September in TK

Samantha is doing great in TK (finally!)...I can now drop her off to the playground in the morning without having to walk her into class.  She has met a group of friends and enjoys her teacher, Ms. Trainor and the aide, Ms. Williams.  She is now at school until 2:10 each day except for on Wednesday she gets out at 1:10.  Thatcher has been a trooper and tags along with me all day and waits to coordinate a nap with his sister at around 2:30.  I've just been waking them up a little after 4 PM so that they don't sleep past dinner ;)  I've told her she can just do quiet time in her room but she always falls asleep so I guess she still needs a nap.  

 

She comes home with lots of worksheets and has homework every night except for Friday. She attends Music, Art, P.E., Science and Computer Class which she says is her favorite because she gets to play on a computer like her Mom's and even gets to wear headphones.  Once a week they go to the school library to check out a book which has been really fun for her.

 

They are sent home with a name worksheet as part of their homework each night.  It has been challenging for Samantha to write in lowercase letters and within the lines.

 

Such a big improvement after a few weeks of doing the exercise!

 

Below is the September Newsletter from Ms. Trainor:

 

Hello TK Parents!                                                                                                                September 25, 2012

 

We are off to a great start of the week in TK!  This week students are learning the letter Cc and the corresponding /c/ sound.  Cathy the Caterpillar is our alpha-friend this week and we have been discussing many words that begin with the letter Cc.  Students have been practicing how to write the letter Cc and will continue to practice throughout the week.  When students are writing their letters, directionality is very important.  When you are helping your child with their homework please make sure that they are writing their letters correctly.  For each letter, I have sent home and will continue to send home homework where your child will trace and write the letter of the week.  I will always send that homework home on Monday night as the first homework of the week.  That homework will show how the letter should be written by showing the direction of the print with arrows.  If your child is not tracing or writing the letter correctly, please have them do it over.  If they become frustrated to the point where it is too challenging to complete all of the homework, then please tell your child that they do not have to complete it and write me a quick note.  The last thing I want is for the homework to be overwhelming to you or your child, so please let me know if your child is having a difficult time completing the homework.  It is meant to serve as good practice for the student and as a means of responsibility of the student.  Please review the letters Aa and Bb with your child, along with the corresponding sounds.  We are also working on site words “I”, “like,” and “my.”  I just introduced them today, so they are brand new to the students.  They are working on recognizing, reading, and writing these words.    

In math, this week we are continuing to work on AB and ABC patterns, shapes, rote counting 0-100, one to one correspondence, groups of 10, measuring, and concepts of heavier and lighter and shorter and longer.  Next week I will be handing out number flashcards 12-30 (differentiating based on student) to bring home for those students who have mastered number recognition in 0-12.  We are also working on writing our numbers and it would help your child to have them write the number when you are using the flashcards with them.

Next week we will start our full day schedule in TK.  Starting the week of October 8^th, I would love to have parent volunteers to help with rotations in the classroom.  I will be sending a schedule home next week. 

Thank you for all of your support and partnership in making your child’s TK experience the best that it can be.  We’re looking forward to a great rest of the week in TK!

 

Warm Regards,

 

Ms. Trainor



Haircut

 

 

Thatcher needed a haircut and I tried our luck with a local barber shop here in town again.  He got a great cut there a few months back.  This time it was just as quick and just as cheap.  He got to watch cartoons on the big screen TV and enjoyed a lollipop.  We left the shop with what looked to be a cute cut, all styled with hair gel. 

 

But then as it dried...

 

It looked a bit crooked.

 

and a bit "bowl-ish"

 

and then I realized....

 

his new haircut looked IDENTICAL to

 

 

LLOYD CHRISTMAS!

 

 

 

 

Thankfully sweet Sarah has some skills with scissors and helped fix my boy.

 

No more Dumb and Dumber do :)

Touch-A-Truck and a Barbie Party

A couple Sundays ago, we attended two events that couldn't be more on the opposite sides of the spectrum! The PEP Touch-A-Truck event and a Barbie birthday party for Samantha's friend Angelina. Both landed on the same day, at the same time. Todd and I did a divide and conquer so that everyone was where they needed to be and more importantly, everyone was happy!

