It's Amazing What the Right Help Can Do!

I was in the library a couple days ago with Simon's class and his teacher came to get them and saw me there. She came running up, "Mrs. Graff, I have to show you this!!! I just printed these!" In her hand she had the latest S.T.A.R. reading test scores for her class. (From what I can gather, this is an assessment they do at the beginning and end of the year.)

She flipped to a page and excitedly showed me a line of numbers. I stared at them but had no clue what I was looking at.   "This is where he started in September….." she said, pointing to the first number. "And THIS is where he tested now…." she pointed to another number.

"That's a HUGE leap." she explained. (although it was obvious that was the case without the explanation. LOL. )

Wow!

After she left, the librarian explained to me that that really was a pretty big deal. She said if I had noticed any of the other kids' scores on the page, (I purposely had not looked at the ones visible and the teacher had most covered up anyway) I would have seen that most kids started out on a level closer to where S is now and may have moved a LITTLE, but nowhere near the leap Simon made. It means he caught up this year!

He has had two years of consistent and big academic strides. Hoping to continue this into third grade, which I know from experience is quite the change from K-2. The foundation is definitely in place and he's where he needs to be. He has worked so hard and so have his teachers! They have been the best. :)
The combination of efforts has definitely paid off! :)

Rick Roll....

Somewhere along the way, Simon learned about Rick Rolling. I think it was a combination of his Uncle Brandon and Just Dance 4 for the Wii. Either way, he is obsessed. And so when "Rock Star Day" rolled around at school this year, he knew exactly who he wanted to be.

You may remember that last year, he dressed up at Psy ... the Gangnam Style guy.

It's weird because Simon is not exactly a ham... he does not like to be laughed at or the center of attention as SIMON.... but, and I'm quoting the school guidance counselor's words from yesterday, "You put a costume on him and he just comes to life!" She asked me for weeks before the rock concert what he was going do this year because he had been so hilariously funny the year before.  Several teachers did, including Ben's teacher from last year, who put a picture of him in his Psy getup right in the middle of the yearbook. LOL!

So this year, he was Rick Astley, pop star from about 1987. He picked out his outfit and tried to match it to the official video on YouTube. Then he asked me to make his hair "straight and brownish red". I nixed the brownish red because the hair color was a MESS last year. I did my best on the straight.... but ... yeah... not so easy. We blow dried it backwards and used a TON of product. He went out of here smelling like an over cologned teenager. But it did the job!

I'd guess about half the school population MAYBE knew what he was. But apparently the teachers googled it... and he sang. And then they got it.

The guidance counselor made him sing in her office and sent me a video.... though I can't seem to get it off of my phone... will try to post later. ;)


And then there was his dance performance yesterday morning before he left for school. I hear he did this during the rock concert too...

Ah this kid.... he is an interesting one, for sure!!! LOL!  What WILL he be?!

Simon's School Pic....

Love! :) Three for three on good school pics this year! Unheard of...

Picture Day....

Picture day was Wednesday. This is how they looked when I sent them to school. I'm sure the photos will look nothing like this, especially since i forgot to send in the photo forms and by the time I ran them up to school, Simon had just eaten lunch and was covered in pizza. (he had to be retaken WITH the form... they had already done his class)

Sigh.

Red....

So, Simon got on "red" at school yesterday... (this is, btw, our first experience EVER with "red" or the equivalent in our family... at least, as far as I know...)

The story went like this:

Simon: Mommy, I got on RED today because someone LIED.

Me: What happened?

Simon: Someone LIED and said I was pushing people in the boys' bathroom. He said I PUSHED him! I didn't!

Me: (restraining my inner mama bear) Well why did he lie?

Simon: I don't KNOW.

Me: Is there a reason he may have thought you were pushing?

Simon: NO. I don't know. Well, maybe I might have been standing next to him.

Me: (starting to get the picture) Okay... and what happened when you were standing next to him?

SImon: Well maybe I was standing next to him and what always happens when you are standing next to someone happened.

Me: And what's that?

Simon: Well, you move your hips back and forth and bump.

Me: So you pushed him with your hips.

