So tonight, during bedtime, X-man fessed up that he spent recess with his head down on a table in his classroom -- for making a series of bad choices. He earned three checks, he said, so he lost recess privilege. He said he wasn't alone, which doesn't make it any better.
Then he said, "I already have two checks for tomorrow."
I wondered how. "Did you misbehave while waiting for the bus?"
"Yes, but not too bad."
Sigh. Why can't he make good choices? What's a marvel is that he "forgets" what he did to get the checks.
MacTroll insists he was exactly this way. I never was. So I totally don't understand it. It makes me feel like a lousy parent.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Digging to China
Being at home alone has a couple of quirks to workout these days. Namely with Lily. She and I walk every day for around 30 minutes during my two hours of free time. Having her and X-man at the same time is a little difficult. If there were people at the dog park at 1 p.m., I'd take her there, but it's barren, so it seems silly to go. Instead we take little trips around the lake or around Prairie Fields subdivision.
Today, I used up the last of her wet dog food at breakfast and needed to pick up enough to last through the holiday weekend. So when I got home from work, I ate lunch and then I clipped her onto her leash and we walked up the road to Prairieland Feeds. She loved it. There were toys, treats and 12 cans of dog food at the other end, what's not to love.
Then she went to sleep until X-man got home. Later while X-man was chilling out, she and I played fetch with her favorite Chuck E. Cheese ball. Then I let her outside to make dinner... and guess what she did?
Today, I used up the last of her wet dog food at breakfast and needed to pick up enough to last through the holiday weekend. So when I got home from work, I ate lunch and then I clipped her onto her leash and we walked up the road to Prairieland Feeds. She loved it. There were toys, treats and 12 cans of dog food at the other end, what's not to love.
Then she went to sleep until X-man got home. Later while X-man was chilling out, she and I played fetch with her favorite Chuck E. Cheese ball. Then I let her outside to make dinner... and guess what she did?
This:
Monday, August 29, 2011
I Scream, You Scream... We All Scream for -- Literacy
This summer, X-man started to learn how to read. He's got all the words used in pretty much every Dick and Jane book down pat. And they are a sea of sight words. It's all good, until I show him them out of the Dick and Jane context and then he's like, "I don't know."
Dude, watch. I highlight three words from the sight word list that his kindergarten teacher gave us at the Parent Teacher conference and put them in a sentence using Dick and Jane... He reads them. "Oooohhhh!" He says. "Why do they look different when they're by themselves?"
In a context he appears to be great. And really, it's lovely that he has reading comprehension, that is he can totally understand what he's reading and building. And sometimes, when he's tired, he substitutes synonyms for the words he's reading because he understands what's going on in a story.
In response, I went on the hunt for non-Dick and Jane books to insert in our evening reading. Some nights he's killer and other nights he's so tired, he just stares at the letter "a" in a sentence and repeats, "said" over and over again. I ask, "What's that letter?" He snaps to attention. "A." "Oooohhhhh."
Seriously, Dude, I think we need to read earlier in the day. "Noooooo!"
Anyway, each night X-man brings home a folder from his teacher. Tonight was a "sample" homework night. It really wasn't homework. It was a half sheet of paper where I had to have a conversation with X-man about what he enjoyed about school that day. Since we have that conversation over dinner or after-school snack pretty much every day, it was not out of the ordinary. But I did have to sign my initials that we did it and have him take it back tomorrow. We'll see what he brings home tomorrow for homework.
In addition, he's been getting a lot of reading based fliers lately. One is a reading incentive program through Fazoli's. If he reads 5 books on his own, we write down the titles and turn them into his teacher to sign off on and then she gives him his certificate to take into Fazoli's for a free kid's meal. The catch, of course, is that it has to be with purchase of an adult entree. But since he'd never go by himself, I guess that makes sense. And, as it turns out, Lightning McColin is a fan Fazoli's so we'll be making that dinner playdate soon. :-) Today, he got another coupon for another restaurant -- Texas Roadhouse. But this one, he only had to write down his favorite book and color a sheet and turn it in for his free meal with the purchase of an adult entree. We don't really eat at Texas Roadhouse. I think I had it once in Manassas, Va. But he thought maybe, since they had steaks his Dad could take him there for lunch next week when they have early dismissal on Sept. 9th.
