Month: February 2011

School News: The 5 Senses

On the way to school it was snowing and raining at the same time. Isabel thought this was so interesting and wanted to know how that could happen. I tried to explain it as best as I could and it seemed to answer her questions about how it was even possible.

After arriving at the classroom, Isabel noticed the colorful daisies someone had brought for Mrs. W. I spoke with Mrs. W briefly and she said she was feeling much better and was glad to be back. I didn’t want to pry so I kept it at that and told her I was glad she was feeling better and was back to class.

Later when I arrived to pick Isabel up from school. I was delighted to see her and Makayla talking with Ezzra (special helper today) about her show and tell today. Before leaving school the two girls, Isabel and Makayla, gave each other a huge hug and said goodbye. It was so sweet and cute, I have to chuckle just writing about it. When I asked about her school day today, she told me all about what happened during snack time when she had wanted to sit next to Makayla. She said she had an idea (about fixing the problem) and got to sit kitty corner to Makayla instead of right next to her. Since the 2 girls got to spend so much time together over the weekend, they have really bonded with each other! So great to see!

The Bible story today was from Jonah 1-4 and was the story of Jonah and how he disobeyed God and tried to ran away from God.

The class worked on their Monday morning journal writing, they worked on the letter “S” for snake. They also worked on their 5 senses; sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.

She got a pamphlet with all this information about each…

Picture of each sense.

Then descriptions of each one… taste and smell.

Sight, touch and hearing. When I asked her later at home, if she could remember them, she got them all except for touch.

When I asked what more she did for her day she mentioned Dr. Seuss’ Birthday coming up and they were going to celebrate with a small party or some other celebration. They had painted Dr. Seuss hats and when I spotted them drying on the counter, Isabel said that we weren’t allowed to take them home yet because they were going to use them for the party. I thought that was cool.

For recess they played relay games in the gym and duck-duck-goose because it had been snowing all morning long.

The special helper today was Ezzra. For show and tell, Ezzra brought a white dog, that had a special bag to carry it in and had lots of accessories too. Isabel also said that BOTH Ezzra’s Mommy and Daddy were the helpers today in class. For snack Ezzra brought to share cupcakes; with red, blue, yellow, and green frosting on them and juice to drink.

Happy Birthday Ezzra

Our weekend went swiftly by, first with Anika’s birthday party yesterday and then finishing with Ezzra’s birthday party at her Grandparents house today. Isabel has really enjoyed all the extra time with her friends. Enjoy!

Our cute little cowgirl!

Sitting around the table eating some chow and shooting the breeze.

Two of the cutest cowgirls around!

Time for karaoke! Presley stole the show with this… even if she didn’t know the words!
Wherever and whenever there is music, Isabel is going to dance and she was the only one… at first.

The birthday girl singing karaoke.

Isabel and Ezzra.

After awhile of watching and listening to those who were willing to sing, we headed downstairs and outside to let the kids hit the horse piñata. Each cowgirl/cowboy had 2 different times to swing the bat but unfortunately the horse didn’t break! It had a hole but no breakage! So after one of the cowpokes broke it off the string, Gino ripped it open and cowgirls/cowboys made a dash for the prizes!

The Birthday girl up to bat. It’s any wonder that Ezzra could even see the horse because she had her cowgirl hat so low on her head!

Lilliana gets a turn to break it open… need to keep an eye on those “shy” kids because she can really swing a bat!

Presley got a few good swings/hits in too.

Isabel up to bat at the piñata.

Makayla’s turn.

Dany’s turn. He was the one to “break” the tail off. Good job Dany!

I didn’t take photos of the other kids swinging the bat because I don’t know them (cousin’s of Ezzra) and they aren’t in Isabel’s class.

Isabel dancing with Ezzra’s cousin’s.

Back inside where it was warm and dry, more singing and dancing was in store before cake, singing Happy Birthday, and opening of gifts. Most of the people (not related to Ezzra) started leaving before the first gifts were even opened. We stuck around to the very end, while Ezzra (and her cousins) opened her gifts

Happy Birthday Ezzra!

Happy Birthday Anika

Today we headed to Pump It Up to celebrate the birthday of Isabel’s classmate, Anika. After we arrived we learned that Anika had been sick all week long and still wasn’t up to bouncing and playing with her friends. It’s no fun to be sick during your birthday and even worse when you have a big party with all your friends! Enjoy.

