PeeWees: Not a Box (week 1)

Poppy is two this year.  Which means PeeWees is back.  It's a small cooperative toddler "school" I did with some other moms when Ginger was two.  And we're doing it again with our next set of munchkins.

There are four kids in our group.  We meet once a week for a 2-hour drop-off block.  Each mom takes a turn hosting/teaching the group for two consecutive weeks, then she has six weeks off.  We each follow the same basic schedule: arrival/free play, welcome/circle, snack, art, activity, circle/goodbye.  We share and pass around a bin of supplies: paints, markers, smocks, alphabet chart, parachute, CD, rug squares. Our teacher pool consists of an art historian, an avid athlete and outdoorswoman, a speech-language pathologist, and an early childhood music teacher.  Not bad, eh?

But here's what I'm really excited about.  This year we are using an approach called The Storybook Journey.  I first experienced it when I was doing my graduate practicum hours in  the Child Learning Center at the University of Colorado.  It's a literature-based approach to every aspect of curriculum: "The environment, materials, and experiences are intentionally designed to immerse the children in a playful exploration of the story's rich literacy potential, concepts, vocabulary, sequence, and plot, as well as the sheer delight of exploring a story through their play." (The Storybook Journey: Pathways to Learning through Story and Play by Sue McCord.)

We are obviously more low-key than a full-blown preschool program, but here's how we will do it.  Each teacher will choose a book she wants to use for each 2-week block.  She plans by brainstorming every single concept she can eek from it, from colors and art, to concrete objects, to life lessons and emotional or literary concepts, etc.  Then she chooses how she can apply any or all of those ideas into the daily schedule.  We'll always introduce and read the book during welcome/circle time, and again at closing circle time.  And in between, well, that's the journey!

I went first this year.  Here's what we did.

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

Concepts: bunnies, cardboard, black & white, black/white & red, pretending a thing is something different, boxes, squares/rectangles, firemen, mountains/mountain climbing, robots, cars, thinking, asking and answering questions, "NOT", pirates, boats/ships, elephants, hot air balloons, rocket ships, wh-questions, things that rhyme with "box"

Related/support books: Too Princessy by Jean Reidy, Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis

Week 1
Arrival -  Big and little empty boxes to play with
Snack - Boxes of goldfish and boxes of juice; loose discussion about what else comes in boxes

 

Art - Paint your own "Not a Box" page (with glittery red paint!)

Before

My sample

Artists at work

Finished prducts

 Activity - Building with blocks

They all worked together to build "a city"

In closing - Everyone got a bunny (or two or three) and sat in a box while we re-read the book for the third or fourth time.

Then after the goodbye song, we turned on music and hopped around the house like bunnies until the moms came. 

Poppy's conclusion of the day: "I like my school.  They are all boys.  But it is good."  When I asked her what was her favorite part, and named a few of her choices, she replied, "I like all of those.  They are all my favorite."

First Day of School 2012

Aren't they something?  And so big!  After drooling over the new fall catalogs that have already arrived, I decided to go frugal this year.  Neither of them are up a size, the season hasn't changed, and they both have loads of cute clothes from last Christmas or birthdays.  And their shoes and backpacks are still perfectly good.

Ginger's shirt & cardie - Old Navy; belt - Walmart; skirt - Gap, last winter; polkie socks - Boden; sneaks - Zappos

Hazel's dress - Downeast Basics; sneaks - Zappos

Telling abut their clothes is the easy part.  I cried for two days leading up to school.  Then, the morning of, I woke with a weighted feel of dread I could not escape.  I truly did not want to take them somewhere and start not seeing them all day.  Even though the day was cloudy, I wore sunglasses to hide my red eyes. 

We walked there and dropped them off; the whole school was in chaos, it seemed.  Especially the kindergarten hall, where busy dressed-for-work parents were smothering their new kindies with advice and kisses, and trying to get spastic bodies to hold still for pictures.  Others were trying to extricate themselves from terrified, crying five-year-olds at the classroom doors.  Hazel had already made a speedy departure at the staircase; second graders are upstairs and she was anxious to join those ranks.  Ginger and I were a bit stunned by the masses when we turned the hall, and spent our energy on navigating the traffic jam outside her door rather than an emotional good-bye.  But once Poppy and I were back outside, on the long, slow walk back home alone, the floodgates opened, and never really closed again for a few days. 

