Sarah's Journal » School Days

Jazzy Jack-o-Lanterns

Sarah — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:44:18 +0000

Anna had her school Halloween parade and party today. She was also the daily helper, and I volunteered to help out with the class activities for the morning. Exciting day!

Anna is the daily helper!

The class made jack-o-lantern costumes out of paper bags over the last couple of weeks, and these were what they wore for the parade.

Pumpkins on Parade!

They also sang a cute song (to the tune of Frere Jacques):

Jack-o-lanterns, jack-o-lanterns
Halloween, Halloween
See the bats flying, cold black cats are hiding
Ghosts go “BOO!”, ghosts go “BOO!”

Such a cute pumpkin!

Spelling Homework

Sarah — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:54:50 +0000

This is our first experience with daily homework: spelling lists. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have pretty normal assignments. Thursday is a more open-ended assignment, where we have to, as a family, come up with a “creative” way to use & practice the words. We knew it would be tough, since we are so new at this, but we realized that if we put our heads together and thought about it, we could figure something out!

We had to get even more creative to make them fit!

Sharing is Good

Sarah — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:15:40 +0000

Anna is so excited to have the “sharing bag” to bring to school today. Since the color of the month is orange, she has to bring in an orange mystery item for her classmates to guess. Her clues are:

1. You eat it.
2. It’s crunchy.
3. It grows in the ground.

Any guesses?

No?

It’s a carrot!

Also, she gets to be the “star helper” for the morning. Like I said, she’s excited!

Say "cheeeeeeeese!"

Anna’s First Field Trip

Sarah — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:08:39 +0000

One of the advantages of sending Anna to the same preschool as Carolyn is that she gets to do all the same fun things! So today was Anna’s first field trip, just like Carolyn’s four years ago. Anna was pretty upset when we got to the farm, because she “wanted to go to school today!” Luckily, that wore off quickly, and she had a fabulous time.

Anna in the pumpkins.

Riding a bunny "train" car (hooked to a tractor).

Holding a baby chick.

Giddyup, big wooden horse!

She also really enjoyed trying to feed the animals in the little petting zoo. I say “trying” because she tried to feed them like she gives treats to the dogs: hold it out in your hand and then chicken out at the last second and drop it on the ground in front of them. Too bad, because the goat and sheep had such soft tickly muzzles and tongues. I want to go back just for the petting zoo!

Get Acquainted Night

Sarah — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:20:30 +0000

Tonight was the get acquainted/curriculum night for Carolyn’s 2/3 classroom. It was great to see what she’s been working on, and how her classroom works. All the kids have jobs, which they had to write a letter of application to get. Carolyn is one of the class librarians – which makes sense considering her love of reading! (My jaw dropped when I saw the collection of chapter books they have in the classroom. I thought we had a lot at home!)

The class ran through a mock morning meeting for us and then sang a song they had all written together. All in all, it seems like a really fun, dynamic classroom and the science units they’re going to be covering in the next few months sound really neat: magnets, electromagnets, electrical systems, the solar system, ecosystems, skeletal and circulatory systems…the theme this year is “Working Together”, to tie into all the systems!

I’m looking forward to another great couple of years of multi-age for Carolyn!

All About Carolyn

Smile Potato Bento

Sarah — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:47:15 +0000

OK, so smile potatoes aren’t the healthiest food out there, but they really can’t help but make you smile…

Smile for the camera!

…especially when they make such cute leftover bentos! Also, mini sandwich thins are about the best invention ever – the girls both adore mini foods. If it has “mini” in the name they are far more likely to eat it. Mini apples, mini pears, mini bagels…most of what I buy at the store lately is “mini”!

Also, my little bento sandwich person makes me think of the drawings on this parenting blog. So very true, all of what she writes about!

What grade did you learn this stuff in?!?

Sarah — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:45:34 +0000

Carolyn came home today and told me about a math problem she had to do in school:

x + y = 10
y = 4
x + x = 12
x = ?

I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t doing this kind of math until at least 7th grade…

First Day of Preschool

Sarah — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:00:06 +0000

Anna was so very ready to start school that she was beside herself with excitement this morning!

Sisters ready for school.

Smile!

Now a funny face, mama!

Reading a book and ignoring the camera...

After we put Carolyn on the bus and I managed to drink a little coffee, we headed down to the school and waited for them to open up the doors.

Anna picked out the penguin backpack.

Anna showed her teachers the little treasures she brought with her in her backpack, then made a beeline for the Mr. Potato Head set they had out. She barely looked up when I said “bye”.

Oh, yeah, bye mom!

Her favorite parts were apparently snack and the playroom. Is it just my two girls that think lunch/snack & recess are the best parts of school?

Meet the Teachers

Sarah — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:41:18 +0000

Anna got to go to her preschool today and meet her teachers!

Hooray for preschool!

So little...and yet, so big!

She was a tiny bit shy at first, but then warmed up pretty quickly.

Sitting in the teacher's chair already...

She apparently thought she needed to show off every bit of knowledge she’s already stored up, as she walked around the room pointing out various things that had her name on them (her star for circle time, her nametag for her seat, her coat hook, etc.) and counting aloud all the numbers she saw. Then, instead of building a tower out of the alphabet blocks as she was instructed to, she lined them up in alphabetical order.

Oh, it's an "O"!

I really hope her teachers didn’t think I coached her to do all that…

The Return of the Bento

Sarah — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:39:03 +0000

Carolyn was going to buy for her first day. But when I mentioned that I would make her “back to school” bento the second day, then, she changed her mind.

A back-to-school bento.

I’m out of practice, a bit, so I packed this one the night before. (All but the cookies – I added those in first thing in the morning so they wouldn’t get soggy in the fridge.) Her lunch time this year isn’t until 1PM, so nearly every bit of this was eaten, and for the first time since she started all day school she didn’t eat everything that wasn’t nailed down the second she walked in the door!