My Fish, by 6thGrader

6thGrader's Creative Writing assignment:

My Fish

Everyone has something special to them. I have something special to me, too. My special thing to me is a fish. The reason I think he is special is if he died I would have no more pets. Sometimes I think he beckons me to feed him some more. You may think he is normal, but I think he is great. He can prop his head on the feeder, he can also swim around the tank with great agility, and he takes advantage of being in a tank.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Our winter break has been so great and even though we were out of school for just over two weeks, it felt longer - but in a good way. In a way that felt like going back to school today was much like the first day of school after summer vacation.

We spent some time at the beach over New Years so perhaps that adds to our feeling of summer vacation vs. winter holidays. Christmas Day seems ages ago even though the Christmas Tree is still up in the living room. We've decided it gives off enough light that we can leave it up all year and use it as a lamp. Or not.

Last Christmas...

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away. This year to save me from tears I'll give it to someone different."

Or something like that.

6thGrader and 4thGrader have claimed this as their song to sing at the top of their lungs whenever they need to burst out in song.

Hilarious. I need to record them and add it here.

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas...

6thGrader has been listening to holiday music on the radio for over a week already. He says it is his favorite type of music, so when the local station started playing "all holiday music all the time" on Veteran's Day evening, he happily tuned in.

His favorite two songs are Have a Holly Jolly Christmas and Jingle Bell Rock.

What about you and the young'uns in your life?

Home Videos

A few nights ago we watched Christmas Vacation and there is this one scene where Chevy Chase is in the attic watching old home movies on a projector. It reminded us that we have our old videos from when the boys were little. I don't even know where our video camera is now but we do still have the tapes.

The first one I pulled out was October 1997 - September 2002 which covered 6thGrader's toddler and preschool years as well as kindergarten and the beginning of 1st grade. 4thGrader was an infant, and then toddler and preschooler during the course of the next 6 hours.

It has been so much fun looking back at the children and seeing how much they have (or haven't) changed over the years; watching their personalities emerging into who they are today.

Of course we have the yearly Christmas morning scenes; in fact, that has been the overwhelming majority of screen time. The kids have enjoyed seeing what they got for Christmas each year and what of those things they still have. They have even pulled some of those items out to play with again "for old time's sake."

But we also have a lot of every-day footage and I'm really glad we have that because it shows me that maybe I wasn't as uptight a mother as I thought I was. I let them climb on stuff and launch cookies across the dining room with their pop-up toys. I let them run and jump and play like boys (and girls) need to without hovering all the time. I have at least one lengthy segment for each of the boys when they were crying unconsolably so they now have an idea of what we had to put up with at times (hee hee).

And we have the reading and the singing and the adventures with grandparents. And what a wonderful surprise to me to see my grandfather in one holiday's footage - how awesome it was to see him and hear his voice again as he sat at the dining table with 4thGrader as a toddler in his lap.

I think that as the boys have aged and we've neglected the video camera that now is the time to get it out again, but instead of us using it as parents to let the boys use it to see the world through their eyes for a change.

4thGrader makes All A's

4thGrader made all A's on his report card, with all 3's in work study habits and E's in behavior and citizenship areas. 3's are best.

Time to take the boys and their report cards to Krispy Kreme for free doughnuts.

6thGrader Makes Honor Roll

6thGrader got his first Middle School report card today and had all A's except for a high B in math which qualifies him for Honor Roll ("whatever that means, Mom"). He got 3's and 4's for Citizenship which is great (1's and 2's mean detentions, etc.). Thank goodness the first 9-weeks is done and has been successful; he had a few ups and downs but seems to have settled in to the workload, although I hear that the 2nd 9-weeks begins the lengthy projects for Geography and Language Arts. Thank goodness he has Guidance Aide to be a bit of "down time" during the day for him.

Be the Book Report

In our county, 4th grade is the year of the book report.

4thGrader's first book report was to be presented by cutting a face-sized hole in a piece of poster-board and then decorating it so that he could become a character from the book. He read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and he chose to become Willy Wonka to deliver his book report. I remember my mother reading that book to my brother and me when I was only four, and while 4thGrader has seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on video, he had never read the book.

Math Olympiads

4thGrader got picked for the Math Olympiads team for his school. YAY!