I hated the second day as much as the first.  By that afternoon I'd talked myself into looking into homeschooling.  Frankly, it's still not off the table.  But my motivation is 99% selfish.  And that night at dinner, as if on cue, Hazel spontaneously exclaimed, "I LOVE being back at school!"  With Ginger heartily nodding her second. 

Don't even think Poppy and I are living the high life, with "just one" kid.  I'm still running the same errands I did with three, or two, plus a few I've been putting off.  If anything, I am getting more work done around the house...a little more.  Last Wednesday I spent 4 hours cleaning, including scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees, washer-woman style.  Not the easiest task with a 2-year-old who wants to "help", but satisfying in its own occasional way.  I've been babysitting for a friend, taking other friends with new babies meals and company, folding laundry eternally, catching up on the bills and budget, and a few other little projects that just need to get done.  Truth be told, I'd rather have my girls.  But I'm trying to use my time well.

I've learned by now you can't get a straight story of "what happened at school today" just by asking.  Most of the stories that trickle home are about the drama and games that happen on the playground.  Occasionally I get an anecdote from specials.  But almost nothing from the homeroom.  So the other night, I came out and asked Ginger, "What do you think of Ms. W?"  I wanted to know what's going on in her classroom.  "Well, she's really nice, but she's fierce with the boys."  Good, I like Ms. W.  To Hazel, "Tell me about Ms. B."  "I really like her because she gives us a writing prompt each day and I love to write them."  I like her, too.  That'll have to do until Back to School night, and later this month, parent/teacher conferences.  In the meantime, I get them going in the morning, pick them up in the afternoon, and try to enjoy the time we have.

Summer Fun Club 17: End of Summer

Last Tuesday was a slow, sad day for me.  It was our last day of summer break.  I tried, I really kind of did, to make it a happy, or at least exciting, occasion.  But inside I was slowly disintegrating.

It has been the BEST summer EVER.  Me and my girls, my girls and me.  Poppy's not too young, Hazel's not too old.  We did a TON of fun stuff, illnesses and power outages aside.  You know some of it from the Summer Fun Club posts, but we did so much more.  Hazel and Ginger both rounded corners in their swimming skills, and we spent a lot of time at the pool.  The TV was off almost all summer, with the exception of a few DVD's from the library, including when we ordered pizza and ate it picnic-style in the family room and watched "The Secret World of Arrietty"...twice.  (We are now reading "The Borrowers.")  All three girls rediscovered the dollhouse.  And the box of ponies.  And the blocks.  And combined all three into an imaginary world that lasted for weeks...and is still going.

I fell behind on my housework - the laundry, cleaning, bills, etc.  Blogs, obviously.  Dinners were quick and simple.  We kept our schedule stacked with activities, not wanting to waste a day.  It felt idyllic to me.  Even when I saw the end nearing, I ignored it.  No new clothes, shoes, or backpacks - we had all we needed.  School supplies had been ordered through the PTA last spring.  Teacher letters came, and I set them aside, to be given a quick glance the morning of the first day.

But last Tuesday, we slowed down.  We went to the library in the morning, to return our summer books, and turn in our reading logs for the library Summer Reading Program; they each earned a free book.  We also revamped our breakfast chart for the new school year, and illustrated it:

 

In the afternoon, for Summer Fun Club, I took about 10 minutes with Ginger and Hazel, separately, to write in the journals I keep for them, and have them tell me some of the things they most want to remember about this summer.  I wrote what they said word for word - love my language samples!  It was so fun to hear what, in their minds in that moment, was most memorable.  And while they both mentioned different things, see if you can pick up on a theme.

  

Ginger's list:

• Family vacay to Massanutten with "the cousins" in June 

• Atlantis water park with "the cousins" one Saturday in July
• SFC paper snowflakes
• Utah trip - Ed's grandfather passed away so he and Ginger went to Utah for the funeral - an alone trip with Dad = BIG DEAL
• Receiving her first chain letter

Hazel's list:

• Going to the beach at Assateague with "the cousins"

• Running in the sprinklers at Grandma's house
• "Cousin" birthday dinner at IHOP
• Another "cousin" birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's
• Open house at school to meet her teacher

When Poppy woke up, we went out to the party store and bought balloons for our Back-to-School dinner. 

