Day 293

Mia’s class performed a musical today in front of class parents and the rest of the 5th grade classes.  It was called “Rats” and was based on The Pied Piper.  Here are the kids doing a musical number.  Mia is front center stage in gray.

Mia was Narrator 1 in the script and as such, she had the most lines.  She barely spent any time at home practicing her lines, so I was leery about how well she would do; but she kept assuring me that she was ready.  She did a fabulous job and looked really calm up on stage, even though she told me she was nervous that morning. By contrast, Narrator 2 (standing next to her in the photo below looked super nervous….he had that deer-in-headlights look and spoke in monotone).  After the play, I told her what a great job she did and that she looked like a natural.  Mia sassily replied, “Mother, I was born to be on stage!”.  LOL.  Actually I thought the kids did a great job all around and it was really fun to watch.  There were a few hiccups (forgotten lines & lyrics, incorrect stage locations, prop malfunctions, etc.) but those just made us parents giggle!

End of finale number!

After the show….with cast mates and her music teacher.

Mia and one of her BFF’s, Jordan.

Day 258

GothGirl’s school hosted their Open House tonight, so we went to meet her teachers and stuff.  After arriving, she took us to her locker first.  This is the same locker that she gets complimented on by other students and teachers due to the coordinating locker accessories and neatness.  Sadly I forgot my camera at home in our haste to get out the door, so these photos were taken with my iPhone.

Next we visited her classrooms.  Here she is showing off one of her projects….

And here’s one of the class art projects for which she did most of the designing and drawing.  Each class had to make a giant “poster” like this using the Book Fair’s “We Read, We Rock!” theme. 

It was a fun night and we enjoyed seeing many of the other kids and parents with whom we were acquainted, though there were so many more families that we had never seen before since this is GothGirl’s first year at the Middle School.

Later that night after the kids were in bed, Crockett and I were watching a movie when Felix decided to check out the screen.  He proceeded to sit down in front of it and bat at the moving figures.  Crazy cat!  We had to move him down several times so that we could see the screen.

Day 257

T is for Tutor.  And R is for Relief. 

I’ve been super stressed lately.  Due to his poor reading skills, LilCrockett is getting pulled out of class for 30 minutes each day into a special reading group.  Each night, he has reading homework, plus any work that his teacher assigns.  I’ve also been working with him in other subjects as well as the need arises.  This requires a 1 to 1-1/2 hour commitment each night.  Picture a squirming, uncooperative, whiny kid sitting next to frustrated, inpatient mom.  It’s torture for both of us.  And it’s not that I don’t feel that he’s worth my time, but more that I don’t feel like I know how to help him. 

Enter our new tutor, who is the daughter of my friend.  Kara is fresh out of college with a teaching degree and even better, she student taught and tutored 1st graders like LilCrockett.  I am so lucky to have found her.  She is going to work with him 2 nights a week for an hour each.

Tonight was her first night and it couldn’t have come at a better time as LilCrockett came home from school today with a D grade on a test and other papers that showed he obviously needed extra help.  I got her started by explaining what we had been working on, telling her what LilCrockett’s teachers had suggested she work on, and showing her his recent papers and tests.  Then I excused myself and they got to work.  I popped in about half way through to see how they were doing and there was my little boy sitting so quietly and diligently working away with her.  I was flabbergasted.  Such a different scene than the two of us working together.  Afterwards, she told me how great he had done, how hard he had worked, and how he even had fun!  Makes my heart sing! 

And I’m happy to say that one of the neighbor girls has offered to help him a couple of times a week too.  I think that he will do really well with both of them as he will work harder and be less whiny than with me.  Between the 3 of us, I really feel like he has a chance to get caught up and stay on top of his schoolwork now.  Such a relief to this mom.  Especially since this is the first I’ve ever had to deal with this issue.  GothGirl was always on the other end of the spectrum…super smart…and school stuff always came easy to her (and it still does). 

Here are the papers that LilCrockett worked on tonight.  I wanted to get a picture of Kara and LilCrockett working together, but I didn’t want to disrupt them on their first night.  Note on the top page how LilCrockett got all of his spelling words right even though the test isn’t until Friday.  He missed 4 of those words on the pre-test just 2 days ago!

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful tutor/student relationship!

Day 251

This morning as GothGirl went outside to wait for the bus, she noticed a little frog resting on the brick ledge on the side of our house.  At first she thought it was part of a wasp’s nest but she soon discovered otherwise.  He was so still that we thought he was dead.  Happily he was not. 

Here he is on the ledge just as she found him…

Down on the sidewalk after the kids had picked him up and let him go…he blends in pretty well.

 

Then this afternoon, the elementary school hosted an Open House/ice cream social.  We ate ice cream sundaes with the kids’ fellow classmates & their parents…

Then we got to go inside to meet LilCrockett’s 1st grade teacher, Ms. Leinberger (darn, it turned out blurry….stupid Rebel camera!)…

and he showed us around his classrooom…

We even got to meet Penelope the Praying Mantis (she’s hanging upside-down in the cage so you can’t see her in the photo).

Afterwards, he showed us the other rooms in the school that he visits at various times in the week.  I enjoyed it because I got to see a lot of GothGirl’s past teachers as well as parents that I know.  By the way, today was picture day at the elementary school so you are seeing LilCrockett’s outfit.  I failed to take one at home before he left for school.

