Open House

Last night was Open House at Ethan and Emily's new school. The Kindergartners did a little performance in the beginning and it was so cute. Next month the kids will be in a bug program that they have been working on. Ethan will be a Praying Mantis and Emily will be a Love Bug. After the program last night, we went see the new classroom. We talked to the teacher for a little while and Ethan and Emily showed us some new stuff in their room. They have these bug jars that they have been talking about for a while and Ethan couldn't wait to show me. He came home a couple days ago telling me about this African beetle he learned about that is as big as a person's head. I immediately looked at him and said, "Oh, great! Do I need to email your teacher right now and ask her if I'm going to get any sleep tonight or are you going to have nightmares?" Emily said, "Our teacher said that if she ever saw one, she would run away screaming!" Luckily, no nightmares that night. :)

I found out something cute from the teacher last night. She told me that she had to do something for a few minutes the other day and so she asked Emily to read a book to the class. I was totally shocked to hear this. Emily NEVER said a word about this to me. But then again, I'm just her mother, she never shares anything with me. I asked her teacher if Emily actually read loud enough for the kids to hear her because I know how shy she can be. Not only did Emily read loud enough, the teacher told me that Emily even stopped reading and held the book down until the kids started paying attention to her. Ha-ha!!!! That's my girl!!!! I asked Emily about it last night and she told me that the only people paying attention to her were Ethan, Xander, and Cole. At least the boys were listening. I asked her if she liked reading to her class and she had a big grin on her face and nodded her head yes.

I also talked to the teacher about Emily taking her AR tests. Emily is loving the fact that she can earn AR points and loves reading books and testing on them. She wanted to know if she can test more than once a week. Her teacher told her that she can test on her own anytime she wants to in the afternoon during their rest time. I have written Emily's login information down in her folder so she can login to the computer on her own and I have showed her how to take her own tests. She is so excited and she said that she wants to take a test every single day. In fact, she read two books last night and is testing on them today. One of them is an easy chapter book (2nd grade level) that she got at the book fair last night. She also got her first real chapter book (without pictures) at the book fair and she is so excited to start reading it. She will start it this weekend. It is a Cam Jansen book and over a third grade level. I told her that she can take it slow and just read it a little at a time like I do my chapter books. I don't want her to feel overwhelmed and think that she has to finish it immediately. I am going to find her a special bookmark today for her books.

And just so I don't leave Ethan out, he is supposed to be taking an AR test today, too. It is a book that he read before he got sick, but we read it again last night to review it before he tests on it. He HATES reading, though, and I'm trying really hard not to push him. We try really hard to find books that keep him interested. He puts a lot of pressure on himself because he isn't reading on the same level as his sister. When he and I read together, I try to encourage him as much as I can and I explain to him that he should never compare himself to Emily. He is very aware that he is still reading before so many of the other kindergartners. And he can blow Emily away when it comes to math, but it is like pulling teeth to get him to read. I just try to be patient and make it fun for him. I think it will really help him next year when he and Emily will be separated in different classes. He won't be comparing himself so much.