I thought that was a pretty marvelous idea.
In addition to the coupon, we also got a reading log to fill out. I'm not sure if it's just supposed to be books that X-man reads or if it should include books I read to him. The form has "type of reading" so I've just devised "X-man reads to Mom" and "Mom reads to X-man." I figure MacTroll can write in his own name, but since he's not here this week, it works. :-) He gets the form on Mondays and we have to return it on Fridays. It lists all the items we read and when.
X-man also had his first trip to visit Ms. Cahill in the library today. He checked out a book that he looked over on the bus. When he got home, I asked him if he wanted me to read it to him. He said, "I think it's too scary from the pictures." And I have to agree, the illustrations are rather creepy, but I'll read the story tonight and see if he'll be okay. Instead, I handed him his new Lego Club Jr. magazine, and he and I read that and went through the puzzles. Then he insisted on filling out the survey about the redesign of the magazine and putting it in the mailbox, just in case he was one of the three children returning it that might win $50 to the Lego store. He's got his eye on some Ninjago sets...
I am scheduled to shelve books at the Carrie Busey school library from 1-dismissal on Mondays starting on Sept. 19th. I'll be in there when X-man's class has library time. I'm curious to see how that will go.
But I was also surprised when Ms. Cahill remembered my name from the Books by the Bushel event last year. It's where librarians and teachers give the Junior League a wish list of books they'd like for their school and people go into Barnes and Noble and purchase the books as donations and get to dedicate their purchases to people.
Tomorrow, I'll be at the Tolono Public Library twice. Once to drop off the book drop books, and once to take X-man to the "Paws to Read" program from 4-5 p.m. He's going to sit down with a dog and read the dog a book. I saved a Dick and Jane for this one, just so he doesn't get nervous. He also usually has me hold the book and move my finger to the words, so we'll have to see if he's ready to do it on his own.
As it turns out, in my own classroom nothing brought my students together more than a teacher sitting on the floor with a book in her hands. They all sat so nicely as Ms. Rachel and I shared stories with them. My favorite part of the day, though, was when we were reading the "You are Brave" book and we got to the part where it talks about how children are brave when they are able to hold insects gently and I busted out my plastic insect collection and handed the insects out. The kids all put them in the palms of their hands like the illustration showed and cooed at them as if they were babies. It was adorable. Then when I finished the book. I got them out magnifying glasses and they all sat around this little bin of bugs and examined all the different kinds.
At that point, of course, a parent showed up, and her child ran up to her beaming with two insects in his hands. It made me smile. Just wait until I can find them some real bugs. :-)
Dude, watch. I highlight three words from the sight word list that his kindergarten teacher gave us at the Parent Teacher conference and put them in a sentence using Dick and Jane... He reads them. "Oooohhhh!" He says. "Why do they look different when they're by themselves?"
In a context he appears to be great. And really, it's lovely that he has reading comprehension, that is he can totally understand what he's reading and building. And sometimes, when he's tired, he substitutes synonyms for the words he's reading because he understands what's going on in a story.
In response, I went on the hunt for non-Dick and Jane books to insert in our evening reading. Some nights he's killer and other nights he's so tired, he just stares at the letter "a" in a sentence and repeats, "said" over and over again. I ask, "What's that letter?" He snaps to attention. "A." "Oooohhhhh."
Seriously, Dude, I think we need to read earlier in the day. "Noooooo!"
Anyway, each night X-man brings home a folder from his teacher. Tonight was a "sample" homework night. It really wasn't homework. It was a half sheet of paper where I had to have a conversation with X-man about what he enjoyed about school that day. Since we have that conversation over dinner or after-school snack pretty much every day, it was not out of the ordinary. But I did have to sign my initials that we did it and have him take it back tomorrow. We'll see what he brings home tomorrow for homework.
