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*Why is it that I decided to make a book for Miss S (for Teacher Appreciation Week) and sent home a letter explaining the project to each parent and asked for each child's portion of the project (a letter & picture) to be returned by Monday (and I sent home the letter & required materials last Tuesday) and this morning, one of the moms sees me in the hall and tells me that she's sending in her daughter's letter tomorrow and this mom is a teacher at the school?!?!?
Does she not understand what a deadline is? Honestly! She said, "Oh, were you going to put it together today?" I said, "Well yes, but that's okay." What was I supposed to say?!?! So now I'm more crunched for time because I need to get it to the laminating place and then bound together, etc. I just find it ironic that the teacher's kid is turning hers in late~2 days late! *sigh* I shouldn't be surprised. I taught a teacher's kid once and although he was smart, he was out in la~la land most of the time. Of course, so was his teacher mom! Anyway......I'm venturing too close to gossip and am probably actually already there. I'll stop for now.
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*Why is it that some people don't understand blogging? I mean, I know it's not for everyone and sometimes I don't understand it all myself, but I love it! I love knowing that these mundane, daily, sometimes boring stories are going to be recorded forever. I wouldn't take the time to write them all down manually, but I will type them. It's just easier. I told Chris that once a year, I want to have my posts turned into the book. These will be priceless to me and hopefully to my children. That's okay that others aren't into it, but I love it!
To some people, pictures of their children are the things they'd want to grab in case of a fire, some people it would be jewelry. I think I'd go grab Gracie's journals from school this year. Her writings & illustrations are some of my most prized possessions. I don't really consider myself much of a journaler but with blogging, I am. One of my dreams is to one day write children's stories and be successful at it. I always say that if I were to go back to school I think I'd want to major in print journalism. I just think I'd like it and could see doing that as a stay at home mom.
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*I got Katie's hair trimmed yesterday. It'd been less than a month but her bangs were waaay long already. Nicole cut them much shorter than last time and I am in love with how she looks. She looks so precious!
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*We weren't planning to do a Vacation Bible School at our church this year. With getting into the new building and some other things going on, it just hadn't been planned. My friend Melissa stepped up to the plate and said she'd organize it so I jumped on the bandwagon with her. I told her she could be "Project Manager" this year and I'll do it next year. She promised not to take me into the boardroom if it's a flop. (We watch way too much Apprentice!) We're both really excited about it now and I think it's going to turn out great!
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*I'm sure I've expressed before how proud I am of Gracie and all she has learned this year. Well, her reading is just absolutely amazing and I'm wanting to challenge her and keep her interested~I don't think keeping her interested is going to be much of a problem! Well, I've been wanting to get her a chapter book series to start reading. There's one series that is quite popular that I'm not fond of. They had read some of it at school and I wasn't thrilled. It would be easy to go to Target or Barnes & Noble and buy this series because there are about a gabillion books in the series, but I don't like it so I'm not going to. It's not like it's totally awful; the main character just exhibits some very undesirable behavior and never seems to suffer any real consequences for it. Gracie & I talked at length about the books and why I don't like it and what the character does wrong, etc. If the character suffered more consequences, that would make a world of difference. I don't expect her to only read about characters who are good all the time. I love Ramona books! Ramona does things wrong all the time, but she also suffers consequences. I have most of those books and have started reading one of those to her.
Anway, so I've been wanting to find a chapter book series for her. So, Saturday Melissa & I went to a nearby larger town to look at VBS stuff and we also went to Barnes & Noble. I looked & looked and it's really hard to choose one without actually reading them. I've heard about the "Magic Tree House" series but haven't read any and have actually had 2 people say they just didn't like them that well. Of course, they had a gabillion of the series I don't prefer. They had a bunch of "The Boxcar Children" which there are over 100 of those, but I haven't read them. I thought about the "American Girl" series because there alot of them and I thought they'd be good to teach some history and there were alot we could add to.
