There's A First Time For Everything

Yesterday Hannah's school sent home an assessment test that they use to determine where the child is at as far as reading goes. I wasn't exactly sure what the assessment meant so I looked it up online. The online information told me how they administered the test and how they came to a score, but there is very little information on what the score itself means. The teacher did give the range of "normal" (which Hannah was within in each category) but I wanted more information so I sent the teacher an email asking about the assessment. I also included a question about how Hannah was adjusting since she has said once or twice that she didn't want to go to school. I know Hannah is behaving well but I wanted to make sure that she was making friends, participating in class, and appearred to be enjoying school. The teacher was very prompt with a response, stating that she was surprised to hear that Hannah had said this as Hannah participates and plays with other kids very well. (I did send a note back stating that it may just be that Hannah misses her little sister or is just getting used to a big change.) She also said that there was nothing to work on beyond what we were already doing with reading. She has plans to place Hannah in the "slightly above average" reading group which is for kids who know most or all of their letters and sounds, retain information well, and are ready to start small books. (This is where she is at at home too and I'm impressed that the teacher could so easily place her after only seeing her for less than 3 hours a day for 2 weeks). She said she felt Hannah was a strong student but (the reason for my title) QUIET. Rob and I definitely laughed at that one. I'm not sure anyone has ever called her "quiet." Don't get me wrong, anyone who knows me knows she comes by it honestly, it was just funny to see how different she is at school. She is very into rules though and she knows she shouldn't speak out of turn so that's a good thing. Very mature!

A Poem For Hannah

It took me a little bit to get down everything I was thinking that first day. Forgive me, for I am not a poet:

First Day Of Kindergarten

Five years have passed
First day of school
She'll be fine, I know
My little girl
Grew up so fast
Is it really time to go?


Just yesterday
She was all mine
My joy, my sweet, my little love
I sang for her
And kissed her cheeks
I whispered thanks to God above


Then on to walking
First words said
I watched her grow and learn
Letters, numbers,
Games and toys
Getting taller, taking turns.


Now we're here
It's hard for me
She's not a baby anymore
I take her hand
She smiles at me
I close my eyes, walk in the door.



Here's her class
Her teacher waves
I am determined not to cry
But when I see
My "baby" girl
I still think of lullabyes

Two Weeks Into Kindergarten

Hannah has been going to kindergarten for 2 full weeks now. I am surprised at how tired she seems to be from only 2 3/4 hours (preschool was 4 hours a day 3 days a week last year), but otherwise things are great. She loves her teacher and comes home every day with a good note. Their school uses blocks and stickers simaltaneously. Everyone starts off with 5 blocks and there is the opportunity to lose or earn more. If you come home with a green note, that means you had a good day and you kept all 5 blocks. If you come home with a blue note, it means you had a great day you earned extra blocks. You get a sticker with each of these notes. There are different colors and consequences for losing blocks.

Hannah has had 6 green notes and 4 blue notes. She got to pick candy from the Candy Box twice now (5 green/blue notes gets you a piece of candy) and is halfway to getting a prize from the Best Behavior box (that takes 20 green/blue notes) which I assume is a McDonald's toy or something of the like. She is enjoying school and comes home to tell me all about how much she likes her class and how her friends (Jayde and Analyese) on the bus ask her to sit with them and share their "lipstick" (lip gloss in a little tub) with her. She told me she was going to marry Jack (her friend from playgroup when she was little) because he was sweet and cute - he helped her when she was sad on the playground once. She plays with friends at recess (Lilly mostly) and she constantly tells me how she tries very hard to do the right thing. She comes home with "Nice!" and "Good Job!" and smiley faces all over her papers. We are so proud that she is doing so well!