SImon: I was just shaking my hips but that's what you do when you stand next to someone! You bump hips!

D'oh.

Update and a Half...

Where to start?

I guess Jonathan...

So he's basically given up his nap, except for the occasional car nap. It's kind of okay with me and makes things easier, though I'm not gonna lie, I miss the quiet time in the afternoon and he's not really the kind of kid who can be convinced to take "quiet time" in his room. I can, however, get him to lie on the couch with binky, ducky and Sesame Street or Super Why. So I guess I'll take it. He did fall asleep in the car on the way home from swimming today. I hope this is just ftom nap backlog and not that he's getting sick. :\

Potty training is still going. He's getting better about telling us. The weekends are hard because our routines are all different and Tom is not as on top of reminding him to go as I am, which kind of makes me crazy.  He tends to let him wander off and get distracted and that's when he always forgets and wets his pants. Frustrating... but it will come eventually. I'm just so happy for any progress at all! He has FILLED his star chart, which I seriously never thought he would do when I put it up. Time to print a new one and work toward a new prize. Not sure what this time though.... hrm....

He still hasn't worn underwear to school. School is going better, but he still gets teary in the morning until I hand him off to the teacher and then he's fine. I feel like I should probably not rock the boat by throwing pee demands on him at school and risk stressing him out. His teacher has enough on her plate with him in her class to be dealing with that.


Simon....

We stumbled upon a solution to his sad school mornings. He now hides one of his loveys in his backpack and it seriously turned him completely around and he is back to loving going to school again. I think it give shim security just to know it's there. Whatever works!

I was called in for a conference by his teacher last week. She has some concerns about his fine motor skills and his attention. He also doesn't participate in class very readily and she hasn't been able to figure out a way to motivate him on any of those things. We're looking into getting both evaluated and in the meantime, she's developing a checklist for him for the classroom that we will reward at home with "Minecraft Minutes". He will also get tickets for Minecraft Minutes at home when he practices writing or does a nice job on his homework. His teacher and I are completely on the same page and it's really fantastic. I loved not having to be the one to email and say, "Hey! I think something's up.... " Do I wish he would just coast along without the need for any conferences at all? Yes... but it's just nice to have the teacher be right there with me as far as what issues she sees and what he needs.

Interestingly, on my way out of the conference, she mentioned that he had done a really good job presenting his scrapbook page. (they had to make a scrapbook page of baby pictures and vacation pictures to show the class) She said he completely lit up and just talked and talked about all the photos... like a totally different kid. I had a lightbulb moment and said, "You know...  it's probably worth mentioning that he's a middle child and basically very stereotypically so... anytime something is all about him or special for him, he really gets excited."  She sent me an email yesterday morning that on Thursday and Friday she had experimented with that and that I was COMPLETELY RIGHT that when he's in the spotlight, he performs better and is way more motivated. So she is going to use that in her strategies... gotta love birth order psychology!!!


Ben....

Ben has decided that he hates swimming at the new place. He's anxious about some of the strokes and says the water is too cold. (it actually really REALLY is...he emerges all blue and shaking every week after an hour in there...  but I can't fix that!) He cries the entire time now. Last week, he wouldn't even get in. This SUCKS. Going to see if I can get a refund because it's kind of pointless. He is still all about doing swim team in the summer... so I guess I'll see if his swim teacher at our other place can just work with him on strokes. GAH.

School is going well, although we really seem to have hit a hiccup with math and this higher number multiplication. I may need to break my email silence and let the teacher know he needs some help. I have worked with him at home, but it sounds like he's not getting it in class...

Anyway so that's what's been going on! I have tons of pictures to share but they are trapped in my phone. It will no longer email pictures anywhere for some reason and they aren't showing up in my Photostream. Phone as camera is not working so well for me these days!!!

Update Time....

...before too much more time passes.

Jonathan:
Potty training is chugging along! Haha... get it? TRAINing... chug... yeah, anyway. He's getting it. Tells us when he needs to pee pee now, unless he's distracted. Yeah, we're in THAT zone. I don't let him go downstairs to play anymore unless he has recently gone because it's almost always a recipe for wet pants. And then when I call downstairs to ask him if he needs to go, he freaks out and yells "No! Don't come down here!" It's his tell. ;)  LOL!  Truly though, never thought we'd even be THIS far in the process at this point, so I'm THRILLED. He has expressed a teeny bit of interest in doing the more complicated potty process too, and, although I have encouraged, we are not delving into that until #1 is down pat.

