Science Fair....

The much dreaded science fair was last night. Ben was in SUCH a bad mood because, earlier in the day, they had displayed their projects for the 3rd grade. (Third grade walks through to see them because they will have to do it next year. )

Ben said one of the kids told him his project "sucked". Apparently the same kid also told Ben's friend Tommy HIS project "sucked".  Lovely. Lovely child you are raising there, mom, whoever you are.

Anyway, so Ben came home dejected and annoyed at the whole thing. After much reassurance that the kid in question is a probably a less than intelligent creature with low self esteem, (and also the kind of kid we are trying to avoid a high concentration of in our hunt for a middle school), we headed back to school for the actual fair, along with all the other 4th and 5th graders and their parents.

AY ay ay. So many people.

Mercifully, it only lasted an hour and we just wandered around to see the various projects and hear the kids' little schpeals about them. Some were awesome. Some were hilarious. (I'm thinking of the kid who did one on whether healthy stink bugs stink more or not)  Ben, who hadn't cared much about the project at all, suddenly declared he wanted to win 2nd or 3rd place. (1st place has to go to the county competition, which he definitely did NOT want)  He did not win, nor did he win honorable mention. I wish I had known he was going to care, I would have helped him choose a more unique idea!  But back when it all started, I could hardly get him to even get involved, much less care about the topic.

Now, I think he's just glad it's over!

He did not want his picture taken. In fact, before I got THESE pictures, he was actually sitting UNDER the table. (sigh)  They had to stand with their project the whole time and he absolutely hated that. (as would I!!)   He was just a mess of anxiety and self-consciousness the entire time. Poor kid....

Goodstuff....

We are supposed to meet with school once a year to update the kids' 504/IEPs. Ben's kept getting put off for weather. Anyway, we finally had it today. For those who don't know, these generally last anywhere from 30 minutes - an hour. They've always been in the 45-60 minute range for us. 

Today? 

10 minutes.

The nurse (who is always part of the the team), didn't even make it in before it was over. 

Anyway, so long story short, it was a great meeting... all ten minutes of it. 

Ben's teacher who came (she has him more of the day than the other two teachers so represented everyone) went on and on about what a neat kid he is, how he's so smart and contributes all sorts of interesting things to class discussions. His grades are great, his classwork is great.  "He's an absolute pleasure to have in class!" She said she can't wait to see what he ends up doing in life. LOL. She even tossed out a bunch of his accommodations that are no longer needed. (extra time on tests and dictating work... he never used either of these anyway)

Such a 180 from when we first started with all this at the beginning of last school year.  I'm so proud of him! He went from being a really bright kid, but an underachiever, to taking pride in being smart and doing great work. 

Maturity and medication. They work wonders! ;)

STEM Fair....

Ben has to do a full-on science fair project this year. I am not thrilled about this. He loves science and so do I, but this is beyond the scope of what a fourth grader can do on their own, so we have to help... like a ton... and that's kind of annoying. Not that I don't want to help... but this would go more smoothly a few years from now!

I think we've settled on a pretty straight-forward, if somewhat unoriginal idea involving the efficacy of laundry detergent on removing stains. Our twist is we are asking what the effect of well water is on this.   (if the teacher approves it) I'm actually kind of curious myself....

Simon wishes he could participate. He's gotten quite into science lately with the magnet and electricity units the first grade just did. LOL. Definitely my hands on kid! Although aren't they/we all, kind of? Hands on stuff is way more fun than just learning from a book.

I wish all of school was like science!

School Pic 2013!

They came back in record time this year!
Only Ben's came home yesterday though. Simon's should come home Monday.

Ben's turned out cute! :)

Updates....

Ben --

Ben is kicking school's butt this year and actually enjoying it. Last year, he had this odd aversion to "seeming smart". (he actually articulated it that way... as in.... something to the effect of "Some people like to walk around school with their nose in a book looking smart but I don't want to seem that way... like a book nerd." ) THAT was like a knife to the heart....

Thankfully, it was just a passing thing because this year, he seems to have embraced being a "smart kid". Unfortunately, this also means he now talks out of his backside sometimes like his daddy does because he thinks he knows everything. But, I am enjoying every other aspect of it.

