Parent/Teacher Interview

Today I was allowed to observe Parker's class for an hour!  I was there from 1:15 until 2:15 and was able to see their literacy time.  First, a small group of kids went to the library to take back their old book and pick out a new one (Parker got a Caillou book).  Then they came back to class and had some quiet independent reading time (some kids had a rest with blankets).  Parker spent a lot of this time waving and smiling at me from across the room.  Then the teacher talked about the letter R and they had to do a work sheet drawing capital and lower case R's.  Then they had to colour a drawing of a rabbit.  I was surprised at how well-behaved all of the kids were (there are 27 in the class) and how everything seemed to flow really nicely from one event into another.

After school, April and I then had a meeting with the teacher to talk about Parker's progress so far.  They showed us a collection of work that they're keeping until the end of the year so we could see his improvement printing and colouring, and that was pretty interesting.  Especially when we got to see a few of his drawings because he NEVER draws anything at home.  They said he's really nice and polite and is always smiling and that he seems to really love school.  He has a few little friends that he hangs out with who are similar to him and he stays within his comfort zone and doesn't involve himself with any crazy activity or stuff going on that he doesn't understand.  They have seen a lot of improvement in his fine motor skills and cutting skills, which were some of his biggest weaknesses when he first started.  He's already reading really well (his teacher said she had never seen anyone come into junior kindergarten reading as well as he can and she's a year away from retiring) so they're trying to get his writing to catch up.  His letter formation is really good and he's writing well but he needs to be encouraged to finish his work sometimes.  Rather than rushing through his work to get to play time (which is what other kids do) he sometimes spends his time just watching other kids.  They said he's really sensitive and observant, and he has a lot of empathy for other kids when they're upset.  Overall it was really positive and the teachers seem to really enjoy having Parker in their class!  We've noticed a big change in his confidence since school has started as well so it seems to be a really nice fit.  Hooray for Parker!

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween!  Here are some photos of Lauren not really enjoying her pumpkin costume at first...

 Skyping with Papa seemed to cheer her up for a bit though.

  

 But then she was sad again.

 Parker in his Thomas costume!  Thanks, Russell, for letting us borrow it!

  Practicing some tiny steps. 

 Cheeeeese!

Photo I took of Lauren while holding her in one hand and the camera in the other!  Not bad! 

 Visiting Sophie! 

 Parker found a friend from school to trick-or-treat with!  They were super cute together!

 More cheeeeeese!  

 Parker was unsure of the grave stones and caution tape.

  

 They're so little!

 CANDY!!!!!!!!

 Sugar coma.

Potty Time

Here's a photo of Lauren sitting on the potty for the first time!  

And just for comparison, here's Parker sitting on the potty back in the day!  I think Parker was around 18 months old in this photo, though, and Lauren is only 14 months old.

Class Photo

Here's Parker's class photo! He looks thrilled.

Crazy Leaves

We have a tree in our back yard that usually turns really bright red but this year it's kind of yellow and orange.  The leaves are EVERYWHERE, though.  Yesterday I raked them up and cut the grass for (hopefully) the last time this year and Parker had fun stomping through my leaf pile and stacking them up on the slide so he could go through them.

Throwing leaves into the air.

 Eating the lollipop he got from Rhonda after piano practice.

 Crashing through a pile of leaves on the slide.

MORE LEAVES!!!! 

 Lauren wanted to see what was going on so she crawled out onto the deck.