No more Art woes

6thGrader had to pick electives for school this year. His choices were a full year of P.E., Band or Art, or a half-year of P.E., Art, Dance, or Research. He didn't want to do P.E., Band or Dance, so when we marked his schedule choices, he had to put four 1/2 year choices, so we put Research, Research, Research, and Art. He was placed in Art for the first semester's elective.

6thGrader isn't much of an artist, but he does enjoy doing clay and other tactile forms of art. But drawing is his "worst nightmare." And of course 6th grade art starts with drawing. We talked with his Art teacher about just getting through it and on to the next project, and she was making progress with him. But then she became ill and was out for 2 1/2 weeks.

And thus the parade of substitutes. Things spiralled downward very rapidly for 6thGrader and I got the dreaded call from the Guidance office. We've been talking back and forth for the last week and a half and today, when the phone rang, I recognized the number. Ay yi yi! You don't ever want to recognize the school's phone number.

It was the guidance office calling to let me know that 6thGrader was being transferred out of Art and into Guidance Aide for the rest of the semester. 6thGrader asked the counselor if she would please call his mom because he was tired of me asking him how Art was every day.

So his Art woes are over. He'll work in the guidance office for the rest of the semester, doing errands or office tasks, studying, reading, or other things that are productive. He's a lucky boy that the teachers and counselors at his school were willing to figure something out for him.

Why I love the Math Teacher

Can I just say how much I love 6thGrader's Math teacher?

Here are a few reasons why.

1. There are no such things as math "problems." Only math questions or equations. She says that in Language Arts, they ask you to read Question #3. In Science, you answer Questions about scientific things. So why is it when you get to Math class, suddenly you have all these Problems?

2. She's in tune with 6th graders. When teaching the Order of Operatives, she uses a mnemonic device (and yes, dictionary.com is my friend!) to help them learn: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply/Divide, Add/Subtract. She says that many people learn "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" to help them remember, but she doesn't have an Aunt Sally, but she did have four Annoying Siblings and she's sure that her middle schoolers also have annoying siblings (or know someone who does). So she teaches Please Excuse My Dumb Annoying Siblings. Not P.C., but effective.

3. When asked if they could use their calculators for a particular assignment, she told her class that she would rather they use their Florida brain than their Texas brain. And before any Texans get upset, she was referring to the calculators; they're made by Texas Instruments, you know!


I've been having some discussion with some mom-friends who live in various states about school textbooks and how they vary from state-to-state. We were wondering how they can really be all that different, and is math taught differently in Florida than in Georgia or North Carolina or California? One of the moms said she wasn't sure about most states, but she knew how they teach math in Idaho.

One potato.
Two potato.
Three potato.
Four...

Lunch with 4thGrader

4thGrader's class had a special lunch today - bring your grandparents (or parents, if your grandparents can't come) and have lunch in the classroom. Because 4thGrader's grandparents live too far away, I joined him for lunch.

He wanted to just get school lunch, so I packed lunch for me. As it turned out, he didn't like what they had (we don't have a menu this month for some reason or another) so he ended up eating my sandwich while I just had my yogurt and squishy banana. We sat at his desk to share our shared lunch.

After lunch, the children had a play about Strong Verbs that was written by Melissa Forney. If you're unfamiliar with Melissa Forney, she's an author but more importantly a motivator and educator who teaches how to teach writing to students and how to encourage children to write, and how to help even those who don't enjoy writing to, when they do have to write, to write well.

4thGrader then showed me around his classroom as our Open House was the 6th day of school and they didn't have much up, but now that we're in the 4th week, they have a lot more stuff on the walls.

What a wonderful break in the middle of my day!

Foil-a-gami

4thGrader and I had a "me and mom" breakfast at Chick Fil A yesterday since he had no school and I had no work. DH dropped us off while he went to Lowe's for a while, so after we finished eating, we were just hanging out.

(Aside: It's nice to hang out at CFA and NOT have to go into the playroom. I spent a lot of hours at CFA when 4thGrader was preschooler so he could play with his friend while her mom and I would visit and then tell them "10 more minutes" which really meant another hour.)