In addition, he's been getting a lot of reading based fliers lately. One is a reading incentive program through Fazoli's. If he reads 5 books on his own, we write down the titles and turn them into his teacher to sign off on and then she gives him his certificate to take into Fazoli's for a free kid's meal. The catch, of course, is that it has to be with purchase of an adult entree. But since he'd never go by himself, I guess that makes sense. And, as it turns out, Lightning McColin is a fan Fazoli's so we'll be making that dinner playdate soon. :-) Today, he got another coupon for another restaurant -- Texas Roadhouse. But this one, he only had to write down his favorite book and color a sheet and turn it in for his free meal with the purchase of an adult entree. We don't really eat at Texas Roadhouse. I think I had it once in Manassas, Va. But he thought maybe, since they had steaks his Dad could take him there for lunch next week when they have early dismissal on Sept. 9th.
I thought that was a pretty marvelous idea.
In addition to the coupon, we also got a reading log to fill out. I'm not sure if it's just supposed to be books that X-man reads or if it should include books I read to him. The form has "type of reading" so I've just devised "X-man reads to Mom" and "Mom reads to X-man." I figure MacTroll can write in his own name, but since he's not here this week, it works. :-) He gets the form on Mondays and we have to return it on Fridays. It lists all the items we read and when.
X-man also had his first trip to visit Ms. Cahill in the library today. He checked out a book that he looked over on the bus. When he got home, I asked him if he wanted me to read it to him. He said, "I think it's too scary from the pictures." And I have to agree, the illustrations are rather creepy, but I'll read the story tonight and see if he'll be okay. Instead, I handed him his new Lego Club Jr. magazine, and he and I read that and went through the puzzles. Then he insisted on filling out the survey about the redesign of the magazine and putting it in the mailbox, just in case he was one of the three children returning it that might win $50 to the Lego store. He's got his eye on some Ninjago sets...
I am scheduled to shelve books at the Carrie Busey school library from 1-dismissal on Mondays starting on Sept. 19th. I'll be in there when X-man's class has library time. I'm curious to see how that will go.
But I was also surprised when Ms. Cahill remembered my name from the Books by the Bushel event last year. It's where librarians and teachers give the Junior League a wish list of books they'd like for their school and people go into Barnes and Noble and purchase the books as donations and get to dedicate their purchases to people.
Tomorrow, I'll be at the Tolono Public Library twice. Once to drop off the book drop books, and once to take X-man to the "Paws to Read" program from 4-5 p.m. He's going to sit down with a dog and read the dog a book. I saved a Dick and Jane for this one, just so he doesn't get nervous. He also usually has me hold the book and move my finger to the words, so we'll have to see if he's ready to do it on his own.
As it turns out, in my own classroom nothing brought my students together more than a teacher sitting on the floor with a book in her hands. They all sat so nicely as Ms. Rachel and I shared stories with them. My favorite part of the day, though, was when we were reading the "You are Brave" book and we got to the part where it talks about how children are brave when they are able to hold insects gently and I busted out my plastic insect collection and handed the insects out. The kids all put them in the palms of their hands like the illustration showed and cooed at them as if they were babies. It was adorable. Then when I finished the book. I got them out magnifying glasses and they all sat around this little bin of bugs and examined all the different kinds.
At that point, of course, a parent showed up, and her child ran up to her beaming with two insects in his hands. It made me smile. Just wait until I can find them some real bugs. :-)
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Kings, Knights and Magicians
X-man was supposed to go to the Airshow in Charleston with MacTroll yesterday, but because he had a roll of awful behavior on Friday night he lost that privilege and spent yesterday pretty much in his room. When I came back from completing my 5k on Saturday morning, there was a letter of apology written to me on the dining room table. X-man had decided that his big kid paper didn't have enough space for everything he wanted to say, so he dictated his message to MacTroll and then MacTroll printed it out in a font that made the letters out of dots and X-man sat down and used a pencil to connect the letters and sentences.
