It’s fun to have all the cousins in one house. They all play together and have little conversations.
Here’s one of Peanut and Thomas outside with the remote-controlled car.
End of the School Year
Mama picked up Janie today and found her making tracks with Magna-Tiles for the trains. She’s been into trains lately and now I see why.
Her teacher also sent home a collection of pictures that she has drawn over the school year with her words dictated by her teacher. Most of them are based on a series of Jack and Annie books. Is it a coincidence that she drew Annie with slanted eyes in this picture?!
This one was my favorite (and the most recent). That figure on the right in orange-yellow is Little Guy. The dots are her spots, the two lines are her legs, and the squiggles are her body/mane. Her drawing of a person still doesn’t have a body but she’s added fingers and toes. Interesting.
Parent Day
School was closing early today so I had to leave work early to get there on time. It also happened to be Parent Day and I caught the tail end of it. When she saw me, she said “you’re late!” Oh well, at least I was there for some of it.
All the kids had a gift for their parents. Hers said “My mom’s job is to put Peanut to bed and to bring me my giraffe. Dad’s job is reading books to us.”
She also had a quick snack of strawberries, pound cake, and whipped cream before heading home.
On the board this month are new Words of Wisdom. The question this month is “How I Help My Mom and Dad”.
Janie said “I help Mom and Dad with Peanut. I put the bottle in the kitchen.”
She also drew this house on the table cover on the snack table. She pointed it out across the table and said the star at the top was for Mama “for doing everything by herself without Daddy”. I thought I was gonna cry.
school stuff
This afternoon, Dada had a 5pm meeting so Mama picked Janie up from school. She was in the middle of playing with Sota when she arrived.
She also wanted to bring home her artwork. She goes through a lot of paper in a month!
She also had some new Words of Wisdom posted on the wall. This month, it was titled “Earth Day 2016”. The question was “what do you love about our planet and what can you do to protect her?”
Her answer was “I love giraffes, so I don’t waste water. The giraffes need to drink.”
Love
Mama dropped Janie off at school this morning and saw the new Words of Wisdom posted. This month’s question was “What is love?”
Janie said “Love is when your baby laughs and smiles at you.” So sweet.
Parent-Teacher Conference
This afternoon, Mama and Dada attended Janie’s Parent-Teacher Conference. We arrived just as the kids were waking from their naps. That’s Janie in the middle (on her tummy) looking up at us. She was very excited to see us in the middle of the afternoon.
When it was time for the conference, Mama and Dada sat in a quiet room with her teacher, Denise, to discuss how she has been doing so far in class. She printed out a list of things she has said in their weekly “Talking Stick Meetings”. It’s always on Mondays so the kids usually share what they did over the weekend. She likes to use the word “just” in her statements.
Here is a sample of her math activity. She did a pretty good job. We also got a few chuckles out of her teacher’s comments about her. It’s funny to hear that she has qualities similar to both Mama and Dada. Some highlights of the meeting:
- She follows directions and reminds others of what they need to be doing.
- During free choice, she chooses stations based on her interest in the activity and not necessarily based on who is playing in that station. However, once she’s there she will play and talk to whoever is there with her.
- She is flexible and willing to sit in different places around the table during snack and lunch time. If someone is unwilling to move, she will volunteer to sit in any open seat.
- She has good manners and always says “thank you”.
- She likes the art table, the writing station, and playing with the magnatiles the most.
- When she decides that she doesn’t want to do something, she will say “no thanks” and stick to her decision. Her teachers know that they cannot convince her otherwise.
- One area that she has improved on the most is socialization. She started out very quiet and observant but now she joins groups and plays with everyone. She also enjoys playing with boys and girls equally. However, she doesn’t like to join “rowdy” groups that are too loud or chaotic.
After the conference, Dada went back to work and Mama stayed behind to let her enjoy a birthday celebration for one of her classmates before getting a ride home in the car with Mama.
We are so proud of how much our little girl has grown these past 4 months at preschool. It’s good to know that it’s money well spent.
back to school
Janie went back to school today and had no tears this morning when Yai dropped her off.
When we picked her up, there were new things to see on the bulletin board. This past month, all the kids were asked “If you could be an insect, what would you be and why?”
Here are a few of the answers including Janie’s.
The teacher also posted some photos from Curriculum Night and some other things that they had done in October.
Here’s a picture of Janie in line with her classmates. They go on walks around the city together. I’m amazed that the teachers can keep them all together.
They also learned about bugs this past month and there’s a picture of Janie feeding the ladybugs with other girls in her class.
Curriculum Night
This afternoon, Janie’s school had Curriculum Night. All the parents came by at 4:15 and joined the class for circle time. They passed around the Talking Stick and said a little something with the group.
The class had also prepared a Family Book from pictures that we had sent to school. Her other teacher, Sharla, read each student’s page from the book. I missed the beginning of Janie’s page but caught most of it on video.
https://youtu.be/-uJcHwyFvX8
Hm…this is all pretty accurate stuff!
Afterward, we got to explore the classroom and saw one of Janie’s paintings on the wall. She titled it “a butterfly”.
They are learning about bugs right now and have a big ladybug habitat in the classroom.
Janie painted black dots on her ladybug and glued googly eyes too.
She also had snack with her friends. This little girl next to her is Gabby. Mama had a conversation with her mom the other day and learned that Janie and Gabby used to go to story time at the library all the time. Her mom recognized her when Gabby first started this preschool. What a small world!
For dinner, we went to Public House and it looks like Janie still likes the taste of lemons.
https://youtu.be/XKXd_vRDMrI
She also thought it was too dark outside so she brought her dinosaur flashlight with her for the walk to and from the restaurant.
Favorite Meal
This girl is always so happy to have Kao Mun Gai (a.k.a. Hainan Chicken Rice) for dinner. It’s also one of Mama’s favorite meals. Luckily, Dada learned how to make it from Yai a while back.
https://youtu.be/UwSrcaezTek
Friday pick-up
This afternoon Mama, Dada, AND Peanut picked Janie up from school. On the way out, we noticed these quotes on the wall. Can you find Janie’s quote? Yep, she’s still crazy about Frozen.