For now, I ended up going with The Best Sleepover Ever! #1: Angelina's Diary which is one of the Angelina Ballerina chapter books that the author has written. Gracie, and I, love Angelina, and Gracie probably has at least 10 of her picture books already. There are 3 books in the series and one more coming out so I'm hoping there will be even more. I went ahead and bought the 3 and Gracie finished the 1st one on Sunday! I made her tell me about it because I told her that if she can't tell me about it, then it is still too hard for her to comprehend; that reading is about more than just reading the words. As with most kids, she wasn't thrilled with having to summarize it for me, but once she got into it, she kept telling more & more. She said something like, "She only said one bad word, s-t-u-p-i-d." I remember that word from when she was reading part of it to me, so we discussed it and how it wasn't appropriate, etc. I like that it's written in diary form because Gracie loves writing in her "diary." Of course, I tell her that Mommy needs to read her diary and that I hope she'll always want to share it with me. I'm all for her having privacy~but only to a degree. Another post for another time.Does anyone else have suggestions for chapter books for 5 1/2 year olds? She's past the beginner reader type books and is ready for "real" ones. I'm thinking about the Pippi Longstocking books also. I think she'd like those.
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*Mary Beth & I may be going to a nearby town this weekend to shop for Miss S a wedding gift. She's registered at Williams Sonoma. LOVE that store!
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*The pants I'm wearing are loose today. Not sure why, but I sure am glad! This doesn't happen very often!
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*I gotta go work on the books I'm making. I think I have the books for the aides almost ready to be laminated so I better get those to the shop. I sure hope they turn out well!
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9 comments:
Why is it that some people don't understand blogging? I mean, I know it's not for everyone and sometimes I don't understand it all myself, but I love it!
I run into this fairly often myself. I've pretty much stopped talking about blogging unless I'm speaking with a fellow blogger because so many people just don't get it. And that's fine, it's not for everyone. Everyone who blogs does it for different reasons, it's that personal and that varied of a medium.
I've heard about the "Magic Tree House" series but haven't read any...
Sweetpea's teacher has been reading that series to them in school. I haven't read any of the books myself but she really likes them. She saw them on the recent book orders that were sent home and asked if I would order them. We'll probably just check them out from the library this summer. Sweetpea's not reading as well as your Gracie but I, too, want to find some books that she can continue to read and work on this summer.
I absolutely LOVE Ramona. I wanted to name my daughter Ramona (for about 30 seconds...until my husband said , "NO WAY!"). I can't wait until Avery is old enough to enjoy those books.
You have been so busy!
I do get people asking me why I love blogging so much -- I tell them, I can't explain it, I just do! I didn't journal or scrapbook before, so this is the next best thing to doing that for our family & children.
Have you gotten any of the blogs published yet? I wanting to do that eventually as well...let me know if you have success with a company.
There is another series that I have seen at the local library here. It looks similar-ish to the American girls series/the historical part and all at least. I will look closer at them next time I am at the library and let you know about them...as I am sure they are there in your town, or you could request them from here. I am sure that she will enjoy the AB one...so cute!
Oh, and I will assume I know what that first comment is about! LOL! f
Matthew loves the Magic Treehouse series. He is reading them by himself now. I love it because he has gotten interested in historical events that he reads about (titanic, revolutionary war, wild west, etc.)
Another great one is Junie B. Jones. It is about a little girl in First Grade. I know lots of little girls who love it.
I agree with you about blogging. Just when I think I will quit, I think of stuff I want to write about.
I am betting Junie B. Jones is the character you were talking about!! My kids did love those books though. She sort of had consequences-hers were more learn from your mistakes consequences.
Magic Treehouse books are very good, they encourage imagining and tie in history as well. The cahracters usually end up learning some sort of "lesson" to which is always nice for kids books.
Ramona rules, but I can't get my kids on board. They did love Fudge and Superfudge, which of course stem from The Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing -these books do bring out a few discussions(divorce is dealt with).
Winnie the Horse Gentler is a good christian series of books about a girl and her horse. They are about a fourth grade girl but very easy to read.
You are so blessed that Gracie is enjoying reading so much. Rachel has only recently started reading for pleasure. Little stinker. She goes for any and all books about dogs. Fiction and non. She really could not stand Junie B. She has liked some of the Magic Tree House books. We found a cute tween book at the library that is chrisitan fiction. She had a good time starting it, but never finished. She loves to read any of the Ranger Rick, Highlights, and any other periodicals with animals. Oh, she loves Ramona, too. We love to call Zoe, "Beezus." Just fits sometimes.
Oh you made me remember how much I loved reading Ramona (she always made me feel better about things because she screwed up as much as I did), the Boxcar Children, and American Girls books. All of those bring back warm fuzzy feelings for me even though now I can't hardly remember much about the stories! I love that she loves to read and write. She may even fulfill your dreams of becoming an author one day if you don't get to it. Good Luck with the book series hunt, your teacher project, and anything else!
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