So, when MacTroll woke up this a.m. and had issues getting off the pot, I snatched my boy up, threw him in the car and drove to Danville (which I'm sure makes SuperShanna proud). Why Danville?
Today was the second day of the Illinois Renaissance Fair. We showed up right in time for the starting ceremonies. The trick was that my child had no idea where he was going. It was a surprise. So when he pulled up and saw a knight on a horse he flipped out!
"Mom! Mom! Mom! It's a -- It's a -- What is that KNIGHT doing there?"
Then we got out of the car and ran over where a woman played a set of bag pipes and lead out the king and queen. "Are they really king and queen?"
I explained they were acting.
"Like a play? Do I get to dress up? I want to be a knight, too."
We went in and found a LOT of girls dressed up as princesses and maidens, but not a lot of complete boy dress up options. X-man skipped the wizard's hat, but what he did not miss out on was the bamboo bow and arrow set for kids. The arrow part is made of cloth and foam, so it doesn't hurt. He shot it a few times and then hung the bow around his shoulder "like Green Arrow."
Then he saw the area where they taught kids how to duel...Again with the foam swords and shields. Kids had to follow the rules of not hitting heads or groins (a word I had to explain). If you were struck in an arm, that meant you lost the arm and had to drop what was in your hand and put it behind your back. If you were struck in a leg, you had to kneel. Get two appendages cut off and you were dead. A strike in the back, chest, stomach or butt and you were dead... X-man spent an hour and fifteen minutes out of the three hours we were there either watching big kids duel or dueling himself. He had a great time dueling with a grandfather who we knew from Savoy.
It was a nice, quiet fair. It was very affordable and there was a lot of entertainment. There were about eight different stages that had something going on every 30 minutes. We watched some grown ups duel with real swords and learned about some of the dueling techniques. We watched a magic show. We saw two knights (including a female knight!) do a round of jousting. We ate a plain pretzel and shared a lemon shake up and went around finding folks with blue bows on their shirts who were carrying little prizes for the kids (pirate patches, rings, slide whistles, etc.). We listened to singers. Then, he took me to the stockade, where he gave a quarter to the woman and announced that his mom was buying 3 water balloons, but he didn't want me to throw them at the teenager for their fundraiser, he wanted me to throw them at him, because he was hot and wanted to get wet.
I soaked him using all three and then asked him if he wanted more. Because really, when does a mom get to pelt her son, who is imprisoned in the stocks, with water balloons any more?
X-man really liked the Fair, but he said he wished his Dad had come with, so they could have dueled as a team. We'll have to go back again next year. Maybe then we'll dress X-man up like a knight!
So, when MacTroll woke up this a.m. and had issues getting off the pot, I snatched my boy up, threw him in the car and drove to Danville (which I'm sure makes SuperShanna proud). Why Danville?
Today was the second day of the Illinois Renaissance Fair. We showed up right in time for the starting ceremonies. The trick was that my child had no idea where he was going. It was a surprise. So when he pulled up and saw a knight on a horse he flipped out!
"Mom! Mom! Mom! It's a -- It's a -- What is that KNIGHT doing there?"
Then we got out of the car and ran over where a woman played a set of bag pipes and lead out the king and queen. "Are they really king and queen?"
I explained they were acting.
"Like a play? Do I get to dress up? I want to be a knight, too."
We went in and found a LOT of girls dressed up as princesses and maidens, but not a lot of complete boy dress up options. X-man skipped the wizard's hat, but what he did not miss out on was the bamboo bow and arrow set for kids. The arrow part is made of cloth and foam, so it doesn't hurt. He shot it a few times and then hung the bow around his shoulder "like Green Arrow."
Then he saw the area where they taught kids how to duel...Again with the foam swords and shields. Kids had to follow the rules of not hitting heads or groins (a word I had to explain). If you were struck in an arm, that meant you lost the arm and had to drop what was in your hand and put it behind your back. If you were struck in a leg, you had to kneel. Get two appendages cut off and you were dead. A strike in the back, chest, stomach or butt and you were dead... X-man spent an hour and fifteen minutes out of the three hours we were there either watching big kids duel or dueling himself. He had a great time dueling with a grandfather who we knew from Savoy.
