2014_11_21 Friday

Dave flew to IAD with the kids and I picked them up.

From Elise's reading club: On Monday, X worked on the word down. We all worked on the word away. And now we also have started reading short booklets with CVC words. We read What do you have? On Tuesday, we read BOB books, worked on my Kindle, did flash cards, and counted objects on math worksheets. On Wednesday, we read BOB books and played in the kindle. We also worked on rhyming words. X completed the violet what can we draw? We all worked on a teen numbers/color words wkst.  On Thursday, the girls completed 2 booklets. We did flash cards. We played I Have__ who has__? Game. 

2014_11_20 Thursday

From Elise's teacher: Today we talked about Thanksgiving. I read Pete the Cat the first Thanksgiving. I also read Bear Says Thanks. We talked about where we are going for thanksgiving break. We worked on counting skills. We made a 5 little turkeys booklet. They had Italian.

Show and tell shares: 

Elise- for my show and tell I brought my baby bear. I'm thankful that my brother gave it to me. 

2014_11_19 Wednesday

From Elise's teacher: Today we talked about our bones. First we guessed how many bones they think we have. Then I told them we have 206 bones. We learned names of some-collarbone, rib cage, femur, phalanges. We danced to Dance Around In Our Bones. I read Give Thanks for Each Day. We finger-painted a turkey. We worked on some math skills. They had French today. We practiced our pageant song. 

What are you thankful for? 

Elise- I am thankful for my mom and dad and Buggy and for Christmas because I get to go to Oma and Opa's house. 

Today was an incredible day for me, professionally. I was responsible for interviewing Dr Kent Brantly and his boss Dr Lance Plyler in front of an audience of 1,500. I rocked it!!! You can Google my name and Ebola, and the event will come up.

2014_11_18 Tuesday

From Elise's teacher: Today we talked about the layers of the skin. We looked at a picture of our skin. We saw the hair follicles and sweat glands. They had Spanish today.  We made a turkey and I read the book Turkey Trouble who was trying not to be apart of thanksgiving dinner!  Today we had X's mom come in and be a mystery reader! She read How Does a Dinosaurs eat their food? , How do dinosaurs say I love you? , Miles and Miles of Reptiles! :) 

What is your favorite dessert pie? 
Elise- my favorite is strawberry 

2014_11_17 Monday

From Elise's teacher: This week we will talk about biology topics. We will also talk about Thanksgiving. X and X shared what they remembered from the scientist that visited the school on Friday! They made toothpaste and popped balloons with and w/o water!  Today we talked about what biology is and what a cell is. We discussed a few parts of a cell- cell wall, ribosomes, mitochondria, nucleus. We looked at pictures in a book called Cells. They had Mandarin today. We had indoor recess where we had different centers. 

Tell me a fact from today: 

Elise- I learned that a cell is a circle. 

2014_11_13 Thursday

From Elise's reading club: On Monday, X worked on the word find. He also made the I See and I Like booklets from last week. He came up with some cake sentences because it was his birthday! :)  Elise and I read 3 BOB books. We will all start reading some daily. I have 2 box sets. X played 2 phonics games on my Kindle. On Tuesday, we worked on the word jump. We read sentences with word little. We talked about why the first letter of people's names are with a uppercase letter. X and X practice writing numbers 1-9. On Wednesday, we each read Mat Hid from BOB books. We read sentences with words with, have. These seem to be hard ones for them. On Thursday, the girls worked on the word down.  They also took turns on the kindle and working with me reading the BOB books, reading CVC words, working with blends. They have moved on to the book Hop in BOB. 

From Elise's teacher: Hello! Today we talked about volcanoes and earthquakes. We also went outside to do a diet coke/ mentos experiment. We discussed what was happening in the reaction. We worked on writing the letter Jj. We practiced counting pictures and circling the number. We all took turns playing science related games during center time. They had Italian today. 

Tell me something you learned about volcanoes or earthquakes today:
Elise- I learned that volcanoes can erupt. I learned when an earthquake happens buildings can break and you can get hurt if you're in it. 

2014_11_12 Wednesday

I got an article today about the lengthy history of the street that runs next to us: http://historyatlanta.com/todd-road/. It's the oldest street in Atlanta and was likely an Indian trail before it was the driveway of famed homesteaders! that's pretty cool.

From Elise's teacher: Today we talked about meteorites and meteors. We made a meteor for art. We played games from the Science File Folder game kit. We drew 3 pictures for the letter Jj in our letter folders. We drew jellybeans, jump rope, and jellyfish. They had French today. I read the book My Teacher is a Dinosaur. It had facts about earth and riddles and jokes. 

Tell me something you learned about space rocks or space today: 
Elise- I learned that when space rocks bump into each other they break off and go into space 

2014_11_11 Tuesday

11/11 is quite a day: Danielle's b'day,Veteran's Day, St Martin's Tag all bundled into one short day. I think I missed my office memo that we had the day off; I can't be sure, but it doesn't really matter since the kids are in school anyway. And, it's remarkable how much more productive I am when I know no one else is around to bug.