The first room of bouncy fun was filled with a slide, a obstacle course, a large bouncy basketball court and this cool baseball area. Makayla and Isabel played here together for awhile. Both girls tried to hit the ball that “floated” in midair but without much luck. However Makayla’s little brother, Caleb could hit the ball and hit it somewhat straight!  This was fun to watch.

After playing a bit of baseball, the girls headed into the obstacle course together.
So cute together!

BF’s: Makayla and Isabel!
During our time in the first room, these two were inseparable! I’m so glad that Isabel is making friends with girls her age.

The blur is Isabel. She would fly down the slide so fast I couldn’t get a picture fast enough!

What a crash! Fun! Fun! Fun!

After being in this 1st room for about an hour or so, we headed into room number 2. Which was filled with a larger slide, a larger bounce house, bouncy boxing, and air-ball guns.

Isabel in the air-ball gun “room”. Isn’t she cute with those goggles on?

She ended up staying in this “room” for the remainder of the time playing with Caleb (Makayla’s little brother).

After getting out for awhile and letting other kids in, she somehow got back inside but this time put the goggles on upside down! You would think she would fog up the goggles with no air holes!

The majority of the kids that were there… minus the birthday girl and a several others. There had to have been close to 25 kids and 15 adults or so! A big party!

I was finally able to get a picture of the birthday girl… poor girlie. She got sick just a few moments after this photo was taken. You could tell she just wasn’t into the whole party celebration.

Isabel and Anika… feel better soon and Happy Birthday!

School News: No School

No school today due to the weather. Bummer!… and the sun was out too (but it was very cold!)!

Since we had to miss school, Isabel wanted to play school. I was the teacher and she was the special helper for our class. I thought it was a great idea since we haven’t worked on numbers, letters, and writing small words in a while now. So I got out the easel and we sat in the kitchen to work. Enjoy!

Isabel has actually been working on her own writing and leaving messages on her easel. This one is from yesterday that I found after we got back from soccer. It should read, “Isabel (shop) is closed for a nap (she went to soccer). No. But After (soccer)” She did very well sounding out all the words on her own.

This one I found this afternoon before we started playing school. She almost has it! Way to go sounding out the words.

To start off with I had her write numbers in sequence, like write the numbers 5 through 9 or 12 through 15. Then I did that with the alphabet as well. We did this for a bit and then I had her write her name (written at the top of the easel). She can get through her first name really quickly but her last name, she sounds it out and works over each letter. Its fun to watch!

Then I got the words that we were having her learn 2 years ago and had her write them on the board. She did a very good job. She had a little trouble with the word “you” but we worked on it together and hopefully she’ll get it next time!  After she would write the word on the board, I would have her tell me what the word was; like what is a pig? what do you do with a hat? what is a rug? what is a lip? She thought this was fun. I also used it in a sentence several times and would make up silly sentences as well…

My lip can run on a rug.
I saw a bat out the window at night.
You can use a bat to play baseball.
The pig sat on the boy who wore a hat.
Where does milk come from?

We will have to work more on word building in the future as it gets closer to kindergarten in the fall. We had a lot of fun!

Soccer Shots: Day 4

Today was the last day of Soccer Shots for Isabel. I think we might just stick with Tumbling Tykes since she really seems to like that more.

Learning their new move… juggling. Juggling is were you bounce the ball on your knee (or any body part for that matter) several times without touching it with your hands or dropping it. In Isabel’s class however they just had to bounce it once on their knee and catch it. Isabel did an amazing job with this! She was even alternating knees!… left leg.

More juggling practice… right leg.

Playing the “Bumble Bee” game and learning another new move, passing. Passing is using the inside of your foot to pass the ball to another player. In the bumble bee game, Stephanie and Niki were hungry bears and the kids were the bees with honey. The kids had to dribble the ball and then “pass” the ball/honey to either Niki or Stephanie. The kids seemed to really like this game… maybe I can practice with Isabel in the yard. She could be the bee and I could be the bear or the other way around!

Isabel the bee passes to Niki the bear.

More practice with passing, this time however they had to pass to either Niki or Stephanie and then shoot a goal. Great job Isabel!

More relay today. Isabel was fast with this today. Dribble and keep that ball in control.

Almost to the goal. Looking good Isabel!

