Volunteer

I have had a great year volunteering at Mason's school. Rob decided to go with me on my last scheduled day, I love it so much that I didn't let him go by himself. The dates were so hard to get because of all the giving moms that I wasn't able to get as many as I would have liked so giving them to Rob just wasn't an option!

School Carnival

We went to our first Spring Ridge school carnival. I was the treasurer for the event, which was a very easy gig. I was recruited for spreadsheet help and I do love a spreadsheet, so all went well. The numbers were good for the event! Everyone had a good time, unfortunately Rob wasn't able to join us for the night because he had to work. A fun packed evening. Ellery wasn't old enough to do the monkey motion, but Mason was very excited to do it! We did end the night doing the cake walk, sure we had to play until both Mason and Ellery won, so it was all about winning! Guess that is a lesson we still need to work on.

Mason 4th Quarter-Mid quarter report

Mason came home with his mid quarter report for the 4th quarter.
Thematic Units included the following: eggs and chicks; spring; trees; plants and seeds; weather; caring for the earth; reduce, reuse, recycle.
Concepts are language arts and mathematics. Mason is satisfactory in both categories. He is reading, writing, and doing math. He is also satisfactory in personal and social growth.
Mrs. Farley wrote the following in the comments section:Mason continues to do well in all areas. He can work on the following:
-staying focused during work time (especially writing so that he produces his best work)
-neat handwriting-this has improved

Overall we can't complain!

Mason School Music Program

Mason debuted in his first school music program. They sang Friday Nights, Under the Sea, and You've Got a Friend in Me. They had actions they did with the songs and a speaking part he had to memorize. The video of him singing is too big to upload, but you really aren't missing anything. Rob captured the smile in the and it shows his excitement. We were surprised that he actually participated and sang. When they sing at church he doesn't sing and he may or amy not do the actions! As the night went on the actions were smaller and smaller as Mason lost interest or was just too tired to carry on!

Eagle Report

Mason's school has an Eagle Report every morning. It is produced in the library and the reports are staffed from the 5th grades. The  5th grade anchors do invite in reports from the field aka younger classes. They do the kindergartners towards the end of the year and invite the parents to sit in the library or known these days as the "media center". I think if you asked Mason if his school had a library he would say you mean the media center. Regardless of the somatics these days we sat in the room full of books and watched Mason on the TV. He had to do a report on tools to prepare himself for the big event and I don't think we have to worry about him being camera shy!

Mason 3rd Quarter Report

Per Mrs. Farley: Mason had a great 3rd quarter! His strengths include: letter recognition, sound knowledge, number recognition, counting sight word knowledge, rhyming and sequencing pictures and events. He is very capable of writing his name, numbers, and letters neatly and ""the school way" if he slows down and focuses on the task. I believe Mason could be doing much better in the area of math-but in most cases he's not listening to the direct tins, he's not paying attention to the details of the task and hurries to get done first. I will continue to remind Mason that we only want his BEST work. I hope Mason has enjoyed reading all kinds of book sot his family. He is rockin' and rollin' with his reading.

Parent Teacher Conference

We had Mason's parent teacher conference. He did get a great report. He is able to do all the work and grasps concepts, but he is loosing focus at school. Instead of doing his best work he rushes through his work or gets distracted by the other kids and doesn't do it the school way. Take his writing in the attached picture. The teacher read the book The Paper Bag Princess before she read the end of the book to them she asked them to write what they thought she should do. Mason has thoughts and visions, we just need to work on keeping him focused!

