Archive for September 2011

originally posted at http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-have-not-had-creative-juice-lately.html



I have not had the creative juice lately for an awesome blog post, so here is a lame one. Life is puttering along in our family. So far school has turned out to be a great experience. It’s helped us to get on a schedule and I can see academic progress in Savanna already. Her reading and writing has improved a lot. Wherever we go she is reading signs and she is figuring out how to spell things by herself. We went to the school carnival and on a field trip and both were fun new activities for us to enjoy. When Savanna is at school, Avery has a nap and I get to have some alone time with Miles. With being the middle child stuck between two sisters I worry that he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. He is generally easy going and not as high maintenance as the girls so he gets passed up sometimes. Having time with just him has been really good for him. We play games, read books, look at funny videos on you tube, and work on his “school”. We didn’t finish the Summer Bridge workbooks this summer so I have been working with Miles to finish his. He always surprises me with how much he knows. He is working on the pre-school to kindergarten book and can pretty much do it all. He is not as talkative as Savanna and is not forever telling me all the things he knows, so sometimes I don’t realize how smart he really is, but he can fly through those pages! Avery is growing up so fast! Just recently her vocabulary has exploded. She is always repeating words and songs and blurts our the funniest things. I have not been very good about a bedtime with her (oops) so she is accustomed to spending time with James and I after the other kids go to bed. She enjoys her time with just us, the other night we settled on the couch after putting the kids to bed and Avery said “watch a movie?” James and I just laughed, she is at the funnest age where everything she does is sooo cute! Although work is still really busy for James, he was able to have a few nights off and we had an awesome family night at Taco Amigo and Chuck E Cheese’s! These are the days of my life!

Sunday Dinners and Family

originally posted at http://melbeea.blogspot.com/2011/09/sunday-dinners-and-family.html


Every Sunday night Andy and I go over to his parents for dinner. Most of his other siblings come as well. It is fun to be with the family, especially the little nieces and nephews. They sure do keep us entertained at times.
For mother’s day we got Lindsey a Nana frame since the grandchildren call her Nana. I finally got around to taking a picture for that frame, but of course I haven’t printed it yet. These kids just love their Nana! We will have to take a picture with all the grandchildren the next time the out of state grandkids come to visit.

Miles is full of energy and life. He is a funny kid!

This is how these brothers bond. However, it is a little unusual that they only had one cell phone out!
Sunday nights are great. I love spending time with Andy’s family. I just wish that I got to see my family as often. I miss them, and I wish that I could watch my nieces and nephews goof off every week. Whenever I see them, they are even more grown up then the last time I saw them. Kael is in first grade, Ava and Kiera are going to preschool, and Liam and Mya are learning how to walk and talk. It would also be fun to sit around and chat with my siblings and parents. Okay, now I’m starting tear up so I better end this blog.
Families are amazing! I am so grateful for all of my family members (real and in-laws). I truly am blessed to have a lot of family! I hope they all know how much I love them!

Improvement

originally posted at http://melbeea.blogspot.com/2011/09/improving.html


I am in my second year of teaching first grade. My first year in first grade was great, but I decided that I want to be an even better teacher. Lately I have been spending hours reading teacher blogs and websites, and I have come across some great ideas. Some ideas are about organizing, decorating, reading, and so on.

Here are a few I have already used:
1. Birthdays – Instead of just writing my students’ names under the month they were born, I took pictures of all of the kids born in a month. I had them hold the sign of the month and their date. Look at the kiddies below. (Now I just need to get them printed and up on the wall.)

2. Mystery Readers – I’m going to have parents come in and be mystery readers. Before they come in I will read clues about them, and the students try to figure out if it is one of their parents. Then the parent will come in and read to the class.

3. Names – I’ve also done a few fun things with my students names. They had to cut apart the letters in their name. Then they glue them on construction paper and write how many letters are in their name. Since then we have charted their names according to how many letters and how many syllables are in their names. It is also a good way for the kids to get to know the names of their classmates.
4. Word Books – This was actually thought up by one of my team teachers. Instead of the students just cutting out the words of the week and reading them over and over, I’m now having the students cut out the words and glue them into a notebook. Then they write a sentences using their new words.
I’m excited to see what other fun ideas I come across. It is fun to learn new things from experienced teachers. It is also great to be able to teach the same grade again! I love teaching and seeing these little kids grow!



Kindergarten!

originally posted at http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/09/kindergarten.html










It happened! My sweet Savanna started school! A week before she started we went to the schools open house. She got to meet her teacher and have a scavenger hunt of the school. She had to find her cubby, the bathroom, the playground, etc. She was so excited! She was bouncing around the whole time, her teacher commented on how excited she must be! Savanna was counting down the days until she started, the only time she can seem to remember the days of the week is when something exciting is going to happen. The morning of the first day she kept telling me that I could just drop her off, she knew where to go I didn’t need to take her in. I told her that mommy’s have to go in the first day to take pictures so I was going in no matter what! We got some cute pictures and she sat right down at her table and started coloring her picture. She barely said goodbye, I think she was ready! My new favorite thing is dropping her off and picking her up. When I drop her off she walks up to the door with her backpack on and turns around three of four times to wave goodbye with a huge grin on her face, it’s the cutest thing ever. When I pick her up she is smiling so big and immediately starts telling me what she did that day, she stands outside the car telling me everything through the window. I have to remind her to get in the car so other parents can come get their kids. She just can’t wait to tell me! We survived the first week, hopefully she can keep up the enthusiasm for a few months at least!