He LOVES doing well on his schoolwork now. He takes pride in the fact that he is understanding the ridiculous math they are doing up, down, and sideways. (seriously? Supposedly he's doing 5th grade math in 4th grade, which is fine and all... except I feel particularly stupid because it's math I didn't do until 6th and 7th, I'm fairly sure.... it's ridiculous... thank GOODNESS he understands it, that's all I can say.... there are x's and y's and the word algebra all over the place. I'm actually thinking about relearning it all with him so I can finally master it and not feel like a math idiot.)  

He is blossoming into a really great little writer too and must be getting positive reinforcement from the teachers on that because he writes CONSTANTLY now and really works hard at crafting his words thoughtfully and carefully. Even his handwriting is nice these days!!


Simon:

Simon has made some great strides. When assisted with his focusing, he does REALLY well. I have been "boot camping" the handwriting situation lately since homework now includes writing ten words on Mondays and three sentences on Tuesdays. We don't stop until it looks perfect and I'm not letting him get away with writing the letters wrong, doing the strokes in the wrong order, or not touching the lines. This, coupled with the teacher giving varying degrees of marks on homework papers (usually "Good", "Very Good", "Excellent, or "Perfect") has been working well. He REALLY wants the "Perfect", though he has yet to get it. Glad he wants it!

He took a math test last week and flaked out after problem #3 because he couldn't focus. Literally skipped half the rest of the problems and doodled on the other half. The teacher had him retake it one-on-one with an assistant because she knew he understood the concepts. He ended up getting a 100%.

So obviously, some interventional things are going to have to happen here for him to be successful... working on that.  I'm very happy with the progress he has made though.... the higher expectations of first grade have been good for him!

He is playing a LOT less Minecraft lately and is getting into CHESS, of all things. He found it on Tom's old computer and has been teaching himself to play. Ben has a little set and he sets up games and plays against Tom and Ben and even tries to teach Jonathan.

He has also gotten VERY into making movies lately. He makes movies on his phone (one of our old cell phones) and on the laptop. He desperately wants to know how to edit them and put them on YouTube. OMG... it's like I am raising my brother!!! Last weekend, he came down and asked me "Mommy, how do people make make believe movies? I want to do that." (face palm)  Actually considering getting him a little video camera for Christmas. I just hope this doesn't end with him becoming a YouTube star and moving to California when he's 20. LOL!

Jonathan:

Still crying when I drop him off at school, but it's quick and he is always happy when I pick him up. I do wish he'd stop it altogether, but that will come in time. I'm just happy he has good days now. He loves art, I'm told and music, of course. I think his interactions with the other kids are okay, although he did come home the other day and told me that Mrs. Poe told him he couldn't say, "NO!" to his friends. LOL.  He's also not allowed to yell at them for doing the Gangnam Style dance wrong, which apparently he was also doing.  I'm just happy he's not biting them, honestly, because he has been biting Ben and Simon here and there lately. SO scared he's going to chomp on a friend.... :\

He loves his teacher and quotes her often. Mrs. Poe says this, Mrs. Poe says that.... Mrs. Poe told me this... Mrs. Poe told me that. So cute and sweet. :)

He also adores his little friend Lillian, who he was with last year in the twos class. They seem to really click and enjoy one another's company. We have yet to set up a playdate, but it's on the to-do list.

I need to get better about setting up playdates for all the kids. It always seems like life gets in the way. Ben is constantly asking to have friends over and now Simon is too. Gah. It's just so hard to do it on school afternoons and the weekends are packed with swimming and family time.... gotta sacrifice something somewhere for the sake of their social well being, I guess! LOL!

I kept seeing things come home in Ben's writing folder about a personal narrative. He could offer no specific details about when it was due or when they were working on it. The scoring rubric came home the other day and he just shrugged. I took his word for it that he was not supposed to be working on it at home.  Trying to be hands off with him this year. So far, so good... I think.

Imagine my surprise when a packet of take-home papers to be signed came home yesterday and THIS was in it. With a 15/16 grade! His spelling needs help, but his writing is seriously pretty decent for a 9-year-old. I joked that I did not appreciate how I was portrayed.... apparently I "explode" a lot. It's probably accurate actually, now that I think about it... especially on a day when we're having a giant party at our house and Ben asks me questions I've already answered... ;)  Should probably try to work on that. ;) 

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.

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!!!

One of Those Catch-all Posts...

This is that weird week that happens at the beginning of every school year where the kids just are starting to get in their routines and then, bam, two days off.  Thanks labor unions and the Jewish calendar!