Mason's School Valentines Party

I have mixed feelings about being a head party mom. I don't know where the balance is with working with non-crafty moms vs crafty moms. It is fun to do crafty things for 25, but not for 75? So do you ask the non-crafty mom to do it or do you not do it? We were supposed to be doing the same party for all 3 classes, but scheduling conflicts due to busy schedules made it too difficult so I decided to plan my party and if someone wanted to use my ideas they could. I really do enjoy these things!Not that excited over the craft, but we were able to decide upon this as a group without meeting prior to crazy schedules. Mason enjoyed making one a sample for the group so I think it will be fun for the kids. Where our planners ran into problems was running stations. I like to run stations and have a group snack at the end and play a fun game if time permits as a group. In this case we would play Cupid Says. The other moms don't like running stations, but yet they wanted to place the kids in groups and do the activities together. I call that stations, but whatever works for you go for it?
here is what I came up with:

GAMES:

Pin the Eyes on Mrs. Farley - Played just like pin the tail on the donkey, blindfold one child spin them around and send them in the direction of Mrs. Farley and let them stick a googly eye on her.

Conversation Heart Toss - throw a conversation candy heart into a bucket. Place kids in two groups and see how many hearts they can get into a bucket while taking turns.

Surprise Kisses - A lot like pass the pumpkin to music, but this one is boxes and each time the music stops the kid with the box opens the box to find another box inside. Continue until no more boxes to unwrap. We tell the kids that whoever unwraps the last of the boxes has to give everyone a kiss. No one will want to do it, but when the final box is opened they will find they get to hand out hershey kisses to everyone in the group.

Stacking Heart Challenge - Set up a bowl of candy hearts on a table and see who can make the tallest tower by stacking them up onto of each other. Count the highest number they are able to stack. Our back up game is Steal My Hearts - Letting the kids try to use chopsticks and put them in a bowl or pile. No one will be able to use the chopsticks properly, but they should enjoy holding them in each hand trying to pick up the hearts. At the end of the game have the kids find their initials out of all the soap letters.

The party was a hit and I couldn't resist these two cuties! I hope their friendship keeps growing over the years. Sam and Mason are two peas in a pod!

Mrs. Farley

I have been a bit disappointed in school this year with having 24 kids in a kindergarten class, but I haven't been disappointed in his teacher Mrs. Farley. All the things you wish for your kid in school=Mrs. Farley. I still enjoy going to the school every week and volunteering in his class. I am in charge of teaching 6 kids for 45 minutes in a station. Talk about pressure, but I really do enjoy it. This week I was early and I got to watch Mason talk about what he would buy if he had $100 in front of the class. His response shocked me, but appropriate. We don't have any Mario games, but his friend next door does. So if Mason had $100. He would buy Mario Cart so he could drive FAST! He is also reading like a champ. So fun to watch him sound out words he doesn't know and also read his phonetic spelling! I can't believe how much he has grown up over the year!

Mason 2nd Quarter Report

Per Mrs. Farley:
Mason has made good progress during quarter 2. He has very strong letter, number, and sight word identifications skills. Hes letter-sound knowledge and counting skills are strong as well. He is writing in his journal. He has the knowledge to write a whole story, so I will be encouraging him to do that.
Mason can continue to work on attention to detail when he is drawing and when he is writing. He tends to get in a hurry, he worries about what others are doing, he gets distracted, and sometimes doesn't finish in time. We will work on slowing down and thinking about the task. You can do it, Mason!

We also got a sheet from the specialists this time, the art, music, PE, and Library/media. He is satisfactory in all areas, but is Satisfactory + in music by identifying concepts of high/low, fast/slow, loud/soft. He is also Satisfactory + in library by identifies the role of author and illustrator.

Nothing too shocking! He is our first born super star!

All I want for Christmas

I hope I blogged Mason's stocking from pre-school.

Ellery's list is short and sweet. She wants a barbie house with an elevator. She forgot to mention that it had to have an elevator and she wants a barbie car she can drive. Santa only brings one gift in our house and a stocking. I think Santa is only going to deliver #2 and her parents aren't coming through on #1.

Cookies with Santa

Ellery's school had a cookies with Santa get together. I am going to have to start pre-screening Santa's! I am not a fan of the dressed up ones with a fake beard. We still got to make our yearly reindeer food at the event, and who doesn't love a cookie? It would appear Bryson doesn't, but don't let him fool you.

