School Updates

The kids have been in school for a little over three months now and they are doing amazing! I thought it was time to share some news and tidbits, especially having had conferences last month and since getting their pictures back.

The kids' pictures turned out cute, not great of course (Jason's are much better..that's another post!), but cute. You can really see that little dimple on Annabel's chin/cheek on her right- I love this little spot, it's so cute and I love getting glimpses of it. And Daniel...he just looks so big, so much older! He's come a long way from his first year of preschool...that picture is too cute! How did he get so big?! I did a mean thing to myself a couple weeks ago- Daniel was saying we needed a number 6 shaped cookie cutter (we have a 5 and a 2) and I joked that by the time we find one I'll practically need a seven, and then I about hyperventilated- SEVEN?! SEven?! I had already done this to myself the previous week with Annabel, too, for five. Why, WHY?!, do I do this to myself?! Annabel wakes up every single morning absolutely convinced and beyond thrilled that she's getting bigger- every morning it's a thing, "Mommy. Look how tall I'm getting!" and she stands super straight and tall with the biggest smile on her face and just about makes me cry every time. Every day I go through this. And yet, I'm more in the moment than I've ever been and loving it. That connectedness, that amazed and awed feeling...I'm filled to the brim and it's a great feeling, a really great feeling.

So like I said, the kids are coming along and doing amazingly at school. Daniel's teachers are so impressed with how hard he works, how diligent he is, how willingly he does everything. He wants to do the right thing so much. He wants to do well. He keeps a very good eye on the assignment table- a table the kids have the responsibility to go to on their own daily- they wait for an opening, then have to go and mark "yes" on the board there by their name, and then do the work, which they have to have remembered the directions for, too- and Daniel is apparently very good about this, which is just great to hear. He likes school well enough, he's happy enough to go and once he's there he's totally fine, though I wouldn't say he LOVES it, he never has. Daniel's teachers were excited to tell me how hard he was working on writing stories- sounding out words, writing it all down, etc. - the teachers were really impressed with how well he's doing sounding out words and they're confident he'll pick up sight words, reading and spelling quickly. They are also impressed with how independent he is- he'll totally dive into the work on his own. I've totally seen these improvements at home. I mentioned before how much he's into reading the mini books I have from my school days lately and wow, things are just clicking along. The other day he was totally just flat-out reading, quite fluently too! It's just SO amazing to listen to MY baby, my boy, reading. And his spelling is awesome- and adorable. Just like I remembered my kindergartners spelling and writing- at the end of the year! The fact that he's doing all this already boggles my mind. He is getting an amazing education this year. I'm thankful every day he's going to Kindergarten at the same place he went to preschool- it's such a good fit all around and it flowed so smoothly from his preschool experience and skills. Anyway, awesomeness all around there- the teachers could have kept going!

Below you'll find an example I scanned in of Daniel's writing from a couple weeks ago, done at home, but I didn't help at all. We have these sequencing cards (just like Daniel uses at school, except these sequences were five cards, not four which Daniel pointed out after tiring of writing five sentences! He wants just four next time, like at school!) and Daniel took it upon himself one day to get the cards out, choose a story, and then start writing out sentences for the story. All on his own. I was amazed.

If you're new to developmental/invented spelling, here's his story (it was about a pirate finding a treasure):
The man finds a bottle.
The man finds land.
The man finds the x.
The man digs.
They open the treasure.

Some letters are switched/backwards (b/d, g, s- for example) but he's nailed the sight word "the" which is a new one to him (they learn five sight words a week and he's nailing them all so far! so awesome!) and he's nailed the sounds for just about all of the words if you really think about it, given how the letters sound and how they are made in the mouth (digs was a stretch, but I can see how he got there given what I know about how kids learn to spell). I could keep singing praises here, I'm his mother, but I won't bore you much more...except to say again, this. is. just. amazing! My breath is taken away thinking about all this! It's all just so fun and so so cool. I can't believe we're here, I really can't.

