petmoosie: (Emily)
Emily is doing more reading on her own, because she wants to and with interest in the actual book to be read. Self-motivation, in other words. :) From here, she can do all sorts of things. Follow a series through multiple books, read a non--fiction book because she wants to know more about that topic, share books with other children. And while you enjoy reading, so many other things happen...learning vocabulary, exploring settings, exploring common themes in fiction, and learning things about the craft of writing.

She read one whole book from the Rainbow Fairies, half of another, and some poems from "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. In a way, she has already shared the Shel Silverstein book, because she asked me to give it to a friend of hers for his birthday.


I can not even begin to share how happy this makes me.
petmoosie: (Default)
Which is amazing, considering that it serves the function of childcare for me.

Emily had 16 pages of homework this week (one was a challenge, so she skipped it, so 15 pages). That's a ton of homework.
She was apprehensive about going to school this morning, since we had no idea how much work she would need to do during the day. I suspect that several of her fellow students will not be there today, since it is the Friday before a three-day weekend.

I got a phone call from her pediatrician's office to invite me to set up her yearly appointment. So I set it up for the day after school ends in the morning. I hope that there aren't any shots, but I really don't know. Of course, the flu vaccine for the 2010-2011 season will not be available, but we can get that without an appointment on "shot days".
petmoosie: (Default)
And other ways to goof off instead of getting your homework done.
petmoosie: (Emily)
International Night did not do well being late at night on the same day as the Valentine's Day parties.

The crowd would NOT be quiet for the presentations. And having them in the same room as the food made it worse. Having the whole event in one room was a mistake (and a big one). But someone (and perhaps it should have been me) needed to demand that people shut up and stay shut up. Grump.
petmoosie: (dc)
No school tomorrow!  More snow predicted tomorrow.

We'll have to be sure to go sledding.

Last year, [livejournal.com profile] cvirtue was in danger of having school go into August. This year, it's our turn.
petmoosie: (dc)
We're in the post-sledding relaxation stage. [livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie is finally home. I'm not exactly sure what happened to his promise to come home and work from home for the last part of the day.

He is promising to work from home on Monday, if the schools are closed. I am sure that I will be teaching in the afternoon/early evening since Princeton Review has tight deadlines. I need to review my stuff for it.

The teachers are joking with black humor about their July 4th lesson plans. It will only take about 10 more snow days to achieve July 4th.

Emily's teachers sent next week's homework home today. So she'll have 7 nights to work on it instead of 4.

I bumped the side of my foot really hard.
petmoosie: (braids)
We'll find out what the school system thinks about this storm.

Emily got her report card today. Mostly 3s and 4s (3 is good and 4 is above and beyond; 4s are not necessarily achievable in every subject). One 2 in "Understands the role of the individual and the group in the political process". I'm not exactly sure what lies behind that standard.
petmoosie: (Emily)
Tomorrow, [livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie is digging holes as part of Emily's school's various "green" projects. Emily and I are going to help, of course. On Wednesday, the classes are going to plant trees in the holes.

There are a ton of "green" projects at her school, such as "No-Waste Wednesdays" where the lunch room tries to minimize the waste by washing the aluminum heating/serving containers and collecting all other possible recyclables. There is a wildlife area in one of the courtyards, which is also an outdoor classroom. They had a native seed collection program in September and early October. I'm sure that some set of these are associated with the "Roots and Shoots" group at the school. Some are affiliated with the "Green Schools Initiative" that is run by the State of Maryland. Emily's school is in the second year of that initiative. They are going to continue with the ideas after the two-year program is over.

petmoosie: (bad guy)
Emily is having too much homework. First grade is pretty hard, especially in the advanced math class.

I now have a ton of work. Good for the money, bad for time with [livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie .

petmoosie: (braids)
Since my sister was here today, I got my hair chopped off. It's currently around chin-length and curling up nicely (or crazily, depending on your love for curly hair).

I have a metric ton of paperwork to sort out into the places it goes. Tomorrow I teach again.

Friday looks like it will be rainy, well so does Thursday, but I was planning a playdate for Friday outside. Looks like it will be a playdate somewhere indoors.

It's raining right now, which has to be good for my compost. I'll be putting all the excess hair in there soon enough.