 Miraculously, they agreed on their favorite meal - spaghetti with homemade sauce, Parmesan breadsticks, and salad with only the things they like (lettuce, cucumbers, carrots).

AND of course dessert - banana splits with Magic Shell and marshmallow sauce.

Next I'll post "first day" pictures.  They were cute.  And they were ready.  But I wasn't either of those.

Teacher Gifts 2012

It is that time of year.  Again.  Ginger finished preschool last week, and I'm not ashamed to say I cried like a little girl - seriously, bawled - at the end-of-year music program.  Saying goodbye to her tiny two-year window of preschooldom was painful, a pain whose only alleviation was the giddy little thrill of putting together a year-end gift for her amazing teacher.

Teacher appreciation week was last month, and our class pooled contributions for a generous restaurant gift certificate for her and the school's music teacher, so our year-end gift was simple.  I'll just let you know now, this post holds no new ideas, just a rehashing of former ones I've posted - ain't broke, don't fix it.  It's just a good way for me to keep track of who we've given what, when.

And while I was on the teacher gift vein, I've ordered/bought/planned the ones for Hazel's teachers, too, even though she still has a few weeks.  Hazel has three teachers - a man and a woman that job share as her 1st grade teacher, and a wonderful grandmotherly full-time teacher's aide.  So here's what we're doing.

For Ginger's preschool teacher AND Hazel's woman teacher - a copy of Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman, a personalized "Ex Libris" stamp, and two different colors of archival quality ink pads.  I ordered the stamps from Etsy - there are a lot of cool ones on there!  This one for Ginger's teacher:

And this one for Hazel's:

For Hazel's man teacher, you have to know he has two children under 2, and the poor man is a walking zombie of sleep deprivation, though he has still managed to teach my 7-year-old to read fluently this year so I'm not complaining.  It's just that every time I talk to him he asks, "How old is Poppy again?" followed by a recent anecdote of extreme parenting that he doesn't remember he already told me last time.  But he's always got a smile on his face, and Hazel adores him.  So, keeping the family orientation of his life in mind, I'm sticking with the no-failer - my favorite ice pops book (or maybe I'll try this one) and a set of star-shaped popsicle molds.  Take a load off this summer, Mr. B.

And for Hazel's teacher aide, who has put up with heaven-knows-what this year, I'm taking an idea from a comment on last year's post.  When we went strawberry-picking last Saturday at Homestead Farm, I stopped into their farm stand for a bag of buttermilk pancake mix and a jar of peach melba preserves.  I hope she can have some leisurely breakfasts this summer on us.

Finally, that picture at the top of this post?  It came attached to a funny - and practical - article I found about teacher gifts here.  It's nice to know I'm at least not on the wrong track.

Breakfast, Lunch and Other Stuff

 I can't find the email now, but someone asked me to do a post about school lunches, so this is really a year-later follow-up to this post. 

Breakfast - The old chart lost its charm toward the spring, and we winged it (wung it?) through the summer.  But with fall returned the need to be efficient and predictable in the mornings, so here's our new breakfast chart, taped to the inside of the cupboard.  "Mom's Choice" is a nice new addition, so we can have cereal or whatever is kind of left over from the week, no complaining (in my dreamworld.) 

 

Lunch -Towards the end of last year we got Hazel making her own lunch.  She and I made this matrix as a guide and put it on the fridge - she packs one item from each category.  Sometimes we have other things she can take but this is a pretty good representation of stuff we usually have.  This year we went back to the matrix and it works well, but I found she was bringing home one, two, sometimes three items in her lunch uneaten.  She said they make the kids hurry so there isn't enough time to eat it all.  I suspect it's a combination of timing and chatting, knowing Hazel.  So we pared it down to three items - a protein, a veggie, a fruit, and only occasionally something sweet or snacky.  Ginger also takes lunch to preschool this year, two days a week, so she is learning to make her lunch as well.  By next year she'll be a trained expert.

