piano books

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Leah and Riley eating lunch

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Pete brought this home and the kids named it TooDee.

Monday, September 19, 2011

GET THEE BEHIND ME, MR. PIBB!!


When I first moved to Indiana, I ordered my usual Dr. Pepper at a restaurant.  The waitress asked “Is Mr. Pibb okay?”  I was taken completely by surprise by this horrifying question, but I muttered, “I guess so” anyway.
            Let me explain.  Where I come from, the Heartland of America, the Buckle of the Bible Belt, where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plains, good ol’ O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Dr. Pepper IS what we drink.  Sure, there are people like my parents, transplants from Yankee Kansas, who prefer Coke, but Dr. Pepper still reigns supreme. 
            All restaurants in Oklahoma City and Stillwater, where I spent the first 31 years of my life, serve Dr. Pepper.  Even though DP is distributed by Coca-Cola there, restaurants who serve Pepsi drinks also serve Dr. Pepper.   Why?  Imagine this little scenario.

The Good Ol’ Boy family sits down at their local chain restaurant, and their chipper waitress asks, “What would ya’ll like to drink?” 
“Dr. Pepper all around, please!”
“Is Mr. Pibb okay?”
“Um…  I’m sorry, but we’ll have to eat somewhere else”.  Billy Bob Good Ol’ Boy whispers under his breath to his wife, “We’ve got to get out of here!  We can’t expose Junior to these infidels!”

            Yes, it’s true.  If Pepsi serving restaurants didn’t serve Dr. Pepper, they would lose business, probably LOTS of business.  My people are a God fearing people and the thought of Mr. Pibb passing their lips is akin to blasphemy.  So, imagine my surprise and disdain when I was offered the unmentionable Mr. Pibb in my lovely new hometown of Practically-Kentucky, Indiana. 

            In the past 6 years since moving here, I’ve pretty much given up caffeinated soft drinks.  I went in search of my beloved caffeine-free Dr Pepper one day and was unable to find it.  When we visited Oklahoma, it was nowhere to be found.  You must go to Texas, the birthplace of my beloved DP, to find it (though I imagine it might be found in Utah as well…).  So, when my husband went to last year’s Alamo Bowl to see the Oklahoma State Cowboys (GO POKES!!) play, I gave him my wish list of 24 golden cans of caffeine-free Dr Pepper.

            And all God’s children say, “AMEN!”