Anyway, after we were done, we both started folding our chicken biscuit wrappers into different shapes. 4thGrader said "look Mom - it's for-a-gami" which swiftly turned into "foil"a-gami - the not-so-ancient art of folding Chick Fil A food wrappers into swans and airplanes.

Code of the Boys

I found this while being a voyeur over at Found Magazine.

http://www.foundmagazine.com/find/1482

P.E. Requirements

The State of Florida defines P.E. like this:

"Physical education" means the development or maintenance of skills related to strength, agility, flexibility, movement, and stamina, including dance; the development of knowledge and skills regarding teamwork and fair play; the development of knowledge and skills regarding nutrition and physical fitness as part of a healthy lifestyle; and the development of positive attitudes regarding sound nutrition and physical activity as a component of personal well-being.

State law says:

1003.455 Physical education; assessment.--
(1) It is the responsibility of each district school board to develop a physical education program that stresses physical fitness and encourages healthful, active lifestyles and to encourage all students in prekindergarten through grade 12 to participate in physical education. Physical education shall consist of physical activities of at least a moderate intensity level and for a duration sufficient to provide a significant health benefit to students, subject to the differing capabilities of students. All physical education programs and curricula must be reviewed by a certified physical education instructor.

(2) Each district school board shall adopt a written physical education policy that details the school district's physical education program and expected program outcomes.

(3) Each district school board shall provide 150 minutes of physical education each week for students in kindergarten through grade 5. Students enrolled in such instruction shall be reported through the periodic student membership surveys, and records of such enrollment shall be audited pursuant to s. 1010.305. Such instruction may be provided by any instructional personnel as defined in s. 1012.01(2), regardless of certification, who are designated by the school principal. Each district school board is encouraged to provide 225 minutes of physical education each week for students in grades 6 through 8.

History.--s. 4, ch. 2004-255; s. 19, ch. 2006-301; s. 3, ch. 2007-28.


I'm wondering how 4thGrader will get his 150 minutes in each week when he only has PE class twice a week. And while P.E. is offered daily at 6thGraders school, participation is only "encouraged." Seems like middle schoolers should also be required to participate in P.E. - guess it's the whole scheduling thing that lets them not.

To graduate from high school, you have to have one PE credit between 9th and 12th grades; various sports and activities can substitute for the traditional P.E. class.

Gotta get these kids more active......... what do you do to get your kids moving?

I'm such a nerd...

6thGrader's math homework tonight is to bring in two math facts and their sources. He told me he wanted to use the website I work on for my job because he knew we have math facts there because he helped me with some of it when he participated in Take Your Child to Work Day in April.

I'm so proud! My middle-schooler wants to use my data for his homework!

Best part of the first day of school

The absolutely best part of the first day of school - homemade chocolate chip cookies! A family tradition for 7 years now.

Middle School GIRLS

Our older DS is off to middle school today. Ay yi yi! I'm sure it will be a great year by the time we're done, but did you see those girls???? Those fresh-faced girls I saw at 5th grade graduation have turned into GIRLS with fancy hair-dos and make-up and jewelry and clothes. The elementary school's dress code says that make-up is not developmentally appropriate for elementary school-aged girls, so maybe they just weren't allowed to wear it so I was thinking all those 5th grade girls were still the same as they were when we first met them as kindergarteners. But oh my........ if I were a 6th grade boy, I'd be scared!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe I've just been locked in a time-warp????

Loads of paper and plenty of $$

Orientation was today for both 4thGrader and 6thGrader. We got the paperwork for 4thGrader so I can get that done over the weekend. And I wrote several checks payable to both the elementary and middle schools for various fees and PTA's and such. Plus t-shirts for both kids.

Never mind the school supplies I still need to buy. I felt like I should've just given the school district my bank account information and let them empty my coffer.

And more paperwork coming home with 6thGrader next week.

European kids get Euros...

Cool dude

Oh to be 11 again! This photo was taken in Sorrento, Italy, when we stopped for lunch with our tour group.

Another Lost Tooth

We were beginning to load the car for our vacation when our 11 y.o. asked for a rubberband. You see, his tooth fell out while eating breakfast and he had put it in a tissue and needed a rubberband to wrap around it. That makes his 10th tooth gone, and he has another one that will likely come out before vacation is over.