He MAY even be wearing big boy underwear to school today for the first time. I am almost positive there will be at least ONE accident, because he still needs so many reminders. But I think it will help to be 100% consistent with the underwear. He has been wearing a PullUp to school up until now and now that's he really getting it, I'm thinking that's kind of confusing.

**update** Nope. No underwears today. He was all off kilter this morning and upset about school again, plus he peed his pants on the way out the door, so I made the call to just bag it.  Maybe next week. :)

Also, today is picture day. :) Unrelated to the potty thing, but I'm pretty excited for his first school pictures. (he wouldn't do it last year)


Simon:
His teacher told me he has jumped up several reading levels just since the start of school! He also knows all of his sight words (though he will, apparently, only share this knowledge when she makes him do it one on one... this is an issue) She has some concerns about his handwriting/fine motor and is sending him back to the school OT to have her check things out. But when I asked about reading, she said things are great! She also said he's really doing well in math and really, really "gets" math. So that's pretty neat. He has some things we need to work on but that's a whole other post. Wanted to share the really neat, positive things for now. :)

Ben:
All around good, easy, wonderful, confident right now.

Oh, but here's a funny story...  so last night, he was doing his math homework. He got a few problems in and I noticed he was looking frustrated, near tears even. They are doing double digit multiplication. I thought this was a little odd because he has truly never struggled with math!  So I asked him if he needed help and he started to cry, "I just don't get this!! I'm lost!!!"  I asked him if he had been lost in class too and he said yes. Yikes.  So I looked at his paper and there were only answers (wrong ones) and no work.

"Where's the work?" I asked.

"I used mental math." was his reply.

Seriously? Mental math for double digit multiplication? I looked at the problems and tried to do one in my head and my head almost exploded.

Now, I don't know if mental math is what they were SUPPOSED to use? (you never know if Ben quite heard all the directions accurately) But it clearly wasn't working. So I showed him how I do double digit multiplication. I have NO idea if it's how they teach it now (probably not because everything now involves rounding and grouping and mental math and drawing ridiculously complicated pictures of cubes but whatever.)

So I showed him ... he watched a couple times and I could see things were clicking... and he had a eureka moment and proceeded to do all twenty or so problems in the span of about ten minutes the way I showed him and got them all right.  I have to wonder how they teach it if not this way... it's so simple. (and I can say that because I am a math idiot) Was he just not paying attention because he thought he could do it in his head? I may never know... but I'm sure glad I noticed he was struggling!

Now, I think it bears repeating that I am a MATH IDIOT.... Another couple years and Ben's math assignments will truly be beyond the scope of what I can help with. So I was pretty happy I was still able to come to the rescue this time. I just hope his teacher doesn't get annoyed I showed him my way. Honestly, does it matter how you do it as long as you get the right answer?

I guess we'll see!

Tom and I had a dating anniversary yesterday. We have officially been together longer than we haven't. That's kind of fun. No time to celebrate yesterday. Maybe this weekend. :)

First Week....

We all survived the first week of school. We fell back into our routine pretty quickly!

So, Ben... he started out the week super anxious about switching classes. As I predicted, after actually doing it on Tuesday, he was totally fine.

This year, he has the benefit of four different teachers, including the only two male classroom teachers at the school. (there is also an instrumental music teacher who is a man)

One of them is Mr. H. Every kid in the school from 2nd grade up knows Mr. H.. He's definitely one of those "cool" teachers who gets fourth graders, especially fourth grade boys. (he has four boys of his own) He wears funny ties sometimes and is big into sports and I always see the kids in the bus lines yelling things to him or high-fiving him.  He reminds me of the kind of teacher I know my dad is.