It was a nice, quiet fair. It was very affordable and there was a lot of entertainment. There were about eight different stages that had something going on every 30 minutes. We watched some grown ups duel with real swords and learned about some of the dueling techniques. We watched a magic show. We saw two knights (including a female knight!) do a round of jousting. We ate a plain pretzel and shared a lemon shake up and went around finding folks with blue bows on their shirts who were carrying little prizes for the kids (pirate patches, rings, slide whistles, etc.). We listened to singers. Then, he took me to the stockade, where he gave a quarter to the woman and announced that his mom was buying 3 water balloons, but he didn't want me to throw them at the teenager for their fundraiser, he wanted me to throw them at him, because he was hot and wanted to get wet.
I soaked him using all three and then asked him if he wanted more. Because really, when does a mom get to pelt her son, who is imprisoned in the stocks, with water balloons any more?
X-man really liked the Fair, but he said he wished his Dad had come with, so they could have dueled as a team. We'll have to go back again next year. Maybe then we'll dress X-man up like a knight!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
There's More Than One Michelle in Chambana
It's a news flash, I know. But this morning I sought out my Green Flame Energy team tent at the Car-X Crazy K event, but no one was there. I knew I was the first to run, but the web site said to be there an hour and a half before the race. So, there I was with my bag sitting underneath our orange tent with green pom poms taped to it when a guy in the white tent next to ours said, "Are you part of Michelle's team?"
"Why yes," I answered.
"I wonder if she's going to be here because her grandmother in Florida was having trouble."
"She put on Facebook this morning that she'd see our team here."
"I hope that means her grandmother is better," the guy said.
We started chatting and then there were some things that dawned on me. None of these people were wearing the safety orange shirts nor did they have green hair. Hmmmm, Michelle's a pretty active person, maybe she had more than 10 people e-mail and want to be part of her team. Oh well, we chatted and chatted about these people from Watseka. And I kept looking over my shoulder for someone with a costume that matched mine. When I finally saw someone, I thanked them for hanging with me and then I went to meet Michelle and Prudence at our tent. I noticed Michelle didn't say hello to the other people. She didn't even look in their general direction.
"Weird," I thought.
And then it occurred to me. Two entirely different Michelles, and I'd just spent an hour hanging out with total strangers thinking they were the strangers I hadn't met on my team... What's worse is that I talked about living a few blocks from Michelle and teaching at her son's pre-school and going to the same gym, but no one corrected me. I was totally just this random crazy lady with green hair making small talk with a bunch of social workers.
DOH!
The good news was that my foot held up. I did have to walk half of it, but that was mostly due to the fact that I haven't been running outside and the heat than it had anything to do with my foot. It was sore, but it wasn't killing me. My calves did protest though. Since most of the people were walking by mile 1.5 and they were dishing up HOT water at the water stations, there just wasn't any way to cool down. I was thirsty when I started, mostly because I'd spent 1.5 hours (their suggested arrival time) sitting in the shade under a tree and then another 30 minutes in the sun waiting to start.
"Why yes," I answered.
"I wonder if she's going to be here because her grandmother in Florida was having trouble."
"She put on Facebook this morning that she'd see our team here."
"I hope that means her grandmother is better," the guy said.
We started chatting and then there were some things that dawned on me. None of these people were wearing the safety orange shirts nor did they have green hair. Hmmmm, Michelle's a pretty active person, maybe she had more than 10 people e-mail and want to be part of her team. Oh well, we chatted and chatted about these people from Watseka. And I kept looking over my shoulder for someone with a costume that matched mine. When I finally saw someone, I thanked them for hanging with me and then I went to meet Michelle and Prudence at our tent. I noticed Michelle didn't say hello to the other people. She didn't even look in their general direction.
"Weird," I thought.
And then it occurred to me. Two entirely different Michelles, and I'd just spent an hour hanging out with total strangers thinking they were the strangers I hadn't met on my team... What's worse is that I talked about living a few blocks from Michelle and teaching at her son's pre-school and going to the same gym, but no one corrected me. I was totally just this random crazy lady with green hair making small talk with a bunch of social workers.
