Beginning Writing

Learning to write and spell is hilarious. I remember my mom talking about how much she loved seeing our phonetic spelling when we were kids. I agree. It is the cutest.

These are from the tail end of Kindergarten when Kip was just starting to spell/write independently.

 

 

WOTR.MLEIN (watermelon)

I feel sad when... MI SIDR DUZ NOT PLA WIF ME (my sister does not play with me)

I feel scared when...IT IS DORC (it is dark).

I feel angry when...I MES UP MY PETR (I mess up my paper).

In First Grade, Kip has to copy his homework into his assignment notebook every morning. This is more about handwriting practice. Over the course of the year I feel like 85% of what came home in his folder was math worksheets. I was starting to feel like all they do is math. 

It's only recently that any significant writing classwork has started coming home. And boy is it cute! Let's see if you can catch any repeat themes in Kip's writing.

Translation: My story is about "my visit to Kansas. We were in the plane then we landed. Then we got in the car then we were there we [had] a fun day then It was Christmas and we opined our presents!"

Translation: "We got to Grandma's house and then we got to play the rest of the day. I played cars for the rest of the day." RATEST (rest of)

Translation: "My special place is my Grandmas' house. I love its smell and Grandma and [the] noise at Grandma's house." 

I had to ask him about this. Apparently, he likes how the security system at Grandma's makes a noise whenever an exterior door opens.

Translation: "I was excited when we were flying on a airplane. We were flying to Kansas for Christmas."

Translation: "Then we landed then we got in the car for 2 hours to get to Grandmas house. When we got to Grandma's house we play all day." 

What do you think? Does he like flying on the plane and going to Grandma's house?

There are definitely some assignments where he is given the spelling. Others he is told to sound stuff out. He is not a fan of sounding out for spelling. I felt the same way as a kid.

I was pretty impressed with this one. "I am a writer when I look. I am an artist when I notice." Apparently that was something he had to copy from the board.

Translation: "My special place is the living room. Because me and my sister play bears and we make them food at the kitchen. We dress them in the clothes then we take them to daycare."

Translation: "When I was 2 I loved to play trains. And I love my wolf named Timber. When I was 6 I loved my wolf and I like Bakugans."

I asked Kip if we wanted to try out a Mom and Me write together book that has fun prompts for a mom and child to work on writing together. That was a firm NO from him. I suppose I wasn't surprised. If it's a challenge for him, he doesn't have much interest. I think his writing attempts are adorable and expected for his age. But, he knows he is spelling things wrong and that frustrates him. 

Teachers out there, how is it that reading has come easily and his sight words are solid but the visual recognition is not connecting to the whole spelling part of it? Like, sounding out a word to read makes sense but sounding out a word to write is chaos. Explain that!

Kip's Fun Run

Kip's school fundraiser "Fun Run" was yesterday. He was really serious about it and ran the entire 35 minutes (except when they made him walk laps). He was super pleased to have all his laps checked off and took this sticker off his shirt to bring home.

Dan, Ivy, and I went to the school yard to watch the first graders and kindergartners run. It was a little hard to catch Kip in the crowd of kids but he was focused and red-faced, speeding around the track. 

He was too focused to come close to the fence for a better picture. He told me last night that if they got all their laps they get a baseball cap. He was disappointed in that prize. He'd rather have a medal. Ha!

Thank you to the family that contributed to his event. This little map tracks where donations have come from for the entire school. Colorado, Kansas, and Oregon are all states represented by Kip's donations. Woot!

Weekending it

Don't you just love a long weekend? This past weekend was extra long for us because Kip had no school Friday for an unused snow day and I had the day off too for a staff appreciation day. 4 day weekend!!!

On Friday, Mandy and I took the kids on the South Amboy ferry and rode it into Lower Manhattan. We park/playground hopped for the whole day. It was gorgeous weather and felt like summer. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again...the quality of the playgrounds in Manhattan depend exclusively on the wealth of the neighborhood. Tribeca is $$$$ so the playgrounds are top of the line. This one was new and was a giant whale that you could climb all over. It was a lot of fun.

We had lunch at Parm. YUM! 

And then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the water at another playground. The water features got turned on for the first time for the season that day so we were some of the first to play. 

It was a great day-venture, only missing Dad (who still had to work).

For the next three days we just relaxed at home and spruced up the yard and finished the kids garden. We played outside and enjoyed having no where to be. It was refreshing. 

Monday is the only day we got hit with bum weather. We planned a picnic at one of our favorite parks but it started to downpour right as we arrived. So we had a car picnic instead.

Followed by ice cream.

The only other thing we did was watch a lot of Star Wars.

Overall, just a really mellow weekend and a relaxing way to kick off the unofficial start of summer.

Only 20 days left of school (5 of which are half days, lol)!

Late Night Time with Mom

Kip really benefits from one-on-one time. When Ivy was little and still taking naps, we would do what he called "special time" which was just me and him playing something together, just us. 

Now that Ivy is older, no longer napping, and fully aware of what is and isn't "fair," I cannot do one-on-one time with either kid without fighting and extreme jealousy between the two of them. But Ivy gets a fair amount of solo time and direct attention while Kip is at school. But for Kip, that solo time is more difficult to find. 

For the last several months I've let Kip stay up a little later every once in awhile after we do the bedtime routine and Ivy goes to bed. Then he and I sneak down and do something together for an hour or so. It's not something Ivy knows about and that makes Kip feel a little extra special. Maybe it's coloring, maybe a little science experiment, or game. Sometimes a snack. 

It is indeed a special time and hopefully we can keep it going for a little while longer. He's really fun to chat with.

I'm glad when I can make time for the special time.