Here are a few pictures:

Hannah has made leaps and bounds with her coloring. She is coloring inside the line so well now. Here she is with her first coloring project and showing us her blue note for the day:

Hannah wanted a place to put her good notes, so we decided to get a little artsy with her shoebox. I used wrapping paper to wrap the entire thing and wrote "Hannah's Kindergarten Box" on it. She decorated it by cutting out extra princesses from the leftover paper and taping them on. She also drew Lacey (our kitty who passed in Jan) on the top:

This is how she decorated the inside. She did not ask for help on how to write the names. You can see her blue and green notes:

This is how she decorated the bottom. She drew our family standing in the grass with the sun and clouds. She also included grandparents, although she didn't say which ones. I love that everyone in her pictures always looks happy:

My sweet girls:

It's been a good first 2 weeks!

Rolling Along

Hannah and Hailey have both been itching to get outside more and now that the heat index is no longer 120 degrees, I have been more inclined to say "yes." We have been practicing on bikes/trikes. Hannah insisted that she wanted to learn to ride without training wheels, so we have been practicing for a few days now. She has done better than the video I am about to show you (from last week) but since I'm the only one there and can't help Hannah, watch Hailey, be aware of cars, and record at the same time, this was our one time attempt at catching it on video:

So as not to be left out, here is Hailey on her trike. Amazing how the second child learns so quickly from the first. She has been flying up and down the sidewalk all summer long on a scooter and then she just hops on the trike and acts as if she's done it her whole life:

Comparison Pictures - First Day Of Kindergarten

I didn't actually do this on purpose but once I posted Hannah's pictures on Facebook, mom found similar pictures and posted them as well.

Sarah and me on our first day, 26 years ago. I am on the left, she is on the right:


And here is Hannah on her first day:

Here we our with our younger brother Matthew (I am on the right, Sarah is on the left):

And here is Hannah with her younger sister:

Funny how some things never change!

Hannah's First Day of Kindergarten, Part 2

When I left Hannah, she was sitting attentively listening to her teacher while I was watching, thinking how mature she looked. Hailey and I left and spent the few hours we had at home reading, playing togther, and napping. I forget what it's like to just have one, and it was nice to spend some one-on-one time with Hailey, like I had so many years for Hannah. It amazes me what she is picking up and learning, but that is for another post. This post is for the end of the first day of school.

Hannah said they spent the day deciding on class rules, reading, and playing on the playground. She said she was asking everyone "will you be my friend?" and they said "yes." I love that it really is that simple in kindergarten. How do you make new friends? That's right, you simply ask someone! Anyway, she knew a few kids going in - Jack (from a playground we were in when she was a baby), Jayde and Analyese (girls down the street), and Lilly (from church who also lives in the back of our neighborhood). She said she had fun.


Here is the small hiccup though in a very emotional but wonderful day: they put Hannah on the wrong bus to come home. I was standing outside at the curb as the bus pulled up. I had my camera up and ready to go, which I'm sure it what clued the bus driver to stop in the first place instead of just blowing past our house. She opened the door and I stood there, ready for the pic, when she leaned down and said "are you supposed to have a kid on this bus?" I froze and put my camera down. I said "yes, my kindergartener was supposed to be on the bus" and she said "I'm sorry I don't have anyone on this bus for you; call the school." I think I nearly had a panic attack, particularly because, according to the website, there is only one bus that comes to our neighborhood. I did take note that the bus that stopped was not the number that I wrote down on Hannah's card (the one that told helpers which bus to put the child on and had other information, like name, grade, address, phone number, and neighborhood name). I calmed myself and attempted not to be the hysterical parent calling the school. I'm not sure I succeeded but I did manage to tell them that my kindergartener wasn't on the bus. They said that the buses had just left (our stop is apparently the very first stop) and I told her the bus had come and gone. She said that there was a mix-up on the website and that many of the bus numbers, including the one I wrote down, were wrong. She did say though that there were two buses that came to our neighborhood - one for the front and one for the back - and she was probably on the other bus. Probably wasn't good enough for me so she told me to call the administration building and they could radio the driver to make sure she was on there. She was. Forty-five minutes later, the empty bus pulled up and dropped her off. The bus driver gave me the right bus number to mark on her tag and told me that she had tried to tell them that she was on the wrong bus (and had even sent her off the bus twice) but they kept sending her back. The worst part was that Hannah was SO excited to ride the bus for the first time and she came off in tears because she said she was lost. Poor baby! Otherwise though, she did get a green note (meaning "good day"). Hopefully things will go more smoothly tomorrow!