 

Morning Routine - Hazel is a monumental dinker-around.  Space cadet, la-la land, whatever you call it, that's her.  This year we've added showering in the morning a few times a week to her routine, and we found that she takes so long to shower (play) and get dressed (play) that she is frantically rushed once she comes downstairs.  I take it back - Ed and I are frantically rushed yelling at her and riding her case to get ready on time.  She's too busy playing to feel frantic.  "D.Y.J." - Do Your Job - is heard many times each morning at our house.   So I finally made her a schedule, which she illustrated, and now instead of bombarding her with directives, "Hazel!  Have you brushed your teeth?  Where are your shoes?  Is your lunch in your backpack?"  We just redirect to the checklist and she is moving closer to morning independence.  And as with lunches, Ginger is getting trained at the same time. 

 

I like the idea of clean refrigerator facade.  But between the lunch matrix, morning checklist, and Wii charts, it is admittedly cluttered.  So what's one more item?  This is a card Hazel made for me on a...difficult day.  It melts my heart and, depending on the day, brings tears to my eyes, whenever I look at it. 

 And not to leave out Poppy, here is her favorite eating position.  The highchair strap isn't that good so sometimes I don't bother.  And this is what I get.  So I'm getting more diligent at buckling and tightening.

 

And hey, while I'm posting other pictures, here are the girls playing a game Saturday morning on the very computer I'm typing on right now.  I generally hog it, so getting a game is a special treat.  As you can see from the zombie expressions.

 

 

 

First Day of Preschool

OK we are really in full swing around here.  Ginger (finally) started preschool last week - here are her first day pics.  

 

(She is all about that belt - I don't get it, shiny pink buckle with rainbow hearts all around, I mean what is there for a 4-year-old to like?)

 And in case you were wondering, yes that's a pug on Poppy's shirt, with a pearl necklace and bow - thank you Walmart!!!

Speaking of Poppy, I haven't posted pics in awhile.  Here she was on Sunday.  A notably "Kari" outfit so I had to take some photos.  She is 17 months and quite the bug, extremely astute and following everything her sisters do. 

First Day, First Grade

It's pretty anticlimactic to go back to school a scant 5 1/2 weeks after you got out. It was hot then and it's still hot now. But it pays back later when we have off-peak breaks in nice weather. we did our best to pack the summer full of fun, but it was also dappled with disappointments - cancelled swim lessons for rain, cancelled playdates for sickness, etc. Regular life stuff, which unfortunately my girls take pretty hard.

But we checked off over half of the stuff on my lengthy "Summer Fun" lists, so that's pretty good. The rest I'll just have to do with two girls because Hazel is back to school! And now she is a "grader", as the kindergarteners call the older kids. And Ed and I are taking that term to the bank. "Graders can shower without help. Graders can make their own lunch. Graders help more around the house." Et cetera.
This morning we sent her off in style - new jumper from Mini Boden. Backpack and shoes still good from last year. Ginger wore her new backpack (empty) in honor of the occasion. Hazel's missing two teeth currently, and growing her bangs out (hence the bangs-braid - there are also a lot of clips and headbands holding them back these days.) We didn't do a lick of math or reading practice over the summer (I'm defiant that way), but we did learn about art, swimming, space, Amelia Earhart, farm animals, root beer floats, fish, pizza, idioms, music and of course baking. Always baking. It was an awesome summer.
And although Hazel's back in school, summer's not really over for us. In August we have a family reunion, a beach trip, more Art Tuesdays, pool passes, and lots more fun adventures. We'll just have to work around the school schedule.

Backpack Time, Yet Again

Some of you may think it's still summer, but for us, mid-July is practically back-to-school. Hazel goes into FIRST GRADE August 2. Which means school supplies and a detailed wardrobe assessment. Her Land's End backpack from last year is still in good shape, though the mesh water bottle holder is wearing through, what can you do?

Then, come September, Ginger will go back to preschool. And this year, as a 4-year-old, she will stay for lunch two days a week. Which means the girl needs a lunchbox. So I poked around a bit online. Liked what I saw at Garnet Hill, and then when I read closer, I really liked it. This summer (through August 9), if you buy a kids' backpack you get the matching lunchbox free. And free shipping.

GH's backpacks are average in quality I'd say, and their greatest flaw is lack of reinforcement across the bottom where holes are sure to wear. But what I really love about them is the sternum strap. My kids can barely keep a backpack on without one so I did a home-sew job on their packs last year. I can't believe all kids packs don't have them. But Garnet Hill does so that is a double-bonus point in their favor.

Ginger picked the aqua/cherry blossoms set. Pretty cute.