DOH!
The good news was that my foot held up. I did have to walk half of it, but that was mostly due to the fact that I haven't been running outside and the heat than it had anything to do with my foot. It was sore, but it wasn't killing me. My calves did protest though. Since most of the people were walking by mile 1.5 and they were dishing up HOT water at the water stations, there just wasn't any way to cool down. I was thirsty when I started, mostly because I'd spent 1.5 hours (their suggested arrival time) sitting in the shade under a tree and then another 30 minutes in the sun waiting to start.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Big Day
Tomorrow MMO opens for children and their parents to meet their teachers any time between 8:30 and noon. My co-teacher and I have spent the last three weeks getting ready for class. We have a class plan for next week, but failed to get planning done past that. But that's what e-mail is made for, right? A lot of our planning is actually dependent on the kids right now. The current project approach theme is: All About Us. So, um, we have to find out about them before we can make detailed plans.
On Monday, class starts. I've got the welcome/circle time all worked out. And there's going to be a lot of interviewing and picture taking, as well as plenty of time for the kids to get acquainted with the room. My students are all turning 3 between September and July of next year. So we don't get to go on field trips, but I'll be seeing how many folks I can have come to the classroom to make up for the fact that we can't travel.
I am so excited to meet all of my students and their parents!
By the way, if you're interested in checking out MMO, we're having an open house on Tuesday, Sept. 20th from 5-6 p.m. You can drop by and check us out. I'm in the clownfish room on the second floor in the middle of the hallway on the left.
On Monday, class starts. I've got the welcome/circle time all worked out. And there's going to be a lot of interviewing and picture taking, as well as plenty of time for the kids to get acquainted with the room. My students are all turning 3 between September and July of next year. So we don't get to go on field trips, but I'll be seeing how many folks I can have come to the classroom to make up for the fact that we can't travel.
I am so excited to meet all of my students and their parents!
By the way, if you're interested in checking out MMO, we're having an open house on Tuesday, Sept. 20th from 5-6 p.m. You can drop by and check us out. I'm in the clownfish room on the second floor in the middle of the hallway on the left.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Foot Doctor
I finally got a referral appointment to go see a podiatrist. The first one that was available during a "convenient" time was Oct. 6, so I guess that's when I'm going. :-) We'll see if I need orthotics or not. As it goes, I seem to be walking around fine (minus the first four minutes after I get up). And I'm great in the pool, on the bike and doing the Nike Training workouts. The elliptical also works (but is boring as all get out), but running outside and the treadmill tend to cause pain, so I'm avoiding.
In other news, I'm participating in a charity event this Saturday at the County Fairgrounds and Crystal Lake Park. It's one of those 5k romp in the mud things called CrazyK. I'm doing it as part of a team with a friend/neighbor of mine and 8 of her other friends. We'll have a team tent and bright orange shirts and green hairsprayed hair. I am happy in the fact that it's for charity, so I feel no need to go fast, just to have fun.
Because that's the point, right?
At the same time X-man and MacTroll are going to head down to Charleston/Mattoon to check out the airshow. And then Saturday is Parent Date Night at the Recreation Center. We were going to go see Harry Potter, finally, but the times don't work, so we'll have to check out something else.
In other news, I'm participating in a charity event this Saturday at the County Fairgrounds and Crystal Lake Park. It's one of those 5k romp in the mud things called CrazyK. I'm doing it as part of a team with a friend/neighbor of mine and 8 of her other friends. We'll have a team tent and bright orange shirts and green hairsprayed hair. I am happy in the fact that it's for charity, so I feel no need to go fast, just to have fun.
Because that's the point, right?
At the same time X-man and MacTroll are going to head down to Charleston/Mattoon to check out the airshow. And then Saturday is Parent Date Night at the Recreation Center. We were going to go see Harry Potter, finally, but the times don't work, so we'll have to check out something else.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)