School Notes

1. Joe. He is done! He completed all his requirements for his bachelor's degree in Information Technology. Conferral will be in February. He has been working full-time and sometimes going to school full-time for longer than I can remember. I am so proud of all the work he has put into achieving this accomplishment.

2. Jake. After getting a low mark in reading at the beginning of the year because of his comprehension skills, he managed to raise his score and earn the Star Reading Award for the 1st trimester. This means he is reading at or above grade level. His teacher was very impressed at how much he improved in such a short amount of time. This has been a good lesson for me as a parent to make sure my kids are not only reading the words but understanding what they are reading. Jake is currently reading the Bad Kitty series to Jadyn and I at night and it has been hilarious. He actually begs to read extra chapters to see what is going to happen. Here he is with his award. Not the best picture but it does the job of capturing the moment I suppose:



As for holiday activities in class, not as much as they get older sadly but he did write a cute letter to Santa and make a beautiful poinsetta flower. They were going to be doing a reindeer craft and make reindeer sandwiches for their class holiday party today.

3. Jadyn - finally got her award for student of the month in academics for her achievement in reading. We will be heading to Carrow's for her free breakfast over the break.

Her kindy teacher is amazing and had tons of super cute holiday activities for the kids this week. On Tuesday, which is my regular day to volunteer, she had me help the kids decorate gingerbread cookies and she read them the story of the gingerbread man. Well, while the kids were at lunch, her teacher hid the decorated gingerbread cookies in another room and put up footprints and signs around the school. When the kids returned to class and saw the table empty, I had two students personally accuse ME of eating all 24 cookies, which was pretty funny. The class followed the footprints and read the signs, "No! No! I won't come back. I'd rather run than be your snack" until we eventually found them and brought them back to class to enjoy.



Today, they had a Polar Express breakfast and the kids were allowed to wear their PJs and bring their favorite stuffed animals and blankets to school. After eating, they all got to snuggle up and watch the movie with hot cocoa of course, ending the day before break with a literary exchange. Jadyn with some classmates. Apparently lady bug pillow pets are a HOT item right now:



Finally both kids got to pass out the snowman soup kits we made for all their classmates, especially fitting for Jadyn's class since they had just enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa in class.




So now the kids are out of school for 2 weeks. We have a lot planned for next week leading up to Christmas. I have so much spirit this year, I don't know who is more excited, me or the kids!