Homework by candlelight

 

Okay not really. But Wolfie helps! Early May.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Family Night

My school hosted a family night for the staff and their spouses, kids, etc to celebrate the opening of our newly constructed cafenasium (dual purpose space for cafeteria and gymnasium). I didn't take many pictures of my teacher friends and their families- only catching a few moments when Jim and James enjoyed some hoops.

 

That's the Principal in the center. Good guy.

 

 

 

It was nice to see all the kids running around and to meet friends' spouses!

 

After the family night James couldn't wait to do some math homework, just because! What a great kid!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Math Enthusiasts

The school sent home tangram shapes for James to practice with for math. He loved these challenges. He didn't consider it math! Just fun. James and his Dad sat at the kitchen table for quite a while playing with the shapes.

 

 

 

James loved tangrams so much that he found an iPad app all about tangrams. He often plays it for fun, even months later.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Man of the House

When Dad is away James proclaims himself the "Man of the House". When Dad's away, this Mom really appreciates everything Dad does. I needed to supervise the homework completion in the mornings--

 

Bath times--

 

We did cheat one night and we went out to dinner instead of eating at home. We call them "dates" and not cheating :)

 

And he turned the camera on me.

 

We saw a same sex couple at the restaurant and I used the opportunity to point it out, that they're also on a date and isn't that nice?

Jame said, "If I had two Dads I wouldn't get to go on dates with you!" That lead to a great conversation about how he could go on "dates" with Dad too. Dates aren't just for a boy and girl! He couldn't wait to ask his Dad about a date :)

We sent a Date selfie to Dad, all the way in London.

 

He doesn't look excited but he is. He loves calamari!

 

And Dad sent us a picture back! He's with Sonic at the Sega headquarters.

 

Man of the House needed to clean up his boy mess. Damn right.

 

I was glad to be on my game to remember school picture day. James left the house in this long sleeved "fancy" shirt..

 

But he took it off and had picture day in his minecraft shirt! That was not the plan. Thank goodness for retakes day!

 

With Jim gone it was up to me to take James to his swim lesson.

 

And Dairy Queen for dinner? With a pumpkin pie blizzard? No problem!

 

Jim came home with Sega gifts :)

 

 

We sure are glad when Dad comes home!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Whoa

There was this spelling list for May.

 

Hardest words yet! It was a huge jump in difficulty and I had to let the teacher know that our study efforts were met with some frustration. She told us that yes, this was the most difficult list and to let James know he can do it and they do expect the kids to make lots of errors.

I showed the list to my FB friends and we all agreed- what happened to learning cat, dog, tree, or other small words?! Also, my eight graders (in their first year of Spanish) were flabbergasted. They truly are at the cat, dog, etc level. James felt better knowing that he has even more Spanish than an eighth grader!

The results? Well, the first Friday he only got ONE right. There were too many red pen corrections :(

We learned that they were testing on the same list the following week too. We studied even more.

The 2nd result? Only ONE WRONG!

Yay James!!!!!!!!!!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Lucky girl

Do you know how lucky I feel to put this wonderful child to bed, with wishes of Sweet Dreams...

 

And wake up to these two doing homework?

 

It's a wonderful life!

 

Posted with Blogsy

March Art & Homework

James knows that homework is done immediately after dinner. The adults do the dishes and clean up, and James' job is to head upstairs and do his homework without question. He does this 98% of the time with no issue.

One night I asked James if he would read from one of his returned school assignments. It was an art piece with an attached paragraph in Spanish. I knew he could read it easily and I enjoy listening to his Spanish pronounciation.

Oh boy, what a fit! He absolutely grumbled and stomped his feet about it. I didn't think it was such a big thing to ask, so we held on. We asked nicely. We didn't give in. It was such a simple request.. and James made a stink.

He cried. We were patient. When he was ready he came back downstairs (we banished him to his room to cry), and he said that he was hugging the monkey upstairs and it made him feel better. So the monkey came downstairs with him and gave him the courage to read.

Whatever works, dear boy.

 

By the way, his Spanish was easy and beautiful. And it took all of 15 seconds to read it, but he took about 40 minutes to get through this whole ordeal. Aye!

 

His other art pieces.

An invention- a Homework Machine! I'm not sure who wrote that on the top, maybe his art teacher, but James said he made up this invention. Math comes out all done!

 

Math word problems. I took this worksheet to my middle school to show the 8th graders (who take Spanish). They were flabbergasted at how much he is reading and he's ONLY in 1st grade. Immersion works, people.

 

 

 

 

A few days later we asked him to read again. He did it without argument. (Phew.)

 

 

 

If you give a monkey a coca cola. By James. Written by James.

If you give a monkey a coca cola, he wants a banana with the coca cola.

 

He will want a house of wood, and will want another coca cola with a banana.

 

The End.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Spelling

I really concentrated on helping James study for his spelling tests when I saw a low score come home in his folder. I didn't realize at that time that it was a pre-test I was seeing, and not an accurate reflection of his performance at school.

So we studied. He copied his list and we read through the words several times.

 

 

He did well again!

 

Posted with Blogsy

School things

I don't remember what led to the lesson on multiplication but it was done. And he got it! There was a glimmer of understanding and then it was on to the next exciting thing. He does love math though!

 

8 out of 8 on his spelling test!

 

And a Thanksgiving turkey. It would have been a perfect centerpiece but we weren't going to be home for Thanksgiving.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Homework

James is doing so well with his Spanish and reading. Here he reads one of his "books" and we are so proud of him.

 

Posted with Blogsy

First Day of 1st Grade!

Guess who came to wish James a great first day of 1st Grade?

 

 

Sneaky! And he brought good luck money :)

 

 

I was also returning to my "First Day" so I didn't see James off on his bus, but I was home to help greet him from his first day.

 

Of course it was splendid. James really does like school. He never complains about going.

 

Grandma Rose called to get the full report.

 

And right away we established the routine of doing homework immediately after dinner. It is still working!

 

It's going to be a great year!

 

Posted with Blogsy