Day 249

LilCrockett’s class was assigned a family project and it was due today.  Each kid received an enlarged paper doll with a picture of their face.  The doll was to be decorated to resemble their desired career choice.  LilCrockett wants to be a policeman, so we got to work with all my papercrafting supplies.  Here’s the finished product…too bad you can’t see some of the detail (a 3-D bill on the hat, embossed silver badges, etc.).

Our last cat, Kenai, had a habit of sleeping up on the cable box near the TV.  Today we caught our new cat, Felix, lounging on the TV stand.  It’s the first time he’s ever gotten up there.  I think he likely would have found the warm cable box too, but there was something sitting on top of the box preventing that.

Day 234

Today is the big day….the first day of school (even though it’s only a half day)!!  My kids were up and dressed early.  This year, LilCrockett (now in 1st grade) is riding the bus without his sister as GothGirl is in 5th grade and a new Middle School-er (who ride the bus with the High School-ers).  GothGirl has lockers for the first time this year and she a lot of time over the summer practicing with her combination lock.  Though she was SUPER excited to go to the Middle School, she was a little nervous too.  This is partly because she doesn’t know what to expect and partly due to the crazy schedule (alternating A- and B-schedule days with different classes on each day).  I told her she was going to be just fine though.

Here are some photos of our morning.

I debated a bit on whether to let LilCrockett keep his mohawk for school, but he loves it and it’s only hair. 

Just before the buses came, the neighbors arrived (they catch the bus at our house) so it was time for a group shot. 

Now for the bus shots!  The girls’ bus arrived first.  I love that they are staggered in this shot so that I can see all 3 of them.

About 5 minutes later, as LilCrockett was getting antsier and antsier, Bus 23 came.

After waiting with them for the bus, I finished getting ready myself and then drove to LilCrockett’s school to meet his teacher and drop off his extra supplies.  I asked him if he just wanted to ride to school with me, but he was excited to ride the bus again after having a summer break.  His bus arrived at the school almost at the same time that I did and we were able to go to his classroom together.  Photos taken with my iPhone.

Here he is in front of the school

Posing with friends in his new classroom.  I had already left the school when I realized I forgot to get a photo of him and his teacher.  Fortunately there is an open house night coming up soon so I’ve gotta remember to get one then.

I had my friend Lisa take this one of LilCrockett and I at his desk before I left to head for work. 

Upon picking up the kids from after care later that day, LilCrockett comes running up to me and says, “Mom, I had the BEST DAY EVER!  We didn’t have to read or anything.  We just played games and stuff!”.  It was really cute.  Here I was thinking at first that he was just loving school, but then my pride was quickly dashed when I figured out that he was just glad they didn’t have to do any schoolwork!  LilCrockett did go on to say that he loved his new teacher and classroom.  GothGirl had a great first day too.  She LOVES Middle School and enjoyed seeing her friends.  She’s looking forward to visiting all of her classes for the first time in the next 2 days.  Ah, to be young again!  I always loved the first day of school too!

Day 143

Tonight was Middle School Orientation night and at the start of the event, the 4th graders were going to sing a song.  The neighbors volunteered to watch LilCrockett so the night would be all about GothGirl.  I opted to take the point and shoot camera as I wasn’t sure how good the lighting would be and if there would be many opportunities for taking photos.  In hindsight, I wish I’d taken my Canon instead as the lighting was great and my point and shoot battery died after taking 2 photos.  Ugh!  It turns out that the kids were on stage longer than I expected too.  They all had to learn how to play the recorder and so they put on a mini concert for us.  Each class got to play a new song and then all 5 classes would play it together.  So, the kids were on stage for a total of 11 songs (10 playing the recorder and 1 singing). 

Here are some pics from my point and shoot and my iphone (which I pulled out when the camera died).  You can barely see GothGirl as she is in the next to last row (wearing a turquoise shirt & wearing glasses).

 

And so you can enjoy their musical talents, I thought I’d post some video.  A first on this blog.

Recorder Fun!

 

Singing Fun!

Cute, huh?!!

After the concert, we heard from the Middle School principal & teachers.  Then we were released to check out the 5th grade classrooms and the rest of the school.  GothGirl pretty much ditched us to pal around with her friends, but we were close on their heels and I made them pose for a picture.  These girls are so excited to start Middle School in the fall.  Me, I’m a little sad that they are growing up so fast.

Day 140

At the end of each school year, the kindergartners learn all about Hawaii and the kids get to do several fun events like pretend flight to Hawaii & a t-shirt painting days.  But the highlight of the year is the Hawaiian luau complete with games, snacks, and crafts.  The kids are split into small groups and they travel to each of the 4 kindergarten classrooms to do different events.  I helped out in LilCrockett’s classroom today and got several breaks to take pictures of him in the other rooms as well.  Because I was working, I didn’t want to lug my big Canon around; so, I had our little point and shoot instead.  Here are just a few from the day. 

 

Day 129

You may recall from a previous post that GothGirl’s team qualified for the State Finals in the Team Quest Academic Challenge.  Today was the final event and it was held 3 hours south of us in Chester, IL (home of Popeye!).  There were events in Engineering, Creativity, Music, Math, Trivia, Teamwork, etc.  Parents can really only watch from afar, but I snapped a few photos throughout the day.  Keep in mind that the event was held in various outbuildings at a country orchard, so the lighting was not very good.  There were 18 teams at the event and sadly, GothGirls' team did not make the top 5.  I wanted to get a team photo at the end, but she was too sad.  Despite not placing, we are VERY proud of her accomplishments.  We love, Sweetie and you will always be our #1.