I spent too long last night online trying to figure out how to make a couple of lanterns for today without leaving the house (car is getting some work done) and came up with nothing, at least nothing for that project. That doesn't bode well since Auntie S celebrated last night, surely in a big way. Jonathan's teacher is in/out ill so I didn't bother to try to come in this year for a St Martin's lesson; besides, a good number were in his class last year anyway. I did mention it to E's teacher, and I think they discussed in class today. I made some dough this afternoon so that we could all bake pretzels together tonight. Naturally, the evening routine didn't got smoothly (single parenting stinks!), but we did manage to make 3 pretzels.

We didn't get to making Laterne, but that's a-ok. J finished his homework from yesterday and today (include 2-digit subtraction with carrying/re-grouping), but not before we had a very serious talk that Mom and Dad will never hate him, as he apparently suspects we might (can't tell if this is a delay tactic or if something else is going on since there were real tears). Everyone ate dinner; E even took a bath while J read to us. oye. where's my wine?!

oh, did I mention that I've caught up on all the photos I've been meaning to add to this? check, check, and check!

From Elise's teacher: What wonderful and silly hats everyone wore today! :)  Today we talked about the layers inside the earth. We learned the words crust, mantle, inner core, outer core. We made earth layers and labelled them. I read parts from he book Earth's Mantle and Core. We talked more about geologists. We made the letter Jj with playdoh. We completed games from a fun Science Folder kit. Elise shared with the class how her family will celebrate St. Martin's day from Germany. They had Spanish today. 

How do we show we are thankful for the earth and other things in our lives? 
Elise- do not pull leaves off of a tree because it will die. 

2014_11_10 Monday

From Elise's teacher: This week we will talk about geology. Today we talked about who geologists are and what they do. We talked about the 3 types of rocks and how we use rocks in different ways. I read the books Geologists and Rocks and Minerals. X shared a story: she said at home I found a rock at the lake and we tried to find out what it was made out of and it was a fossil.  We became geologists and study some rocks with our magnifying glasses. Our letter of the week is Jj. 
They had Mandarin today. 
What is one fact you learned about Geology today?
Elise- I learned that stones are made out of rocks. 

2014_11_07 Friday

It's like I'm looking in a mirror...

From Elise's teacher: Today we talked about food chemistry. We made playdough with flour and water!I asked what would happen if we added too much of one ingredient. We used measuring cups to measure out the ingredients. We also did centers where they had the chance to use the computer, Kindle, play Zingo, or work one-on-one with me. We worked on blending CVC words together. We worked on flash cards with rhyming words. No German today. Everyone should have their pictures at home! They came in yesterday! Turned out great!  

What is a food you would like to make at home by combining ingredients?
Elise- at home I want to make chicken noodle soup. I would put carrots in it. 

2014_11_06 Thursday

From Elise's reading club: On Monday, we read sentences with words are, here. We worked on the word need. We went over flash cards. Each student also made a shape pattern using shape cutouts. No school on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we all worked on the words said, went. They also wrote sight words on white paper with a white crayon and then colored over it with a marker to reveal the words.  On Thursday, girls worked on 2 booklets... I See.. and I Like... We also worked on the word find. 

2014_11_05 Wednesday

Elise over breakfast this AM: "The worst thing about my brother is that he doesn't like avocados."

I guess that's pretty reasonable of her. If that's the worst thing, I'll take it.

2014_11_04 Tuesday

Today is Election Day, so Elise's school is closed as a polling station. She got to sleep in today, which was nice for her (she's fighting a cold), although she asked a few times if she was late for school and when school was going to start today. I love the enthusiasm.

Jonathan's bus was messed up this AM, so I dumped him in a friend's car and hoped for the best. Apparently, he was the only one who didn't cry at drop off (whaaat?!?). gesh. can't wait to hear that story this afternoon.

Over breakfast, Elise and I sang "Oh My Darling Clementine." When I asked her to sing it back to me, she sang: "Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling peach." soooo close!

2014_11_03 Monday

From Elise's teacher: Happy Monday, Hope everyone had a great Halloween. This month will be about science. This week we are talking about chemistry and the letter Ii. We discussed what chemistry is today. We discussed that chemists work in labs to mix certain chemicals together to make medicines, foods, cleaning supplies. We made a chemical reaction with pink watercolor, vinegar and baking soda today. They all said it made cool bubbles and looked like soda. We free painted what the small explosion looked like to us. We discussed acids and bases. I went over the number range with them. They had Mandarin today.

What does chemistry mean to you?

Elise- Chemistry is, to me, when you can make and erupt volcanoes. 

Both kids had special events at school to take back their Halloween candy. Jonathan had a Switch Witch, and Elise had Operation Gratitude for US soldier overseas. neat-o.

I also had a meeting with the VPrincipal today about the upcoming transition in Jonathan's class. I'm really excited about having a male long-term substitute for him. I think/hope it will do him a world of good.