Now where oh where did the Tooth Fairy pack those Disney Dollars????

30 Minutes with Mom

The kids made it home from camp safe and sound and no worse for wear. And with their return comes the return of juggling family and work without child care. I really don't mind, though, because I've been granted permission to work from home a few hours each day so that I don't have to be away from home as much. Although being in the house and being at home are really two different things, but that's for a whole other post on a different blog!

Anyway, one of the things I want to be sure to do is get that one-on-one quality time with each of the boys, yet we have a lot to do around the house and only a limited amount of time to do it. So I've implemented "30 minutes with Mom" each morning. During this time, we will do chores or activities together that are not only necessary things but are also designed to teach skills that they need to develop. And having them NOT do it together eliminates the "he didn't do his share" arguments we've been hearing of late.

Here is what happened on Monday:

3rdGrader had the first session. We emptied the dishwasher, reloaded it, and then tackled the refrigerator. I had him sort through the food to see what was expired, what was nearing expiration, and what was still good, and then wipe down the shelves. We had a spill underneath one of the crisper drawers that had been there for ages, so I cleaned that and washed the drawer out. Then we took the berries that were past their prime and tossed them in the yard for the birds. I had him sort through his school papers to see what he wanted to keep or toss (yes, school has been out for nearly 6 weeks). Next we folded a basket of towels and got those put away as well and our 30 minutes was nearly over. He had an email to respond to, so with that, he finished his 1/2 hour.

5thGrader started with making orange juice popsicles and then moved on to clipping coupons. I participate in a Coupon Train so I needed to get them clipped and ready to mail before the week gets away from me, so 5thGrader learned about coupons and practiced his big-scissor skills. Then we moved to the living room where the Lego's had exploded a few weeks ago and got them containered (did I just make up a word?) as well as found the rest of the plastic eggs from Easter that we've been meaning to toss. We followed up with putting pillows away and folding a throw blanket. And suddenly our time was up!

They were each a little less enthusiastic today, but we still got a lot of things done. 3rdGrader drew first round again today. We spent most of it in his room sorting out video games and untangling cords, but in the process we found a game he had been looking for. We also learned the art of folding fitted sheets and that if you put your dirty clothes in the hamper when you take them off, you don't have to go through the house picking them up.

5thGrader told me last night that he needed his patriotic shirt washed to wear on Wednesday, so I told him the first part of his 30 Minutes with Mom would be starting his laundry today. Then we had to finish the coupons and get them ready to mail. Our pumpkin seedlings were ready to transplant, so we did that as well. He had also told me yesterday that his t-shirt drawer was too full, so we spent the remainder of our time going through his shirts to see which ones he had outgrown, which ones he wanted to pass on, and which ones he wanted to take on our cruise.

Tomorrow is a holiday, so 30 Minutes with Mom will be just-for-fun stuff.

Camp

The boys have been at camp all week and tomorrow morning, we'll go pick them up. I'm ready to see them to hear about their week. This is the first time they've gone to sleep-away camp, and while 3rdGrader was looking forward to it, 5thGrader went with some trepidation.

Our plan for tomorrow is to get them home and soak them in the bathtub. And double- or triple-wash their laundry. And air out the sleeping bags and suitcases. And give them as many hugs and kisses as they want and will allow.

Why School Kids are Helpful

This morning I was doing some work from home and had a PowerPoint presentation to review. I don't use PowerPoint regularly, so I was trying to figure out how to make the presentation be a "slide show" for viewing. 5thGrader came in about that time and asked me what I was doing, and as he looked over my shoulder, he said "Mom, you should look at that as a slide-show; just click right there." And voila' - my screen filled and all was well. 5thGrader learned to use PowerPoint while in 4th grade. I was telling my co-worker about it, and she said it was good that I had my own tech support at home!

Then later today I was figuring out how much our breakfast cost. There is a thread on DISBoards that is a Feed Your Family on $10 a Day challenge, and while I'm not officially participating, it's been interesting to read and to figure out how much we spend in a typical day. We made pancakes for breakfast and drank milk. I wanted to calculate how much the 2 cups of milk cost, so to do that, I needed to know how many cups are in a gallon. Because I don't keep that information in my head where it is easily accessible, I keep a magnet on the side of the refrigerator with the comparisons on it. As I was walking to the kitchen, I asked the boys how many cups are in a gallon, and 3rdGrader said "16." Sure enough, there are 16 cups in a gallon. I asked him how he knew that, and he said it's just something he learned and maybe I should go back to 3rd grade!

