4 years old

Our little girl is growing up. She is officially 4. My mother said that when I was born her new name became Hadley's Mom. Well I know the feeling. Carsyn knows no stranger and loves everyone. She keeps everyone on their toes. We love our sweet girl and all the joy she brings us.

Another Year

Carsyn started Preschool this year. She is at First School again this year. She will be staying for naps this year that should be interesting to say the least. So far she seems happy but it has only been two days. We will see.
First Day of Preschool
August 29th 2012
First School
Mrs Mary and Mrs Danette
Favorite color Pink
Favorite show Doc McStuffins
Favorite song anything that her sister likes

Teachable Tuesday

Once again I am a little late. Callie is working in addition and subtraction with regrouping. She had this concept last year but for some reason she was struggling. So I went back to my teaching and my saying ,"when in doubt draw it out!" so we worked our a system.
Carsyn oh sweet Carsyn we are so behind. We are working on our prewriting skills. She loves Toy Store so I used that to spark her interest.

Carsyn's 4th Birthday Party

Well it only took 4 years but Carsyn finally got a birthday party.  She wanted a WaterPark party that included her new slide.  Well I usually do not like parties at home but we decided to give it a shot.  I planned it for the morning since August is usually so hot.  Well I went from being afraid that everyone would be hot to cold then I worried about a rain out.  Well the weather was perfect.  It was overcast which helped with the tenpertures and the rain held off.  Carsyn had a great group of friends show up and she had so much fun!  They had a great time!

 

Her cake.  The colors of the party were blue yellow and red of a beach ball

 Water Balloon Toss.  Well the balloons where gone in about 2 minutes!

 Yeah for me@

 Our neighbors!

 Ready for everyone to get there!

 Go Lucy Go

 Sweet Grace

 Wheatley showing her moves

 Stella climbing away

 Make a wish

 Her new doll

We love Doc Mstuffins

1st day of 2nd Grade

I can not believe I have a 2nd grader in my house.  Callie was excited for the first day.  I was nervous as I always am now that I am not at school with her each day.  I was so throw off this year I did not walk any furthur then the door to her class.  She was happy with that.  I did get a dress on her this year but one without smocking.  It was hard but she did let me do a bow.  Love you sweet Callie!

 

2nd grade-August 2012

Hobbies-Dance Dance Dance

Sports-Soccer (Sounders this year)

Favorite Shows-Good Luck Charlie,Ant Farm,Shake it Up

Music-Anything but mainly Call Me Maybe

Favorite color-Pink

New this year-Braces :(

 

 

Teachable Tuesdays

This Tuesday my focus was not on teaching a new concept but reviewing. With the start of school right around the corner I felt like review was needed.
Math facts are of great importance. I am not a huge fan of worksheets but sometimes they are needed. I have been having Callie work on a sheet of facts and a sheet of word problems each day. At the end of school her teacher sent home two math sheets. One she did the first week of school and the next one was the last month of school. Both the same time but she was able to complete a lot more by the end of the year. Well to keep that up we must practice. There are tons of great website that make it like a game as well. I know they are all on Pintrest but I wanted to share one of my favorites.
http://dovewhisper.com
It can be used for any subject and any grade. When I was a teacher I used it a ton.

The other activity I worked with my preschooler on is her ABC's. When I started teaching Special Education years ago I noticed how many of my
students did not know their ABC's. So I thought of all the programs I had been trained in and used a little of each and came up with a new program.
When I moved to Frisco ISD we had many kinder friends that needed something different to help them learn their ABC's. So I pulled out my cards and with the help of some great teachers we updated and perfected the program. I am amazed how well all students do with it. What it does is that it pairs the letter and sound with a hand motion. It is a multisensory approach. This is not a new concept and I know there are a ton of programs out there like this one. But, I do have to say that have seen this program in action and it works. I have used it on my three year old and it has also been a great success.

A Blog to Follow

A while back I had referenced a blog I had been following.  It is an incredible story of a family that is dealing with a child with cancer.  This family amazes me daily.  Their faith is such a witness to me and all that read it. In BSF this year.  We spoke over and over about being a witness in time of trouble as well as times of praise. This family is a perfect example of that.  I urge you to follow the blog.  Please add them to your prayer list.

http://erikandkatekrull.blogspot.com/

Teachable Tuesdays

I miss teaching so much.  I have done some activities here and there for the kids.  So I decided that on Tuesdays I would document my teachable activity.  Yes,  I know it is not Tuesday but better late then ever.  I love to read books to the girls and have them do an activity.  The book we read today was  Do you have a Hat by Eileen Spinelli.  The book is about famous people throughout history and the hats they wore. Their hats and what is on them represent why they are famous.  The activity was to draw your hat and include what makes you unique.  I told the girls to decorate their hat so that if they were meeting someone for the first time they would know about them from their hat.  Callie decorated her hat with lots of arts and crafts supplies.  Carsyn drew her version of Toy Story characters.  It was a fun project. 

Grape Festival

 It has been so hot but we had a little cool down this week.  We decided to head out to the Gape Festival  in Tonitown.  It is a little town close to us.  They have little rides and games.  They are also world famous for the grape ice cream and spaghetti dinners.  I stood in line for the food while the kids rode some rides.  They had a wonderful time.