Ben has Mr. H for science. Now, Ben has always been a science-loving kid... he has studied (quite in-depth, I might add) everything from the solar system, to volcanoes, oceans, bugs, sharks/ fish on his own over the years. In the first few years of school, science and math kind of take a backseat to literacy, which makes sense. It's crucial the kids learn to read and write well first and foremost. But I knew Ben would really embrace school when REAL science came on the scene. And it appears it has. He came home the first day talking about fossils. The third day, he came home with a journal from reading class saying this:

Before school yesterday, he wanted to know more about electricity... where it comes from, where it goes... (OMG kid... I'm packing lunches...  here's the internet... ask Google!!)

Last night at dinner, he asked at least a hundred questions about DNA and genetics. He wanted to know what would happen if you just took DNA from one person and DNA from another person and put them together in a dish. I explained that that's called a "test tube baby" and we ended up having a little "facts of life" refresher. LOL.  Then he wondered what would happen if you took DNA from two different animals... "depends on the animal... sometimes you end up with a donkey." "Well how do you extract DNA? I want to do that!"  I told him I once took a genetics class in high school and we extracted DNA from fruit flies and made it so you could actually see it.  That blew his mind.

 (and, just FYI, that class was so over my head it wasn't even funny... Turns out, I somehow managed to accidentally take an AP class a year ahead of my own just because I thought genetics was cool... one of my classmates ended up becoming an actual brain surgeon... another became, no lie, a rocket scientist....)

Anyway, so I always knew he'd be into science class once it really got going and it seems I was right. And it also appears he has a teacher who already inspires him. So this is going to be a really awesome year for him!!!

He hasn't said much about Math, but I know he loves that teacher too and he's doing okay so far. They are learning about decimals and I've already been confused. THanks, math. I still hate you.

He has the same teacher for reading and writing and I've heard through the grapevine that she is a phenomenal writing teacher. When he feels inspired, Ben actually REALLY enjoys writing, and I think she'll be really great for him to really hone something i know he enjoys even though he doesn't always think he does.   In reading, they are getting ready to read the book "Wonder" and he's excited about that. Oh, and in case he needed an extra reason to love that class, he is seated next to his best friend. One of the positives of them shaking up the class levels this year meant this was a actually a possibility... never in a million years did I think they'd actually be seated together. But for now, they are... with a girl between them... who happens to be Georgia, a little girl who Ben went to preschool with and was BFFs with during their time there. How fun is that?

For homeroom, he has his reading teacher from last year. While I would have loved for him to have had her for reading/writing, I'm thrilled she is part of his fourth grade year even just for homeroom. She's a wonderful teacher and knows Ben well from last year. I love that he starts and ends the day with her and I think of it as his "safe place to land".

Really just seems like it will be a good year all around for him and he really seems to be finding his footing academically.



Simon ....

I was initially worried about how things would go. Simon can be a tough kid in the classroom... not with behavior... but in quiet ways. I knew he needed just the right teacher to make this a successful year.   I don't know any of the first grade teachers, so I didn't know what to expect; but as soon as he came home on the first day and said, "I think I have the nicest teacher in the whole entire school!!!" I knew it was going to be okay. He continued to talk all week about how nice his teacher is and how much he loves her.  :) Makes a mom's heart happy...

He is SO happy, loves going every day and has found friends in his class. He only has good things to say when he comes home! The little bit of classwork that has come home looks like he is putting forth his best effort too.

They haven't split into reading groups yet, according to him, but he did bring home two little take-home books "Cat Sat on the Mat"... that sort of thing... and he read them easily.. so the reading is definitely improving.

I haven't communicated with his teacher at all.  My teacher friends all told me to let her figure him out for herself. I was pleasantly surprised when she came up to me yesterday at pickup. She told me he's doing really well and that particular day had been FANTASTIC.... and to ask him about getting on "purple". Purple means he was a role model for other students. :) He reports it was because he was standing in line so nicely. So sweet....

She added that he is warming up to her, smiling at her now sometimes and just really doing a nice job in general. They had a little assignment where they had to come home and ask about where their names came from. She said he got right up front yesterday and explained everything we had told him about his name! Proud of him... I was praying for a really good classroom/teacher fit this year and it seems we may have gotten it.