REPORT

DATE: MAY 24, 2007
TIME: 12:25 P.M.

BELL RINGS.

ALL A'S, E'S, AND 3'S ON REPORT CARDS.

5thGrader SCORED 5.0 ON WUR. HIS HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENT.

3rdGrader SCORED 5.5 ON WUR.

PROMOTIONS TO 4TH AND 6TH GRADES.

SUMMER VACATION BEGINS.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL???

All year I've been making plans around the last day of school being May 25th. We even arranged for the summer trek to visit the relatives to begin as soon as school gets out on that Friday.

Last week, 5thGrader's planner had LAST DAY OF SCHOOL written on the 24th. I figured he copied it down wrong off the board. He insisted that he didn't. Then this morning, I found 3rdGrader's weekly newsletter and HIS teacher also has May 24th as the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.

Surely two teachers aren't wrong, but surely I haven't just made up that the last day of school is the 25th. So as soon as I could, I checked online to see the school calendar and sure enough, May 24th is the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. Guess the kids will get an extra afternoon at home before beginning the summer trek!

Middle School doesn't seem so scary after all

In the fall, I have to change the title of this blog because while we'll be continuing our adventures as grade school parents, we'll be embarking on a new role - parents of a middle schooler! Yep, folks, that's right - we're off to middle school in August.

Tonight was the parent orientation. We toured the 6th grade hall where they assured us that they don't assign top lockers to the short kids, encouraged us to teach our children how to use a combination lock, and understand that 4 minutes to get from one end of the hall to the other while stopping at your locker is really doable!

We got to meet the principal and both assistant principals, discuss the dress code (boys, your pants have to be up, we don't want to see your underwear, and shirts with sleeves are safe options), and see the cafeteria and media center. We met the teachers for the core areas (math, science, world-geography, language arts, computer/creative writing) and the electives (P.E., art, band, chorus, dance (or was it drama?), and research).

I thought I'd be anxious about the beginning of middle school, but after going over today and seeing things first-hand and talking with the teachers and administration, I am actually excited about it. I think it will be a wonderful experience and know that our soon-to-be-middle-schooler will have a world of opportunity ahead of him... and I can't wait to experience it with him!

Summer Reading List

Rising 6th graders are required to read two of the following books over the summer.

1. A Wrinkle in Time by Madelene L'Engle
2. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
3. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
4. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos
5. Skellig by David Almond
6. Sounder by William Armstrong
7. Tangerine by Edward Bloor
8. Wanderer by Sharon Creech
9. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Over-achiever that I am, I've requested all of them from the library now so we can preview which ones to have for summer reading. We already have Island of the Blue Dolphins and maybe Sounder.

Last Writes Upon Request for the school year

Today is the last Writes Upon Request for the school year. It used to be a big deal - making sure to go to bed a little early the night before, have something special for breakfast the morning of. Now it's just another school day.

Two years ago, when 5thgrader was a 3rd grader, he completely shut down when asked to write about anything. Writes Upon Requests were horrible, miserable, anxiety-ridden days. But we're so proud of him because he has worked hard to overcome his anxiety - or at least learned to function within its constraints - and has consistently scored 4.5's (out of possible 6's) this whole year. He has reached deep within himself and lived to tell about it!

Today's assignment is expository. I never even knew what that meant until they started doing WURs. (It means explaining.)

Here's what Writes Upon Request means (I found this on one of the county school pages):
WUR-“Writes Upon Request” Assessment. In an effort to prepare students for the FCAT Writing Assessment, and to provide opportunities for students to improve their writing skills, **** County Schools conducts the “Writes Upon Request” Assessment Program. This program assesses student writing in first through tenth grades at set times during the school year. Students throughout the district are given grade-appropriate prompts (topics) and time limits in which to respond. Trained classroom teachers utilize the same scoring method as the *CAT Writing Assessment to score student papers. Scores are reported to parents.