Indianapolis Grandbaby Fix

Finally! 

First of all, I am finally blogging again!

Yay!  My laptop is taking a charge...keep your fingers crossed....

Secondly, We (Sorcha and I and my Mom)  finally got to travel to Indy to see

the most adorable little grand baby ever...

Wren!  

Be warned, there are TONS of pics in this blog...

She is just sooooo cute!

and smart...

and sweet...

and clever...

and (well, you get it...I was totally enthralled by her!)

When our bathroom was completed

(remember it was totally gutted and rebuilt...a blog for another day)

we made our get-a-way,

So  after almost 600 miles,

breakfast with Lee in the Dells,

and several stops

 (Great Grandma Charlotte needs to stretch a lot)

We finally arrived just as Shae and Wren were starting their 

bed time routine.

reading books...

checking us out...

and all the gifts people back home sent for her.

Here she is clutching a bag of barrettes from my sister,

Auntie Stacy.

I bribed her with my necklace 

 checking out Great Grandma....

 and Auntie Sorcha...

 Just look at that face!

Bath time

 More books

 and goodnight kisses

 she loved Sorcha!

 We laughed ourselves silly when Wren crawled into Sorcha's lap

and signed tentatively and hopefully for milk!

Ha!  

Tuesday morning piggy tails

didn't stay in long...

 Great Grandma joined us again.

Wren did not like her dark classes and cried

every time GG came in the room....

Wren already knows how to "swipe" the ipad to change

the screen...amazing!

I LOVE this little family!

Chris worked most of the time so I was glad

to get this pic....

 This is Chris' brother, Matt; sister-in-law, Josie; and

their baby, Macy!

 More Sorcha time...

 and goofy Mama...

 Chris' parents, Wren's Grandpa and Grandma Tilson

Kiss good night...

Wednesday we visited the Farmers' Market...

Love that this pic has the monument right in the background...

 This is Wren's Auntie Donna (Grandma Tilson's sister)

She works for a honey "factory"

Yummy!

Wren's first LETTERBOX!

It was called Giraffes in the Round

It was found right across the street from the monument  

in the rather large round-a-bout

 This statue is really a lady...a real lady

We then went to the Children's Museum

AWESOME!!!!!

 There are 4 floors of learning and imagination!

Bumble Bee greeted us!

Here is a HUGE water clock

This is the FIREWORKS of GLASS

later in the blog you will see pics of us UNDERNEATH it...

COOL!

Our first official "room" was the HOT WHEELS room...

GG and Wren are watching the racing lights...

Playing with hot wheels

 These are life size hot wheels...NICE!

Wren loved DRIVING!

Our second "room" was the Egypt area.

I loved how we had to walk into the plane first...

 What a short flight!

 Finally we landed....

 Wren loved the little oven and the flat bread...

 She fed this donkey over and over...

but she did not want to ride on him!

Riding on a crocodile!

Taking a lunch break,

we packed a lunch...MMMMMM!

Our 3rd stop was the dinosaur room....

One of my favorite areas was the 

digging for fossils area...

 Just look at my little paleontologist 

 Sorcha liked this one...one of the newest dinosaur finds

named after Harry Potter books

Next time I wish to visit here....the clay soldiers of  China

This was my favorite....

We actually stepped INTO a kaleidoscope...

 We had to lay on this bench that turned around and around

I am a dork!

 This is what we saw....

AMAZING!!!!!!

These dinosaurs are outside looking in....

How cool!

 Thursday morning we made playdo...

at first Wren thought we were crazy smooshing it.

But soon she got the hang of it!

 We also played with side walk chalk.

But man, it was HOT and DRY in Indy.

Almost all the lawns are completely brown.

And no one can water without a huge fine.

Water shortages are scary!

Tadadada!   Wren is going to be a big sister in December!

We were lucky enough to go with Wren and Shae to the library program

they attend every Thursday.

Here she is doing Itsy Bitsy Spider.

I tell you, she is so SMART!

 Cousins at the library...

 Aw....

Our time went too fast!

Here is our last good bye snuggle....

I soooo miss this little girl!

But Shae and Chris and Wren will be home in August.

