smiles :: money :: books

smiles...............................................................
We had lunch with the grandparents on Sunday, and I took a pic of them with Carson.   AND they both SMILED!  So many pictures I have of my parents, they are just looking at the camera.  I finally got them both to smile at the same time.

money ...................................................................
After dinner, we came home and worked on some things around the house.  Carson and Daddy decided that it was time to empty his piggy bank and open a savings account for Carson.  He had quite a bit of money in the little polka dotted pig...

  Carson was fairly patient at sorting and stacking into piles, but he didn't last the whole time.  Daddy had to finish.  I think it took about 3 hours to separate and roll it all...

books.........................................................................
 I am so amazed at how his reading it taking off.  He is on a level 13 with his reading books.  The end of the year goal for kindergarten is a level 6.  He is doing such a great job.  I am so proud of him, and I love watching him read and learn new words.  This was his first "chapter book" to read from school.  It had two chapters.  Its title is "The Ocean", and it was about 3 dogs on a boat adventure.  Mrs. Pollack sends home a log to record his books and thoughts or comments I have as he reads.  She also comments after he reads the books at school.  Now we have started filling out a comprehension page for one of the books each week that asks him questions about the characters, setting, and beginning, middle, and end.  I'm immensly impressed with our kindergarten teachers and the process they take the kids through to learn to read.  I feel extremely blessed to have Mrs. Pollack as his kindergarten teacher.  We {heart} her!

How cute is a little boy, freshly showered, ready for bed, and reading his "chapter" book?

Love him soooooo much...



happy birthday Dr. Seuss!

We are celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday at school, and Carson's class has had fun activities centered around Dr. Seuss all week. 

Yesterday, they made these marvelous hats.  He was very excited about it.  He told me on Tuesday that they were making them, and the hat did not disappoint. 

In the first picture, he is standing in his "Dr. Suess pose."  I believe he meant Cat in the Hat pose. :)

He absolutely enjoys reading Dr. Seuss.  He has a love for rhyming, as do I.  And we enjoy reading them together.  We are supposed to dress as our favorite Dr. Seuss character on Friday.  He wants to be the Lorax.  Hmmmm... We'll have to see if I can come up with something.

Be who you are and say what you feel,

 because those who mind don't matter

and those who matter don't mind.

~ Dr. Suess

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

~Dr. Seuss

a valentine party

Carson was so excited for his Valentine party at school!  They made bags for their cards, which I was happy about because then there was no pressure to make a fabulous box.

    

And his bag turned out quite nicely.

 The class had fruit and veggies for the snack (our school's wonderful health policy) and then they decorated a cookie.... which he loved.

Valentine Bingo was up next.  As I watched him, I was amazed at how "big" he acts at school.  He listens and was helping the others find their matches when they couldn't see them.  It's just surreal that he is growing into a "big" kid. 

 Valentine evening was filled with visits and treats from both Grandmas and

Uncle Scott, Aunt Kelly, Nik and Sam....

We gave Carson a Lego set...... because he LOVES them with some candy.

And Ollie watched him lovingly as he put it together. 

That dog loves that boy...

Carson's special message that he wrote on my board at school. 

We had a great day.  It was pretty low key.  Eric and I didn't even exchange gifts or cards this year.

But we were all together, and that was a great Valentine present for me.

just dreamin'

about no more bullies.... by Carson

Xmas A to Z {18}

Carson made a super cute Xmas book in school.



He was excited to show it to me.





And his art work and writing are coming along nicely.

visions of Jesus danced in his head {15}

He filled in the blank with Jesus.

I just love him.

And the pic of him "sleeping" is just divine. His teacher makes school so much fun!

a {kindergarten} Thanksgiving feast

Each year at our school, the kindergarten has a Thanksgiving feast to celebrate and learn about the first Thanksgiving.  Being a teacher at that same school, I knew that this was taking place each year, but I did not realize what a sweet little event this is.

The parent volunteers set up the tables and the food.

The kids came in dressed as either a Pilgrim or an Indian.  They had previously made each costume in their classrooms.  Carson just loved making them, and gave us daily updates on the process.  They were allowed to choose which costume they wanted to wear.  Carson said, "I picked Pilgrim cause Dr. Kopp was a Pilgrim."

Next, Dr. Kopp read a story about the first Thanksgiving and then read "Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" (a funny book about the holiday).

My little Pilgrim...

Carson enjoyed the feast, especially the processed meat.  Grandpa would be proud. :)

I am excited to hear everything he is learning each day.  I am  impressed with his teacher and the kindergarten team.  I love that he enjoys learning, and I am very thankful that his teacher makes the learning meaningful to him.

The next day, he wore his Indian costume.  His Indian name was Hiking T-Rex.  He chose that name because "he likes t-rexes and he likes to go hiking."

our little bucket buster

We are so proud of Carson for earning Bucket Buster in the month of October.  Our school has a character program, and each week 1 student from each class is chosen as a bucket buster for that room.

Bucket Buster: n. someone who fills their teacher and classmates "buckets" so full with the character word for the month that it busts wide open!

This month's character word was self- control.  As a former classroom teacher, I was particularly proud of him for earning this one.  Self-control is not always an easy thing to do at school.

Once a month, they have a short assembly to celebrate the kids from the month.  While the kids were coming to the assembly, the Bucket Busters were waiting on the side.  He sat calmly and quietly while he waited, showing lots of self-control.  Not all of the kids were doing a good job with it.  I was happy to see him making good choices. :)

Waiting in line to go on stage...

Getting ready to say the school pledge and self- control cheer...

Sel-Control

Gotta have it

when your mad

and you've had it!

Keep your cool.

School song...

We have a mascot, Bucket Man that the kids love.  He is a huge bucket and for some reason Eric did not get a picture of him on the screen.  But then Dr. Kopp came out as a secret agent on a Mission Possible (our school them this year).

He danced with some of the kids and recognized other students in the school that were caught showing self-control.  The kids just love this assembly and it's fun to see what Bucket Man and Dr. Kopp have up their sleeves!

We went back to my little room, and took a few snapshots.  Carson loved his self-control dog tag that he earned for being Bucket Buster.

So proud of our good boy.

Rockin' Run 2011

 Recently, our school held a fall carnival of sorts with a short run/walk beforehand.  

Carson was not a fan of the walk, but it was fun.

We had to coax him to finish, and he really wanted us to carry him.  OH. MY.

But, he was sure excited to cross the finish line and receive the dandy little medal.

After the walk, we enjoyed some of the carnival.  Of course, Carson needed a tattoo.

And the bouncy house was his fave.

He had fun with Carter (from his classroom.)  They're both red heads and look like they could be brothers. :)   I can't get over how much taller Carson is than Carter.

parent-teacher conferences

How is it possible.......

that this little baby....

is growing up....

to be such a big boy?

What happened to my bald baby?

And those cute words that weren't pronounced correctly?

He's grown into one cool, smart kiddo!

(picture from Mindy Atchison Photograpy)

We had Carson's FIRST EVER Parent-Teacher Conference tonight. He got a GREAT report.

He knows all of his letters, can count to 100, and knows most of the sounds that he should know by this time in the school year.

He also received a super report on his behavior (thankfully).

I am one proud momma.