Kindergarten

Today was Brooklyn's Kindergarten orientation. It went well. She had a bit of an issue separating from me at first, but did great. They took all the kids off on a tour of the school, they go to play in the gym while meeting the PE teacher and play in the music room while meeting the music teacher The parents got to learn about Kindergarten curriculum.

Apparently I was the only person in the room who had questions about what happens when your child knows all of the things you plan to teach them.

With writing the teachers were talking about how they'd do handwriting practice every day and that the initial focus was to get the kids to draw a picture, then add details in, then add in letters for the beginning word sounds, then words, then sentences, then finally sentences with details. Um.. Brooklyn's writing sentences. I was the only one with a question about the teachers meeting the needs of kids who have already passed those areas.

With reading they mentioned that they have kids who range in skill from about the age of 3-8 and that they were prepared to meet the need of the kids in those skill levels. Brooklyn's reading Kindergarten-1st grade 1 page "stories". I was the only one who's child is already reading.

In math... They are going to teach the kids how to count objects, to understand the idea of numbers. That they'll eventually teach the kids how to add small numbers (like the dots on a domino, how many are on the left, how many are on the right, how many total). Then, towards the end of the year they'll finally get to do actual addition. Brooklyn is doing double digit addition with no carrying, and double digit subtraction with no borrowing. She can count objects to over 100... I was the only person who had questions about the teachers meeting the needs of kids who have already passed those areas.

The principal, assistance principal, and Kindergarten teachers say they shouldn't have a problem meeting Brooklyn's needs curriculum wise. I really hope they can. I don't want to have to butt heads with the school to make sure that her academic needs are being met.

There were no complaints from anyone about Brooklyn's behavior. Although, I don't know if she actually interacted with the other students. But, my baby girl is well on her way to being a Kindergartner!!

Squishy Baff

My 4 year old got some for her birthday, and tonight we tried it for the first time. My biggest concern was "is that crap going to go down the drain?" Well, it did, but that turned out to be the least of our worries.

It is most definitely NOT a night time thing. The girls needed a bath tonight before bed and they BEGGED for squishy baff. So, daddy and I gave in and we started the bath. Have you ever seen the inside of a diaper? Yea, that's basically what this stuff turns into.

The girls had a blast, but it definitely was a bit too much for Brooklyn. She's having a LOT of trouble settling down for the night. We did our normal bed time routine (pajamas, teeth, bed, kiss the kids, kiss all the stuffed animals, kiss the kids again, give hugs, and tuck them in), nope. Every excuse in the book is being used: I have to go potty, I'm thirsty, I had a bad dream, I thought of great grandma and was sad. (The kids' great grandma died a couple days after Christmas and it was really hard on them).

I think it's going to be a melatonin night for Miss Brookie, because THIS momma needs her rest!