Midterm Grades

This morning was my turn to volunteer in the classroom. The children are learning about pumpkins this week so that is what their book was about during story time.  I was assigned the blue table with my group. Veronica was absent so it was just Levi, Kyler, Bianca, and Armando. As it turns out, four kids were more than enough today!

Our assignment was to roll a die and take a block of that shape (on the die) and put it into our hexagon on our sheet. There were three hexagons and they all had to be different, made up of what each child rolled. It was an interesting game. Once they had the three filled in then they could select colored paper shapes to glue in to the hexagon below to chart what they had done. After that they could put their blocks back and then color in the top row with crayons to match the bottom row.

The Hexagon Game on the left, a pumpkin puzzle on the right.

Armando and Levi got theirs done quickly so afterwards they used other guide sheets to put the blocks on to keep them occupied while the remaining kids finished up. Armando jumped up at one point and ran over to the fish tank, lifted the lid and threw something inside. I went over and couldn't tell what it was, but it was floating, so I alerted Ms Houchin and she fished (ha) it out and we saw that it was a cardboard tube of some kind. I don't even know where he had picked it up since he had been in his seat working on his project.

One of the other groups were on a mission to study pumpkins so they had left the classroom to go outside (I think they were testing to see if a pumpkin would float in a puddle). Armando pulled up his sleeve and showed me a scratch. I told him it looked ok but he could show Ms  Houchin when she got back. He jumped up and ran off. I took chase and he made it half way to the front office before I was able to get his attention and turn him around for the classroom. I think he was running for the school nurse but it was nothing that needed medical attention so I told him to go sit down. He is bilingual and I am not for sure how well he understands me which can be frustrating.

When the kids had completed their game-boards they were to write their name at the top and then put it in their mailbox. Following that they take a seat on the rug for another story while the other groups are cleaning up for lunch time. The kids are released one group at a time to seek out their name tag (if eating the cafeteria lunch) or lunch boxes and jackets. Then they stand in line and head out for lunch.

It's an hour that goes by in a flash.

* * * *

Today Levi had a lot of interesting things in his backpack. Having a child in school is almost like having another mailbox. You never know when there will be a "good mail-day." Today was one of those days.

It was pouring rain at 2:30 when I went to pick him up. He hopped in the car and says to Ellie and me, "I checked out my first book from the classroom library, and I think it is one that you two will really enjoy."  He also said he had read it in school so I was curious to see what he picked out.

Upon our arrival at home the kids sprinted inside and were about to start playing when I reminded Levi that he hadn't shown me what was in his backpack yet! He happily obliged me. We sat on the sofa and he pulled out artwork and other projects from school.

The book he brought home was called The Airplane. The paperwork with it suggests that you read it to your child and then have your child read it to a family member. Levi said I didn't need to read it to him,  he would just read it to me. He did perfectly.

He had a book that he had put together that told the story about the growth of a pumpkin. From seed to jack-o-lantern and on each of the pages he had written the word "the" and added an element.

I was not expecting to see was his midterm progress report, and that was a fun surprise!  I was very proud to see that he scored Excellent and Satisfactory in all 11 areas (listed below.) There was also a nice comment from his teacher.

1.  +  Shows respect for other's property
2.  +  Cooperates with others
3.  +  Participates in group activities
4.  ✓  Assumes responsibility
5.  ✓  Works independently
6.  ✓  Pays attention and follows directions
7.  ✓  Adequate attention span
8.  ✓  Completes work within a reasonable time
9.  ✓  Works neatly
10.  +  Works at grade level
11.   +  Performs well on skills tests

Teacher comments: "Levi is such a bright, eager student. He loves learning and sharing his knowledge. Levi is very creative which his classmates enjoy. He is such a delight."

Key + = excellent
        ✓ = satisfactory
        I = shows improvement
        N = needs improvement
        W = work is too difficult.

Thoughts from a child

Driving this evening we went past a house with a lot of political yard signs. Levi wanted to know why that house had so many signs in the yard. I told him those were political signs, it appeared as though that house was Republican, they were supporting Romney and they wanted everyone to know who they were voting for. Levi sat back in his seat and after some thought replied, "well I am voting for Obama." I was pretty proud of him for putting it all together and knowing who was running against Romney.

When we got to the gas station Ellie thought she had seen Oma's car. Levi, exasperated, says to her "That is not Oma's car unless she got another boyfriend." (rolling eyes) I laughed so hard I had to call my mom to tell her all about it.

In the evenings after dinner we have been spending about an hour (what we have of daylight) and walking the neighborhood to try and sell popcorn for the school fundraiser. It has been fun to meet our neighbors and talk with them a little. Levi is outgoing and enjoys talking to everyone and explaining all about the promotion. He sold $267 worth of popcorn, with an additional $10 in donations from people who didn't eat popcorn but who still wanted to support the cause.