Goal! Woohoo!

Special stickers for the end of class. Great job!

Snow-Fun

Last night the snow started falling again and this morning we woke up to a world of white. Isabel started asking me as soon she was finished up with breakfast if she could go outside and play. Enjoy!

All layered up and ready to go!

This is not a snowman, she says but a snow pie. Piled high.

I made Daisy come outside as well and even put her shoes on to keep the cold off her paws. She’s not looking to happy with me about now… BIG BABY!

After piling her pie higher then before; she sat on it.

Daisy looking a bit happier to be outside (even with her shoes on!) BUT only after I said the “WORD”… TREAT!

We found her sand shovel and she started digging. She said she was digging the snow for Daisy to jump in.

After being out in the cold, it was time for “snowman soup” (hot chocolate) and lunch…

… she got a little crazy with the candy cane that I gave her! It was everywhere!

School News: Letter R

Gino had told me last night that we were expecting snow in the forecast (next several days actually) for this morning. Luckily for Isabel it wasn’t enough to close the school’s! The sun actually come out on the way to school and started melting what was on the ground fast. Then it was back to snowing, then it would stop, then snow again, then stop, etc. All morning long that’s how it went. Hopefully it doesn’t stick around for long.

This morning, we learned that Mrs. W will be out of school until next week. Her doctor “visit” on Friday was for minor surgery. Mrs. Calvert said that she is doing a great job recovering and is at home with her husband and daughter. So keep her in prayers…

Today the class worked on their Monday morning journals (since they were off Monday). Today’s letter was the letter R. R is for robot, rug, red, and Rebecca.

The Bible story today was from Exodus and was about Moses. When I asked her what part of Moses’ story did they talk about she said they talked about the plagues and the Pharaoh.

During recess Isabel got to “borrow” some extra gloves (which she said were very pretty, they were all different colors and even had sparkles in them too) from the school and got to play outside with the others. She said that they played in the snow together.

The special helper today was Isabella but unfortunately she wasn’t there today. So the special helper was Mrs. Calvert. For snack they had a cookie and juice.

Isabel’s name writing is getting so good. I wish she would focus more on it during the morning and complete the whole page but at least she finishes it and does a great job!

Her last name writing is so wonderful. I think the practice that we’ve done at home has helped her do such a wonderful job.

Tumbling Tykes: Day 4

Today we were back at tumbling/gymnastics, since we missed last week due to Isabel not feeling well and it was great. We also learned that the class is going to be on-going each month with the students building on what they have already learned in class to be better tumblers/gymnast. Hurray! We like Ms. Mo!

Today, after warm-ups Ms. Mo had the class do some running/jumping exercises and then balancing work on a floor level balance beam. She also had the class learn to do a handstand. She stressed the importance of never doing a handstand on your own, on your couch and/or your bed! I am so thankful Ms. Mo went over this first thing because Isabel had been trying to this very thing off the couch just the other day!!! I wanted Ms. Mo to stress this again and again (which she did!). Hopefully, Isabel was paying attention…

Ms. Mo showing the class the proper way of doing a handstand. Your weight is not on your head but your arms.

… a bit blurry but that’s Ms. Mo doing her handstand for the class.

Ms. Mo working with Isabel on getting her feet up into the air (donkey kick).

With the help of Ms. Mo, she did it. I think she would have been able to do it on her own if she had kept her feet together. Presley was the only one in class able to do it all on her own (several times!). Way to go Presley!

After working on handstands for awhile, Ms. Mo set up the room so the class could practice doing what they have learned in class on their own. Whether it be the forward somersault on the wedge, balance beam work, or the back-ward jump. Isabel worked on the balance beam several times and then went through Ms. Mo’s tunnel. After class Ms. Mo told them a story about a boy heading to the park to play. It was an action story just like the story from day 1.

Isabel practicing her balance beam. When they got to the middle, they were supposed to balance, lower their torso and raise one leg. Isabel did a great job but got wobbly if she got a little over confident with raising her leg back. Need to practice…

I have tried to get Isabel to practice all she’s learned in her tumbling/gymnastics class at home with me and she never wants to do it. She won’t even show Daddy all the things she has learned. Hopefully, she’ll want to practice otherwise, I think we’ll be dropping the class for lack of interest on her part. As Ms. Mo says,…

“The more you practice, the better you get!“