Everyone did great in their specials.... no complaints... even from Ben who was dreading instrumental music. LOL.

So a great first week all around!!

Open House....

Yesterday afternoon was the open house at the elementary school.  It started at 3, but we arrived at 2:30 because yeah, I don't do that fighting for a parking spot nonsense. We met up with my similarly Type-A sister-in-law and niece on the playground and the kids all played until it was time to go into school.

The boys dutifully hauled their heavy backpacks in without much complaint while I sang "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and skipped. My children tolerated this surprisingly well.

Also? I rehearsed Simon before we went in.

"Hi Simon! I'm your teacher, Mrs. B! Welcome back to school...  and now you say....??"

Just wanted to make sure he wasn't going to hide or run away, growl or snarl.  He did okay. But more on that later.

First we headed to Ben's room because I knew I could leave him there and focus more on Simon. Ben's homeroom teacher is his reading teacher from last year and I have to say,  it was really, REALLY nice to walk into a classroom to a teacher we already knew. I know she only has him for homeroom, but even that will eliminate ONE round of explaining Ben to people this year. Case in point? His seat was right up in the front of the classroom. No accident, I'm promise you.

His room smelled like the Clorox wipes that come in the green can.  Best. Smell. Ever. (next to Clean Cotton from Yankee Candle) Ahhh... I love the smell of a squeaky clean school before it gets converted to a winter germ factory.

The classroom theme is Hollywood and the teacher had rolled out a red carpet for the kids to walk in on... so cute! I helped Ben put his things in his desk and then got him set up doing handprints in back of the room for the wall of fame. He said he was okay with coming to find us (he did this last year too and can I just say that having an "older kid" makes life so much easier?) and so Simon and I headed off to find his classroom.

Simon's classroom is very close to his kindergarten room, which is nice. He's less likely to get lost and wander aimlessly on the first day. It's bright and cheery, as first grade classrooms should be! :) We found his desk pretty quickly. I didn't get a chance to take a picture at his desk though because as soon as we got there, there was a checklist of things to to be done. He was busy filling out a star shape with his name and favorite things ("minecraft!!!")  while I put all the supplies away, signed some forms, put things in his locker, etc. His teacher introduced herself to him and he whispered his name and refused to make eye contact. I call this a raging success, meaning he spoke, which is lot more than I expected. He also didn't try to leave the classroom.... so yay for that!

His desk is in a pod of six and he's either right up front or all the way in back. I actually couldn't tell which end of the classroom was the front.  This is probably a good thing...  there's bright, learnin'- type stuff on every wall! ;) Also, in my defense, it was really chaotic and I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention.

The teacher's organization really impressed me (Love me some good organizational systems) as did her demeanor as I listened to her speaking to the other kids and parents. I'm really hopeful for a good fit and a good year in general for Simon.  He has quite a few kids in his class from last year, more than I initially thought... so that's good!

On the way out, I remembered the photo, but another kid was using Simon's desk so we settled for one at the classroom door.  I got a smile!!! And a pose? I think he was just happy we were leaving....

We also stopped by his locker and practiced opening and closing it. Took a couple tries. :)

Oh and interesting note about lockers -- in fourth and fifth grade, they apparently don't put names on the them. There are no cheery rainbow stars or peace signs or labels with adorably written names lining the older kids' hallway. It looks like... well... middle school, which I'm guessing is what they are getting them prepared for. Smart people, those 4th and 5th grade teachers.

Later, we doubled back to Ben's classroom --  after the deluge of paperwork in Simon's room, I wanted to make sure I hadn't forgotten something in Ben's room because I left there empty-handed!. I was impressed that Ben knew which locker was his.  LOL. First off, I can't believe he thought to ask for (or maybe he just was the unwilling recipient of) his locker number when I wasn't there... secondly, he had already put his art smock and headphones in it while I was busy with Simon. Who is this kid?  I love it!

We stopped by to say hello to last year's teachers, although Simon hid from his kindergarten teacher. (sigh) And we stopped to say hi to Mrs. Terry in the library and take a picture in front of her "Read Box" (free rentals!) which is adorable. :)

So Monday is the big day! Off to the races with a 4th and 1st grader. Crossing fingers for a good day and a good year. :)

Aww....