Just another day in Kindergarten

Today I attended class as a volunteer. That means I take on about six kids for an hour during the morning while they have a learning time. Monday is my day to go in and although I missed last week (Levi was sick), I appreciate the opportunity to be involved and get to know the other kids.

Ellie gets to go along since she is old enough to either play alone or participate. When we got there they were out to recess, so Ellie explored the play area. The box castle was a new addition. 

The kids got back within minutes of our arrival. They line up at the door and then come in single file, taking turns at the water fountain before finding their spot on the rug. Then Ms Houchin reads them a story from a book that has the same theme as the rest of their projects for the week, before breaking into groups for individual projects, or "jobs." When the book is small she will project it onto a screen so all the kids can see it well. Ellie went and sat next to Levi today and put her arm around him, it was just so cute. I wish I had taken a photo of it.

Levi was in the Yellow group and I recognized most of the kids in his group. Armando, Bianca, Valerie and Yvette. One boy, Kyler, was absent today. Since it was a four-day week (no school Friday) there was an extra kid in the group that wasn't there last time, Dominique.  Usually there are five groups of children and five stations for a five-day week.

Ms Houchin plans out different activities for each station and then as the week goes by the groups of kids are rotated through each of the stations. This week the theme is castles, so the book was about castles. Colors and shapes are used throughout the stations in different capacities. 

Our first activity was BINGO with colors and shapes. I passed out the boards to each child, and this time Ellie wanted to participate also. Each child was given eight red circles, which Valerie told me were called "tokens." Then I held up a card and said what the color and shape was. If the child had that on their bingo card they could use a token to mark it and when they got them all they could say BINGO. Ellie actually got a lucky card and was the first one out.  We kept going until all the kids had their Bingo. I should have asked if they wanted to play again because that didn't last very long. I will know better for next time to try and maximize the activity.

The second activity was a shape necklace. There were precut shapes in all colors and the kids could choose one of each shape for their necklace. Then they got to use a hole punch on the shape to make the hole for the yarn for their necklace. This didn't take very long either, even though we all had to share the hole punches since there were only three. 

For the third activity there was a coloring exercise in which the kids had to color in their picture using a guide on the table. Red = circle, yellow = rectangle, green = square and blue = triangle. They had enough time to do two pictures, some of the faster ones even did three.

After that it was time to wash their hands and get in line for lunch. The kids with a packed lunch retrieved it from their cubby and the ones who ate from the cafeteria got their name tag from the box with their lunch account number on it.

It was a fun morning and seemed to go pretty well. There were two other adults helping out this morning in addition to myself and Ms. Houchin. 

Kindergarten Art

Here are some of the projects Levi has done in Kindergarten lately. 

This nameplate is hanging on the ceiling in the classroom.  It is a collage of numerous objects. Paper, noodles, buttons, etc.

This grouping is on one of the bulletin boards in the hallway. Can you find Levi? I couldn't fit the whole board in the frame.

 Here is a close-up of Levi's project. Complete with hands and feet and reddish hair.

Here is the other bulletin board. All the kids are in the castle. 

 Levi's likeness. 

Third Week of School: Wednesday & Thursday

This is color week in Levi's Kindergarten class. Wednesday was RAINBOW DAY.

A letter was sent home that encouraged the following:

1. Send in a piece of fruit in a rainbow color so the class could make a rainbow salad. He wanted red fruit, and since strawberries are not really in season he picked out 4# of red grapes.

2. Bring a picture of a rainbow. I found a book that had a rainbow in it so I sent that in with him (with the page marked) and later Levi told me that Ms Houchin read a part of the book to the class.

3. Wear rainbow colors on that day. Levi has a shirt with a rainbow on it so he was excited to wear it. Ellie joined in by wearing her rainbow horse shirt.

He came home from school with tons of stuff! He had made a book about colors and numbers, and a rainbow wind sock.  The photos I took were somehow corrupted so I had to take new ones on Thursday, which explains the clothing change.

The windsock is really neat. Ellie tries to wear it on her head like some kind of princess hat. The book has a number and object of color on each page. Below is an example of one of the pages.

Levi drew and colored all the objects written on the page. He did a nice job.

Thursday was BLACK & WHITE day so Levi brought home this super-sized artwork of a skunk.

He continues to love school and usually eats lunch at the cafeteria instead of packing a lunch. The other day it was meatloaf, and I wasn't entirely sure what that meant so I packed him a lunch. He came home and told me "The meatloaf is chicken that they make really hard and it looks great!"