YAY!!!!

Rain Forest Animals 1 Enrichment Summer School

I ADORE teaching summer school!

Last week the almost 1st graders learned about

the rain forest and some of the plants and animals that live there.

Alligators, frogs, jaguars, monkeys, and

big, beautiful butterflies were our focus.

We integrated reading, math, journaling, art, and literature into our week

Here are a few pics of our fast, fun five days,,,

(be sure to snag your kiddo's individual pic at the end!)

Kara's mom stayed to help...she just came from a trip

to the rain forests of Costa Rica!  Awesome!!

 Sarah brought a new birthday present

to share with the class...nice!

Grandma Rita helped us every day!

it really was a jungle in there!

Have a great summer!

See some of you in August for Rain Forest Animals 2!

(bats, snakes, big bugs, lizards, and tropical birds!)

Daily 5 Book Study Chapter 2

First of all, to family and friends waiting for and expecting to see exciting pics of our Spring and Summer...they are coming, I promise! Still cannot upload pics from this Ipad...grrr!
Also, family and friends, feel free to skip reading these book study posts (I DO LOVE being a part of this!) but beware, there will very soon be a post on BATHROOM ADVENTURES...there might be a quiz...so read about the exciting escapades on our bathroom renovation as soon as it gets done (only on day 3...12 to go?) side note: had to go through the pouring rain to use the bathroom in the RV...it's going to be a looooong 2 weeks ( 4 weeks in contractor time?)

http://kindergartensmiles.blogspot.com/2012/06/daily-5-chapter-2-linky.html
1. Do you trust your students? How do you build this trust? Are you able to trust them and allow them to be independent throughout all aspects of your day? Are you going to be able to stay out of their way?

I do trust MOST of my k kiddos MOST of the time! I need to work on the proper practice of procedures if I am to let go of control more.

I currently build trust by giving them valid jobs to keep our classroom running smoothly. Raising 6 kids of my own has taught me the more responsibility kids have, the more independent they become.

Can I stay out of their way? I know I will need to work on being quiet during stamina building, as stated in the book, I do not want the students to become dependent on that positive reinforcement that seems to flow so freely in kindergarten! In other areas of D5? Hmmmm....I am excited to try!



2. How much choice do you give your students throughout the day? Do you go over your daily schedule with your students or is it just 'posted' in the room?

My kiddos get about 30 minutes free choice and 30 minutes of academic choice. One of the reasons D5 was intriguing to me was I was looking for more structure during this academic choice time. I realize I will need to add to the length of time. I am not willing to give up free choice, you know plain old fashioned PLAY time....dolls, blocks,art station, thematic items....any thoughts?

I do go over the daily schedule mostly at the beginning of the year, on return from breaks, and when we have a deviation from the norm...I also go over a target skills chart on most days during group time.



3. How are you going to create that sense of community where students will hold each other accountable?
Oooh ooh, I LOVE THIS ONE! I have been using Resposive Classroom for at least 5 years...I truly buy into their program which has very similar traits as D5: trust, responsibility, knowing our kids, community building...so much of our first six weeks is based on community building activities. Empowering kids is what it is all about!



4. Student ownership in learning? How do you instill this in every child?

Kids do need to know WHY we are reading a particular book or learning specific skills, I need to sloooooow down and say why more often. Just being empowered with the knowledge of WHY can lead to increased ownership of learning and the ability to make good decisions.

On a more general level, at Open House we have the parents write their hopes and dreams for their k kid for the year. The kiddos also journal a hopes and dreams page in the first few weeks of school. I often refer back to them..."Katie, you told us your hopes and dreams were to become an actor. Did you know that actors have to read really well? And be good direction followers? We can work on those skills this year together!". Or "Tommy, your dad wants you to have a great k year filled with friends, fun, and learning!...we will work on all of those things this year!"




5. Stamina! How are you going to build stamina with reading? independent work? Will you use a timer? Will you set goals?

I love the many ideas I have read on your blogs....setting a timer, celebrating, recording goals for all to see. I just love the word STAMINA, cannot wait to teach it to my kiddos. It goes nicely with SELF CONTROL, another k skill!