Samantha had no interest in going to Touch-a-Truck once she put this outfit on.

 

 

But, she quickly changed her mind once she saw her friend Reese.

 

 

Samantha got to spend about 15 minutes climbing on trucks, police cars and ambulances before we needed to head out to the Barbie party. 

 

This is Sam with Angelina who turned 5 (look how petite she is compared to Sam and she is a few months older too!)

 

 

There are a few friends at Sam's preschool that she misses so much and Angelina is one of them.  Angelina went off to kindergarten this year but there is a chance that these two will be reunited again next year since we are in the same school district. 

 

Samantha is having her first can of Coke (Auntie Holley you must be so proud!)

 

Shaianne is another preschool friend Sam misses that went off to kindergarten this year too. 

This party was truly a Barbie Dream Party!  Or I should say a Samantha Dream Party! Make-up, face painting, a bounce house, a pinata, a snow cone machine, cake pops, cake, candy bracelets, boas, sunglasses, ring pops, glitter tattoos, nail polish ......

 

 

And while we were up to our ears in pink and sugar, Thatcher was doing manly stuff at Touch-a-Truck with his dad, like sitting in an army helicopter and every other type of vehicle you can imagine.

 

 The hair, the outfit, the shoes.....Oh Thatcher!

 

 

It is WAY past nap time at this point.

 

This face painter lady was BUSY because she was the same lady who painted Samantha's face at the Barbie Party!  I am not sure where she went first but she must have been zipping all over the 101 freeway that day.

 

Todd painted the signs again this year.  Nice work babe!

 

Apparently Thatcher got stuck upside down in a corner pocket of this bounce house.  There were a few moments of panic when Todd could not find him and then everyone was yelling and screaming when they located him.  Who knew you can get lost in a bounce house?!

 

 

 

And then once again, we all met up with each other, this time back at the Barbie party just in time for cake much to Thatcher and Todd's delight!

 

Samantha was looking a little "Barbied-Out" as we left the party.

 

Naps were skipped, WAY too much sugar was consumed, happy girl, happy boy, eventful (tiring) Sunday!

She is Beautiful Pinkest 5K

Last Sunday I ran in my first race, the She.Is.Beautiful Pinkest 5K, in preparation for the Team GSF race in November.

 

 

 

The dress code was PINK!

 

I'm so glad I had my friend Meredith with me.  Neither of us are really runners nor have we ever ran a race.  We had no idea how to pin our numbers on correctly or how to tie the little computer chip thing that calculates your time to your shoes.  Thankfully the group of women (no boys allowed in this race!) were really nice and encouraging throughout the whole day and helped us navigate through all the details.

 

 Action shot!

 

Thank goodness we had Andra and Elena running with us as well.  They set the pace for us and kept us going.  You can view a professional picture they took of us running here.

 

My only goal for the race was to keep running.  I didn't want to walk at all during the 3.1 miles.  After having had knee surgery on both knees a few years ago, in order to keep myself from getting reinjured, I really have to concentrate on my stride and how I land on my feet.  If I hit the ground in the slightest way where my knee is not tracking properly, it irritates my knees and I have to slow down or walk. 

I was pleasantly surprised when I accomplished my goal of running the entire race and REALLY surprised when we all finished together at a time of 31:06 which is a 10 minute mile (I am like a turtle running so this was fast for me!).  After we crossed the finish line I knew that I would be fine for the relay in November and I actually think I would be fine running a 10K next time.  It also helped that we ran along one of the most beautiful parts of Santa Barbara, starting at East Beach and then down to the Four Seasons Biltmore overlooking Butterfly Beach.  And holy cow, there are some athletes in this town, we watched women race past us in the 10K who were at the finish line resting by the time we made it in.  Some of them ran less than a 6 minute mile - WOW!

Our Team GSF practice race picture

 

And this is the reason I am running in November, so that one day Gwendolyn can too!  To learn more about my upcoming race and to support the cause, click HERE.