Sometimes Ellie will pose for photos and sometimes she won't. Levi has so much going on right now with school I am trying to find other special things for her to do.

Second week of school: Thursday

The first thing he does when he gets to school, is to put his backpack in his cubby. He played with pegs and they slid down the funnel tube. Then he played with Legos that are like Transformers. The morning snack was crackers - circled crackers. (Sounds like it might have been Ritz). Then Levi made tickets during choice time for the big talent show he is planning for Sunday morning at 11 am. He informs me that he will wake me up at 6 AM so I can get dressed. After that was clean-up time.

Lunch was bean/beef and cheese burritos. Levi says his favorite tortilla was dried out, and it was great. From what I gather is it sounds like it was a chimichanga, like a fried burrito. Also included was 2 pea pods and he ate both. There was also watermelon (his FAVORITE fruit in the whole wide world).  He chose chocolate milk to drink, like he does every day.

The children did not go outside for recess today due to the air quality. There is a lot of smoke and ash in the air from local fires.

After lunch time one group watched a kids' movie about a little chick who takes a walk and all sorts of things happen to it. Levi was not in that group. His group then watched a movie about three colors - red, blue, and yellow.

Today Levi made three new friends: Lily Singer, Elijah, and another boy whose name he doesn't remember. They were calling him by name and saying goodbye to him today when I picked him up.

This is a note we got today from his teacher:
"Levi is such a wonderfully creative boy.  He loves learning new things and always has something to add to the discussions.  He enjoys his classmates, and has made some great playing partners."

Tomorrow Levi has Dragon Drills and Library.

First week: Thursday

Today Levi tried out the cafeteria food for the first time. He said it was very good (Cheese Quesadilla, Steamed Rice, Baby Carrots, Garbanzo Beans, Watermelon, Milk) and was quite excited to find out that they had TWO kinds of milk - regular and chocolate. He said he spent so much time eating that he didn't realize that his class had gone out to recess and by the time he got outside they blew the whistle to come in. 

He reported that he was so quiet during quiet time that he earned a Star and a Hershey's Kiss and the class with the most stars at the end will win a trophy. 

Here are the projects he worked on today.  A Raccoon puppet and a school house that opens up with objects on the inside. He is learning how to use scissors and glue, and continued that trend after he got home. We had a big project that took over the kitchen table,  he and Ellie both enjoying craft time.

First week: Wednesday

Things seem to be going fairly well however today he did have to sit in a chair for awhile as a punishment for touching the electronics.

The school bus and cowboy were homework from the first day. However they never came out of his  backpack and he brought them home again so maybe they were just additional projects for fun.

Today's crafts were a sheep and school objects and a crayon (below)

He sure comes home with some cute stuff. I am hoping a photograph will be sufficient for his memories as I honestly can't see myself holding onto all of this stuff for life. Am I the only one who feels that way?  I feel guilty for not being more sentimental but the reality is we have a very small house and not much space to store things. If he is going to make 2+ crafts a day that will add up too fast!

Levi's take on Kindergarten

We picked up Levi at 11:20 this morning. As we got to the classroom the students were all lined up at the door to go to the cafeteria for lunch. Mrs. Houchin saw us and let Levi know that we were here. He had his backpack and jacket and was ready to go. The first thing he said to us was "I want to stay for the whole day tomorrow!" Mrs. Houchin noted that there were no problems and he had a great first day.

We had gotten a check in the mail today for about $9 from the guy who stole our motorcycle last year. He is slowly paying us back for the deductible. So we used that to take Levi out for ice cream.

Levi said he had done some coloring and made a book and played on the playground (he played on the slide and pretended to be a fire fighter). He showed us his book while we were at the bank. He read it to us. He had written an "I" on all the pages in the right spot. On the back cover he had written his name in true Levi fashion, all in caps except for the i which had a big round circle for the dot.  Levi said the rule in the classroom was that the teacher used the stapler, although he had cut the pages, colored and put it together.

When we asked him if he made any new friends he said "Yes, a boy that has the same shoes that I do at home." He did not remember his name, but maybe it was Andrew. He said he also saw Thomas or Taylor during recess, but wasn't sure which one, who followed him around. He asked him why he was following him and Thomas or Taylor replied "Because you're my friend."

Levi also reports that he washed his hands twice this morning. Once before snack time and once before lunch. The snack today was a cup of water with two cookies that looked like Oreos but they came in a purple wrapper. One was Oreo colored and one was tannish.  He had two cups of water and the cookies were very good.

There were four table areas with color-coordination  between the legs of the tables and the baskets on top of them. Red, blue, yellow and green. Levi chose the red table for snack time, and was at the yellow table earlier on for craft time.