Ben handled it well this year. (years past have not been so wonderful). Simon, on the other hand, misunderstood which day I told him they had off and when I said, "Okay, time to get shoes on!" yesterday morning, looked up from his Minecraft came and said, "Why?" In that moment, I knew this wasn't going to be pretty. Despite me having put him through his normal school morning routine, and reminding him it was corn dog day in the cafeteria, he somehow missed the small detail that it was, in fact a school day.

Cue the freakout.

I had to chase him up the stairs, grab him and carry him to the mudroom. No easy feat. He's not small anymore. He alternated between crying and whining all the way to school. I told him if I had to carry him into school, we'd have a problem and also, if that happened, Minecraft was gone for the foreseeable future.

Somewhere in there, he got it together, but mentioned not wanting to go to recess because some girls wanted him to play a game he didn't want to play.

I know better than to delve too deeply into school drama issues right before dropoff... it only winds them up and I have been seriously burned in the past by the "Even though you've asked me 47 times what's wrong, I'll wait and tearfully spill my guts right before you need me to get out of the car and you'll feel so sorry for me you'll give up and park" scheme.  I'm not heartless, I've just wised up. (makes me glad my parents didn't have three kids... I never would have gotten away with the stuff like this I put them through!)  So I said, "Talk to your teacher about it. It will be fine." and sent him on his way.  Defeated, he scowled at me, slammed the door, and kicked the side of the car before stomping off. I considered it a victory because I didn't have to lug him into school kicking and screaming.

Sometime in the mid-afternoon, I thought perhaps I should at least send the teacher an email and see if he was okay when he got to her that morning. She replied quickly, thanking me for the explanation because he he apparently stomped into class and put his head down on his desk.  She talked to him about the recess thing and said she checked on him at recess and he was happy. All is well with that one now.

Ben came home talking of trilobites and Cretaceious periods. Dinosaurs and fossils is one topic he hasn't obsessed about during his nine years on earth. I waited for it and it never came. It seems fourth grade science class has triggered an interest.  Here we go! I love that he is loving science this year! 

Jonathan -- I had a meeting yesterday with his soon-to-be 3s preschool teacher and Ms. Cindy. (his Infants and Toddlers teacher) Cindy wanted to brief Mrs. P about what to expect with him and what she has been working on with him. As I expected, Mrs. P was completely unfazed by everything we threw at her, which is what I love so much about her. Cindy started by saying "Well, he'll get fixated on things... dvd players, cd players... so don't ever let him touch the one in the classroom or he'll want to do it all the time." Before she even finished the thought, Mrs. P looked over at me and said, "This is all sounding REALLY familiar... Ben?" LOL.  TOO funny. That was almost seven years ago. "Yeeeeeeah."I said. I explained he's a "Ben-lite" in many ways, but way more challenging in others. She talked about all her memories of Ben and told Cindy about how he once came up and pointed to her watch and explained that it was analog, not digital... and how she once had to cover up the clock so he'd stop obsessing  about it. I LOVE that she remembers that...and not just remembers it... remembers it fondly.  

So it's going to be a great year for Jonathan, I think. He couldn't possibly be in better hands than Mrs. P. :) She can handle anything he throws at her! 

The night before last was back to school night. It was the usual chaos, but I have the chaos down to a science. Park at 5:30 before the hoards of other parents arrive. It starts at 6... but if you don't want to park six miles away, you arrive at 5:30.  Head to Ben's grade for the first session, buy a t-shirt from the PTA before they run out (seriously, why do they not order enough shirts ever?!), head to Simon's class for the second session... text and FB through the mandatory and painful PTA meeting and volunteer training.

Fourth grade was interesting. I finally was able to put a face to the Ben's reading/writing teacher's name.  Lots happening this year , including a trip to the Air and Space Museum which is going to be awesome!!   :) All the teachers seem great... can't say a bad thing about a single one of them. It's a good team and Ben has all but one of them at some point during the day!

First grade was great too. I like Simon's teacher more and more every time I talk to her. I went into school not knowing a single thing about her, which I never like... but we got lucky.  I can tell she is very kind and honestly, that's one of my top "must haves" with teachers. The kids are already in a great classroom routine with her and Simon is enjoying first grade so far, so I'm thrilled!

Eager to be done with this week of weird days off so we can really get into the swing of things...

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!!