A few pictures! Hananh's real bus (the one she was not on):

The bus she was on on her first day:

Hannah getting off the school bus for the very first time:

Hannah's First Day Of Kindergarten, Part 1

I can't believe we are already at kindergarten. It seems like just yesterday, I was quitting my job for this cute little baby. Now I blinked and she is this smart, sweet girl.

We signed up for afternoon kindergarten, so her drop-off is between 11:05-11:15am. After a good size breakfast and a snack, we got ready to go. I drop her off and the bus brings her home after school lets out at 2pm.

The obligatory first day photos:





On our way:

Found our desk:

I did shed a few tears but only because I am so proud of her and happy of who she is becoming.

Stay tuned for Part 2!!!

New Accomplishments This Summer

Since kindergarten starts tomorrow and it is such a big deal, I started thinking about all the other things we did this summer that were a big deal. I didn't realize it at the time, but we've had a summer of many accomplishments around here!



Hannah:

Reading short books: This was the biggest thing on my to-do list since she was so clearly ready. Now the only issue is that she memorizes any book you give her after reading it once so that means we keep having to find new books to practice.

Counting to 100: This was actually accomplished during her PreK but she didn't do it perfectly every time until about halfway through the summer. She can also count by 10s.

Coloring Inside The Lines: She has loved to color for several years now but suddenly made great strides to coloring fully and inside the lines.

Tying shoes (in progress): She wanted something she could get treats for while Hailey was getting treats for potty training. This seemed like a good choice and she almost has it down without help.

Riding bike without training wheels (in progress): She asked about this a few times in the spring and after it stopped being blazing hot this summer (pretty much just last week), we started practicing. She is getting there!

Swimming without floaties (in progress): She asked multiple times and she is pretty good at doggy paddling and swimming underwater. It will probably take another summer to be good enough to swim at the deep end without floaties and an adult within arm's reach, but she is doing really well. We also found out about winter options for swim classes, which might fit into our schedule easier than the summer classes.

Memorizing address and phone number (in progress): Let's face it, adults have a hard time with our phone number because it basically just repeats 2 numbers over and over again in varying orders. She has our town and state down and can often tell you our street name as well. The house numbers are tripping her up a bit.



Hailey:

Sleeping in a toddler bed: This was accomplished at the beginning of the summer after many tries. One day she just decided she wanted to do it and that was that; she never slept in her crib again. She has also started saying some of the words along with her books, meaning she is memorizing them. She says "amen" at the end of our prayers at bedtime.

Potty trained: She was about 27 months when this happened (I think Hannah was 28 months when she trained, so not too different). I was going to wait until she told me she wanted to wear underwear like her sister did but then I began to think about how different their personalities are so I decided to just start putting her on the potty, realizing that may work better with her personality. It did. It took about 2 weeks for her to get it down and then another week for pooping on the potty but she is now trained with just an occasional accident here or there. She still sleeps in diapers at nap and bedtime, although she often wakes up dry from naps.

Riding a trike and scooter: This was just discovered because she tried it. I didn't teach it to her - I think she probably picked it up from watching sis.

Speaking in larger sentences: She has always been a girl of few words. I think her motto has been: why say a full sentence when one word gets my point across? (Although in fairness to her, Hannah rarely stops talking long enough for Hailey to say more than one word.) Recently though she has been speaking more. She no longer just says "outside" now she says "go outside please." She says "I" "me" and "mine" a lot now too. I wouldn't say we are to full sentences yet, and half her words are still best understood by me or Hannah, but she is making great strides and talks a lot more.

Naming colors, counting, and ABCs (in progress): Right now everything is blue, with the occasional yellow or purple thrown in, but she does seem to understand that things have colors. She can count to 3 and knows she is 2, but she sometimes says numbers and letters in the sing-songy voice I use, even though she is not saying the correct words.



Both:

First sleep-over, non-family: They got to spend the night with Bryn, Shay, and Liam and then those three got to spend the night here. What fun (for kids and for parents!)!