The evolution of Simon writing his name over the course of kindergarten... what a fun thing to have!
It's funny... I've been saying on here that I've seen HUGE leaps forward in the last month or so and here's visual proof. :o)

Ben's Biography Project, Simon's Kindergarten Conference and Other Things....

The third graders at our school all write a biography as one of their big projects for the year. I think Ben has been working on it since January or so! They are supposed to choose their mom or dad (although a couple kids did grandparents, so I will keep that in mind for when Simon goes through!) and they came home with a list of questions to ask their subject.

I knew what this project entailed, thanks to parents who have gone before me,  so I encouraged him to write about Tom, not me. (although he was leaning that way anyway.)  You see, once the book is published (they send them off and they are hardbound and everything!!), they have a biography party and the subjects are invited in to hear the kids read their biographies.

You have to sit in the front of the room and pictures of you as a baby, teenager, now and with your child are shown while they read.  Very, VERY sweet, actually... and if Ben had really REALLY wanted to write about me, I would have gone along with it, but I would have been beet red the entire time and wanting the floor to open up and swallow me whole.

Here's a picture of Ben reading his biography to Tom that one of the other moms sent me.  :)

I want to post the actual book (I posted it on FB) but I am having photo rotation and placement issues with Blogger, so maybe later.

He did SUCH a great job... Tom said Ben's a really great presenter. So funny. I kind of thought he'd end up having my public speaking issues since we had such a hard time with him being nervous about his economics project earlier in the year. (although he ended up doing a FANTASTIC job!!) I guess he's over his stage fright, because Tom said he wasn't nervous at all!

Since Tom was at school for the party at dismissal time, I seized the opportunity to schedule Simon's belated Kindergarten conference kid-free while daddy watched all the boys play on the playground.  Whew.

It went well. He's where he needs to be and she doesn't have concerns about him being ready for first grade, although we definitely need to keep up our work over the summer to make sure he doesn't lose ground. His handwriting has improved by leaps and bounds and he is doing a great job with stretch spelling. They are just starting to write sentences, which he seems to be doing well with!  I got a laugh out of one example from his journal that she showed me that said, "On the weekends, I like to upgrade my Lego sets." LOL! He cracks me up.

He's not where Ben with his reading and writing at the same point in his kindergarten year, and I was kind worried about that for awhile...(Not because I'm comparing them... but what else did I have to base my expectations on?) I was concerned more because he didn't seem to be making any steady forward movement than anything else. But now he's making a lot of progress, so I feel better. I know they are unique and different in their strengths and abilities. Simon's also a little younger than Ben was (both chronologically and in just in overall maturity) and just a different kind of kid all around.

The teacher said he does well with math and is really quick with picking up patterns. I think that's so interesting... and it really fits with what I know about how his brain works. :) Definitely my builder/creator/doer.

There are some concerns with his attention and focus, (daydreaming, zoning out) which we're just watching. It's kind of perplexing because I've never really seen that in him, except with homework... but SO much is going on in our house during homework time... so I've noticed it, but never thought much of it. Actually, as I type this, he's sitting, where he has been for an hour, intently concentrating on building a Star Wars Lego set.

I do think he's a super sensitive kid to anything like not getting enough sleep, not feeling 100% for whatever reason. He also gets a little overwhelmed sometimes by all the hustle and bustle at school and I have to wonder if the days there are focus issues aren't days when something like that is at play. But, time will tell...  it's most definitely a possibility, just given the fact that he's in our family.... so we'll just watch and wait.

Anyway, so that went well. I asked about his teacher for next year because, why not? I knew there wouldn't be an answer, but I had to try.  ;)  But yeah, no answer on that.

Moving on... that same day, Jonathan had his very last Two and You class.

Early on, I told him I wanted to take a picture of him with Miss Sally... he had other ideas.  Miss Sally had brought in a new cd player. He posed with it. LOL!

He danced up a storm that day... this is him during Bear Hunt.

And with buddy Lillian.... 

Finally, I got my Miss Sally picture. ;)

Whew. Crazy Friday!