Ellery Christmas Program

We went to Ellery's Christmas program at school today! She was a very cute performer! We were very proud parents. It was nice that Grandma Ellen could come to the event as well. Ellery really enjoyed showing her the school and classroom!
My favorite item is the present she made for us! It is the classic hand print on the ornament made into snowmen, but I adore it and will cherish it forever!

Catch me-I'm the Gingerbread Man

I volunteered at school with Mason and I was happy I was available to volunteer in Ellery's class when they made gingerbread houses. She was so sweet and kept coming to give me hugs and kisses all throughout class even after she had made her house at my station! It is a lot of fun seeing them in the class environment and watching her interact. She does like the home living station the best!

Mason Mid Quarter Report

Mason was sent home with a mid-quarter report today. He can be either satisfactory or needs assistance. He meets satisfactory standards, no surprise to us. In the comments section the teacher wrote: Mason continues to do well. He is listening and working hard. He needs to refrain from talking during work time and taking care of just himself.

Rob hears that he is social, I am hearing he might be a tattle tale. Either way he is a sweet kid just trying to do good!

Ellery School Picture

Ellery had school pictures taken while we were vacationing in the Bahamas. I think it was good for me, I would have put her in a bow and pulled her hair up neatly. We don't usually capture Ellery with her hair down or no bow, so this is a keeper!

Ellery Parent Teacher Conference

We had Ellery's parent teacher conferences today and got a glowing report. I was a bit worried because we don't work with her like we did Mason, we do work with her just in a different way. She loves dramatic play, singing, dancing, and home living at school.

Social and Emotional Report:

Ellery is very social. She is independent and makes good choices for herself. She follows rules and routines. She is a comforter and nurturer. She shares willingly with others. She uses words to solve conflicts with friends. Ellery has good self help skills and tries to help friends.

Some of this came as a shock. She shares willingly with others as long as their name isn't Bryson!

Our funniest part was reviewing her emotions and what she had to say about everyone. The instructions were to just color the chart, but Ellery felt compelled to give a story to each emotion along with assigning it to someone in our family! I am glad to see that she gave herself Happy!!!

School Skating Party

When I was in middle school I would spend every Friday night at the skating rink. Mason's school had a school sponsored skating party and I thought he was a bit too young to go, but I just couldn't resist. We loaded up the family and went skating. Too our surprise they have these wonderful mini walkers for beginner skaters! Fabulous and made the whole experience grand!It wasn't all smiles. Being a Friday night didn't make it any easier when we fell a few times before we used the walker. Once we got going he was having a great time. He was still reserved, but enjoyed himself. Ellery loved it and liked going fast and wanted to try to do more on her own.

They really enjoyed trying it more by themselves on the carpet where it wasn't as slick! Rob walked around with them as well, but he wouldn't put on any skates! We have goals for the next party!

My Family

Mason remains our sweet sensitive child. He is very nurturing and he is someone who is always taking care of others or thinking of them!

Mason's School Halloween Party

Oh, I have mixed feelings on being a party mom for school. Our school makes each grade have the same exact party for all the grades. We have 3 kindergarten classes, so you have to plan the party with two other moms and make it the same. Making a craft for 24 kids is fun, but doing it for 75 isn't as fun. Working out schedules to get everything planned is tons of fun as well. I found cute little signs for each group of kids so they would know what station to go to. I divided them up into groups based on the signs. Rob printed cute name tags for me out of skeleton font and then we put the coordinating stickers on them to place them into groups. My kids had a great time painting the signs prior to the party!
I love to look at the costumes. Our school also does a parade so you get to watch all the kids walk through. Well, I didn't because I had to get everything set up, but I did watch Mason go through.
Nothing makes a party run smooth like stations! I dressed up as a witch with long eye lashes! I also had witch stockings on that were red and orange stripped! I think everyone had a good time so I would call it a success!