I also loved the other day when Daniel had gotten his All About Me poster to fill out (he'd just received it that day and he was so eager to fill it out, doing it that very night was all his idea!)...Daniel sat there and worked so hard at reading each prompt and filling out his answers, even making them complete sentences by adding the word "is." I had been sitting next to him, merely for company and moral support because clearly he didn't really need me, and at one point I left his side to do something and I turned around and my eyes beheld the sweetest sight, I was literally entranced, staring...there he was sitting and working so hard and I could hear him sounding out all the words and writing his own words...it was so amazing! Again, my mind was boggled! I've shared his All About Me poster below, too...you can probably figure out what he's written if you click the picture to make it bigger, but just in case you need help, he wrote his name, his age, basketball for the sport, "cars and stickers" for collecting, Lego "movey" for his favorite movie, and "Legolan" for his dream vacation. Love his "dream vacation!" Daniel proudly took that poster to school the very next day...it wasn't even due yet!

And of course Annabel desperately wanted to make a poster, too, so we made a copy of Daniel's before he began and she was the proudest little sister ever! She worked so hard at her poster, sounding out the words with my help only in stretching out the words, she figured out all the sounds to spell the words herself! Her teacher was amazed, but not surprised- she knows Annabel well by now!- that Annabel wanted to do this project and that Annabel did such amazing work with spelling the words. Annabel's words are (and again, you can click the picture to make it bigger and easier to read): Annabel, 3, soccer (scr), rocs (my kids were talking about pebble collecting- ???- so Annabel wrote rocks of course), Dora (for the movie prompt), and her dream vacation...Dznewrld- are you surprised at that? I'm not. Disney World definitely made an impression on this girl! Of course she doesn't remember how fun the beach is or really have any other frame of reference for possible vacations, but still, it's cute that Annabel wrote and spelled Disney World, and quite well, too- I mean, wow- this, at three! Remember, she's only THREE! She amazes me daily, too!

And speaking of Annabel, this is one little girl in a hurry to grow up, which I believe I've said about a million times before. She is totally 3 going on 6, maybe 7! There will be no leaving her in the dust. She misses nothing, which pretty much describes her to a T from the day she was born. Her teachers said they kept wanting to check her birthdate because she's doing, and very much wants to do, things that the 4 year olds are doing, she's doing things beyond what most 3 year olds can do, and they are just amazed at her abilities and how quickly she picks things up. Annabel loves to do all the work and projects at school. She asks to do all the bigger kid projects, and the teachers are really great about giving her those challenges while also working with her skill level, since she is after all only 3 and does still have 3 year old skills in some areas that do need to be developed a tad bit more, like fine motor skills so that she can trace things better and such. But mostly, she's chugging right along and she thinks she can do everything, which is great for her! She really does try so hard. Annabel also loves to be around the bigger kids- in fact, that was one of the things the teachers noticed the very first week of school. She writes and cuts very well for a three year old. The one thing we all agreed at her conference is that because she's in a hurry to grow up, she's also kind of in a hurry to do her work sometimes, so we're working on slowing her down so she can do the work nicely, neatly, and correctly. In any case, Annabel really is doing very well in school. She comes home singing all the songs and telling all kinds of tidbits about school. She loves to stay until 2:00 with Daniel and his friends- this is quite the treat for her. Annabel is the proudest, happiest little preschooler I know!

Below is just another example of Annabel's awesome ability to sound out words, at age three, and this was back in September, too- not even a full month of school under her belt! The wedding we went to had these doodle prompt pages which Annabel LOVED! (I'm totally getting her some for our house someday!) The prompt here was, "What is the baby thinking?," and Annabel drew and wrote "bl" (ball) and "btl" (bottle). You can see how far her name writing has come since September, too, if you compare her name here to the poster above. Anyway, I remember being astonished that Annabel could come up with bl and btl for ball and bottle- I was just so impressed. So cool!

I think that's all my major updates for now. I've enjoyed going and helping out in both the kids' rooms a few times this Fall- it's always fun to see them in school. I was actually just in Daniel's room yesterday and since I was mostly busy helping out with a project, I was able to just get glimpses of Daniel while he worked in various places on various projects around the room- it was as close to being a fly on the wall as I'll get and it was so fun and so sweet to watch from afar and yet be there with him. Usually I'm by his side the entire time at his request, but he said I could help everybody this time so I did...though he's already said next time he wants me by his side again! Anyway, I loved my morning there. Annabel can't wait for her turn again, which will be in January. It's so nice to be able to go to school and be with the kids like this pretty much whenever I feel like it.