He can't wait to go back tomorrow for the whole day. That means he gets to eat lunch at the cafeteria. The menu for lunch is Sloppy Joe on whole grain bun, green beans, mixed salad greens, peaches, milk. Levi is not sure about the Sloppy Joe so we might pack him something.

*Update* Apparently I have been home too long and forgot how to read a calendar. Thank you to my friend for pointing this out to me! Tomorrow's menu is Whole Wheat Spaghetti, meatballs, green beans, mixed salad greens, apple slices and milk. I have to say their overall menu looks good on paper. We'll see how Levi likes it.

 

Levi's First Day of School

Well the day has come, and Levi is ready.

We had an early morning start. The alarm went off at 6:15 am and I hit snooze. When it went off the second time I heard the scurry of little feet in the next room as Levi climbed down from his top bunk. He did not come out right away and when he emerged he was completely dressed and ready to go! He and I had talked about what to wear to school the night before as I was getting him ready. He wore an outfit from Grandma Susan that said LEVI'S across the front.

His backpack came a couple of days ago in the mail. We decided to look on eBay for something special to him that would also be different then the average pack from Wal-Mart. He really liked a NASA one that was shaped like the space shuttle. Unfortunately, it is a little smaller then standard size so I am not sure if it will work for the whole school season. We'll see.

No time to dawdle, Matt and I arose and got breakfast going right away. Levi had requested biscuits and gravy for breakfast so I made those while Matt made the eggs and potatoes.

We were joined by the local grandparents - Oma and Jerry & Gail for breakfast. (Gail is hidden behind me in this pic)

Ready for prayer. Levi wanted to say the blessing today. He usually volunteers but today was extra special.

 He proudly posed for all the obligatory photos.

Showing off his backpack, as Ellie ventures out to see what we're doing.

 How about a smile Ellie? She's not too sure about all this.

The comical thing was that we took two Suburban's to get Levi to school this morning. Between all of the grandparents and our family there were 7 of us. We probably could have all fit in one but we had ours full of stuff.  Levi proudly posed in front of the school for me. He was so excited.

Family photo. By now Levi was anxious to be done with the photos and get to his classroom!!

 Mrs Houchin greeted Levi upon his arrival and showed him where to put his backpack in his cubby. He said hello to his friend Indi and then raced off to find the Legos.  Indi was busy planning a 'picnic' on the other side of the room.

He knelt down and started playing before I could  blink an eye. Matt and I looked at each other and realized he was ready. No need for us to hang around. I went over to say goodbye and to let him know I would pick him up for lunch (we're starting out with half-days but he could decide to do a full day at any time). He stood up to give me a hug and then it was right back to playing. I admit I got a little teary.

Here are the names of the kids in Levi's class. So far I think we only know Indi (Indira), but in time I hope to get to know all  of them. I am going to volunteer in the classroom on occasion until I get a job so that will give me a chance to be more involved.  The school starts the Kindergartners out a week later then the rest of the school, and then they are divided up for the first two days. For example, half the class attends Monday, the other half attends Tuesday, and then they are all combined for Wednesday - on. This way it is not so overwhelming and they can get to know each other in smaller groups.

We can't wait to hear how it went!

Portland trip, day 1

Today my mom and the kids traveled over to Portland to visit my brother for a couple days. He and Joanie have moved since last time we were over this way. The new place is really nice.

Malia was asleep when we arrived, but after we settled in she woke up and Oma enjoyed some time interacting with her.

Here's an overview of the living room with all the activity. Levi was immersed in the iPad.

Once Wes got home, we started on dinner. Joanie suggested Mazidra and it sounded good to all of us. Here is mom on lettuce duty.

The kids had a great time just playing around the house with all the (new to them) toys. Ellie found the car on the patio and had a blast driving it around.

Here is a shot of their backyard.

After dinner the kids had a turn playing with Malia. She was very curious about them. Ellie wanted to hold her constantly and by the time dinner rolled around she had held her about five times.

Levi was able to get some smiles and other fun expressions from Malia. He was very proud of that.

Time to pack up the Jeep for camping tomorrow! Wes had to pack up tonight since tomorrow he will have to work until 4 pm, then we're going to pick him up on our way to Manzanita. The kids enjoyed playing in the Jeep while Wes thought about what to pack.

My mom sat on the garage sofa with Malia and observed.

Levi found a bat and took some practice swings. Looks like he'll be a natural.

Ellie had another turn holding Malia. Her eyebrows cracked me up in this photo.

Before too long it was time to settle in for bed. Levi made his way out to the car to find his night-night blanket and curled up with it. Silly boy!