I pulled a huge amount of vines in my yard this morning. I'm pretty happy that I did.
petmoosie: (Default)
Emily's school had an open house today. Since the federal government has the day off, it's easy to schedule a day for parents to visit at the school. It's not that every parent works for the federal government, but they do set the agenda around here.

It was reading time for first grade. First the children had a warm-up with the words of the week. Then they had independent reading time. So they grabbed a parent (not necessarily their own) and read to them. I listened to four different children read (one of which was Emily). Then the children sat on the carpet for word work. They went over those five words and then words with 'it' in them. They also learned about homonyms, since pit has two meanings (and something else, but I can't remember). Then they each had an assignment to work on at their desk. Emily's was to read a narrative book and summarize the plot in three points. Emily tried "Wilber wins a prize", a separated chapter from Charlotte's web, but it was too hard for her. She then found "Little Louie, the Late Bloomer", which was hard (she kept reading bloomer as brother for the sense of the story), but doable. Then she wrote some of the information. Then her small group was called for a small lesson in "parts of a book (text features)", like the table of contents, chapter headings, and the index. Then she finished her page about Little Louie, the Late Bloomer, Then it was time to get ready for recess.

Those few parents who had hung out that long, went out to the playground with the first grade. After the recess, the parents headed home.

Edited to remove actual reading levels of other children for their privacy.

I'm awake

Oct. 10th, 2009 09:45 am
petmoosie: (bad guy)
I did some gardening. And enjoyed it.

[livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie is playing Mad Libs with our daughter.

I think that the first quarter of the school is almost over. So we'll be getting grades soon. They will be weird, since the highest grade is supposed to be reserved for extraordinary work. I'm not sure how a first grader does extraordinary work on handwriting, I guess calligraphy. "Wow, that sentence sounded better in my head."

Birthday party must be settled today. !!!!!!!!!!!!

todos

Sep. 27th, 2009 05:43 pm
petmoosie: (braids)
I am beginning to feel the cumulative impact of having more time. I get to goof off (always a priority) and get things done in the time I have available.

I couldn't imagine home-schooling. I'd *ALWAYS* be behind the gun.

I got some weeding done in my down-time today.
petmoosie: (shoes)
This is a whole series about assigning homework over the summer (NY Times, registration required). Again, the success of it has to do with motivation, interest as well as resources.
petmoosie: (braids)
the cat has been playing.

First, way too long reading true ER stories from a link by [livejournal.com profile] ashtalet . Second, eating very spicy lunch food.
Third, listening to Spanish-language news from BBC. Fourth, checking out FaceBook and LinkedIn. Fifth, mess with compost.
Sixth, pick delicious fresh raspberries from my backyard.

It's almost time to pick her up from school.

petmoosie: (Emily)
We only have two more summer homework assignments to go. Technically, she has until Friday to finish them. I hope that tomorrow goes well.
petmoosie: (dc)
One hour of PTA work done, hours and hours to go. Must remember to bring forms to school on Monday. And do Xeroxing. I have to be in two places on Thursday at about the same time. Bleh!
petmoosie: (nature)
[livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie cut out a huge bit of drywall. He will be calling the plumber in the morning. Emily and I will be home when he comes.

We need to get to sleep tonight. The goal should be to stay on the same schedule.

I need to be sure that I am prepared for tomorrow's tutoring.

I can't wait for school to start. I've got plenty of plans while Emily is busy.

petmoosie: (Emily)
But, on the other hand, I slept really well last night.

[livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie got another fast-driving award. I'm trying to pay the fine this morning.

Somehow chasing my daughter around the house trying to grab a pillow from her isn't as engaging for me as it is for her. Plus, I see what a mess my house is. On the other hand, it is exercise.

We have to get her to finish her summer packet soon; this week would be preferable. She wins an ice cream social for completing it.

To Dos

Jul. 30th, 2009 11:35 am
petmoosie: (spanish)
I only have 7 weeks until Spanish class starts up again. I am supposed to do some of the grammar exercises, so that I can use the grammar properly. That seems to be one of my limiting factors these days. 3 of those weeks are after Emily goes to school, so probably I will have to wait for then.

Emily has done 10 of the 30 assignments for school. I need to either clear out the kindergarten folder or start a new one for 1rst grade, since I already have papers from the school (for 1rst grade). I think I have some PTA stuff in the papers, that I need to return to the president (just throw over my fence :-) ).

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