Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Our First Day of School!!

Our first day of school got off to a rough start when my dog was attacked by an off leash dog while running this morning. I ended up being pulled off the edge of the levee road we were on and getting all scraped up and bruised! That could put a damper on a regular day- but not on my little guy’s first day of Kindergarten!!

Thankfully our day improved from there! I had everything all prepped and ready to go the night before (we’ll see how long that lasts…)

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Our ‘Daily Do’ folder is still working out really well. It’s a great way for us to see what has to be done, for me to make sure I don’t over-schedule us, and Ryan is still motivated by moving tasks from the ‘to do’ section to the ‘completed’ section.

We’ve modified the workbox system for our family by simply using matching task tags from our daily do folder. The biggest reason for still using the boxes is that it helps me make sure everything is ready to go for an activity.

Our first day started with Circle Time- which the kids still love! I’ve recently been asked if our circle time has changed at all.  We still do the same things, I just remember that we don’t have to do everything on our board each day! I have added a written schedule which helps the kids know what to expect that day and keeps me on task.I have tried to switch out our songs and rhymes but the kids won’t let me get rid of the Old McDonald had a Farm puppets.

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Our morning continued with morning message which we are now doing in a journal, so that Ryan can respond in writing more easily. Ryan practiced writing his full name, did his Explode the Code pages,  and we did our first color unit activity. We discussed primary colors and made Primary Color Quilts. Ella didn’t believe me that it wasn’t a color matching activity (we’ve been doing a lot of those) until she saw Ryan adding his small squares.

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We spent a couple of hours at the park with friends, which was definitely the highlight of Ella’s day!

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When we came home lunch was all ready to go! I’m trying a new system where I prep all of our lunch and snacks as I clean up breakfast. My thinking is that my kitchen will stay clean all day, our food is always ready to go, I can better see how well balanced our diet is, and how cute are these little boxes!

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I’ve added a page to the top nav bar where I plan to keep lunch & snack ideas. I’ll let you know when it’s full of yummy suggestions.

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My favorite part of the day was when I was working in the kitchen while Ryan did a word sort and Ella practiced her cutting!

Daddy was shocked to come home to a relatively clean house with a delicious dinner prepared! Ryan was doing his math and Ella told him she was working! She was sorting dyed pasta in a muffin tin.

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I know it won’t work out so well every day. But, we had an awesome first day that made me think I may survive keeping them both home this year!

8 comments:

  1. You should link your lunches to Muffin Tin Monday! It sounds like the day went well.

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  2. What an amazing first day! I can not wait to see how the rest of the days play out. Sorry we could not get together last week, I got the summer flu. No fun =(

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  3. oo sounds like a great start! Sorry to hear about your morning! Is your dog okay? You doing okay? I love that quilt craft!

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  4. What a fantastic day! I love it when dad comes home and everyone is quiet and happy, AND dinner is made.

    I can't decided if I like the old McDonald puppets (which I will be making this weekend) or the quilting squares best. As a quilter I have all sorts of designs and patterns going through my head and will be working on shapes in this manner from here out. Thanks for the ideas!

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  5. I'd definitley say you had an awesome first day. :)

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  6. Sounds like a great first day! (I'm guessing the doggie was ok too?)

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  7. I was wondering if you could tell me where you found the tally mark activity for your son. I would love to print that out for my son Charles.


    Julie

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  8. I've gotten so many requests for the tally mark cards! They are part of our Right Start Mathematics curriculum (which I HIGHLY recommend!)

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