Last Day of School 2012

 

 Jonah created this tile which has been installed on the steps at school.

 Here is the real Jonah at the end of school 5th Grade party (with water slides)

Jill with friend, Rain

Jill with friend, Riley

Mia in Mrs. Wilson's classroom. She drew the picture on the board.

Cory and I went to the class parties on the last day of school. The 5th grade had a huge blowout waterslide party for their last day at this school. We went to see Jonah's tile which had been installed on one of the stairways. I hope Jill and Mia have their own tiles somewhere at the school when they leave. We went to Jill's class party with Mia. There was a lot of dancing. I regret that I did not get pictures of Jill and Mrs. Wilson and of Jonah and Mr. Munoz. They did a very good job and we will always remember them.

Thursday and Friday

Yesterday, I worked for 3 hours at my part time job at my friend's house. After work, I picked up my granddaughters at their schools and kept them till my daughter got home from work. I made hamburgers for supper.

About 6:30, I took the two older grandkids to an after-school skating party. The school has these parties several times a year to raise funds for the PTA. The kids missed the last two parties so I wanted them to go to this one. I played with the idea of dropping them off, but in the end I stayed. I'm glad.

Even in the crowded rink, they kept finding me. They would take a bite of pizza or a get a drink and take off again. Jill found a friend and skated around and around. At first she stayed near the edge, but gradually worked her way to the center of the rink. We paid extra to get Jonah in-line skates, but he mostly stayed on the carpeted area and played different games with his friends.

They both got mountains of tickets from the games that would have meant a windfall at a casino. Jonah got a plastic hockey stick and ball with his tickets. Jill got oversized pink sunglasses. I saw many people I knew from school and enjoyed the upbeat music and flashing lights. There were families with very small children who had devices made of PVC pipes to help them balance. Some kids could do tricks with the devices - even the very little ones. I found myself with a permanent grin on my face.

I never learned to skate when I was young. It looks like so much fun. For my family to get together after a long day's work and go out to take the kids skating was unheard of. Once in a while, we could get my father to drive to the Sonic for a cheeseburger, but that wasn't very often.

About 7:30 all the lights went out and the kids had fun skating around in the dark with glow sticks and flashing colored lights. By 8:00 the party was over and we started home. Jonah went to his house and Jill stayed at mine. She tumbled into bed and went to sleep very quickly. I confess I did the same.

This morning it was "Field Day" at school and they wore shorts and brought drinks for a full day of athletic events. As Jonah shlumped out to the car with his book bag, I yelled, "Step it up! It's Field Day! Hooray!" For once, he rewarded me with a grin instead of pretending to be bored with my jokes.

After school, I gathered up the girls and we got our Friday night pizzas. One for Jaime's house and one for mine. It has been a happy day.

Mrs. World and Christmas Happenings

Cory and I went to the breakfast at Jill's class. Right - Jill and her teacher. Mrs. Wilson has taught Jonah and Jill so far. I told her Mia is coming!

Jonah's garden - just outside his classroom

Top pictures show the new Mrs. World, who is my friend and my neighbor's beautiful daughter-in-law. First she went and won the Mrs. America contest and now she is Mrs. World! The picture on the right is of Sylvia on her way to the pageant. April Lufriu, the new Mrs. World, is doing a great job for her charity, retinitas pigmentosa, which affects her own family. We always knew she was pretty, but now we know how special she really is. Congratulations, April!

"Mac-A-Lena" by Jonah

Jonah's book bag is a treasure trove. I don't know when he wrote it or what the assignment was. The writing was very neat. The piece speaks for itself. I know I shouldn't laugh, but tears ran down my face as I read it. I think he is doing better now. We work on spelling and grammar every day. But this is pure, unedited Jonah.

The First day of school a kide named Mac-A-Lena, Mac-A-Lena Rubenstein walk-a-dime Hokey pokey Loca was her name! She hade a rond head and Two strays of harr one was died and the nuther one was craled up and hade a big nose that take up some space. She had Two teeth one poeting North and the uther tooth was poeting Sawth. Then she had a big long neck long as a pool with a mool in the senter of it. Then two armes a ten fengrs her belley was rond as a ball Then she has two long leges shapt as a (S) Man she was a mees. eweone made fun of her because she was funny looking no one hanged arand her.

Mia Back in School

I am so glad that Mia is back in school. Of all the things she has had to deal with -- the scar from the dog bite, the seizures, the yucky medicine and not being able to eat a lot of her favorite foods -- she has only really complained to me one time.

She stayed with me for a couple of weeks after she had been diagnosed with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. The school would not let her come back until the nurse agreed. There were some questions about medication, for instance. Then the school closed for a few days for their annual vacation.

Mia came up to me one day and said sadly, "I can't go to school."

I said, "Oh, yes, you can, and you will!" And the next week, she did.

I'm glad it is the same school and the same loving teacher. She is learning so much and she loves the routine. And no seizures.

(I picked up Mia one afternoon and there was Ms. Rodriguez watching a room full of playing children. She was bringing one child at a time to sit down so she could take their picture. She was very patient and careful to get a good picture while calling instructions to various children over her shoulder and stopping to help others. What a great teacher!)

Grandparents' Breakfast

Tomorrow is grandparents' breakfast at Jonah and Jill's school. After last year, I have a plan. I will have them both spend the night. I think I will make spaghetti and garlic bread for supper. Then we will get up very early and get to the school by 7:00 (is that early enough?) and park in the handicapped spot right out front. Then we will wait in the car until school opens at 7:30. Then we have to visit both classrooms to say they will be attending the breakfast and then we can stand in line. Last year they had some cold scrambled eggs, sausages, sweet rolls and fruit along with milk, juice and coffee. I think I will bring my own coffee.

Last year, I waited too long to get there and had to park about 4 blocks away and then walk all over the school to collect the kids and then found out we had to visit their classrooms. My knees were killing me and I was limping badly by the time I got to the back of a very long line. It was held outside in the covered pavillion and it was steamy hot as it will probably be tomorrow.

Why do I do it? Well, it's for the kids and not for the breakfast. And it is fun to talk to the other grandparents. The school was surprised last year by the huge turnout. Wish me luck.

School

I went to the school last night to learn about the curriculum. My grandson has two teachers. His home room, math and science teacher is a man. Jonah says he is the best teacher ever. He has math homework every night. They are doing graphs. I met his language and reading teacher for the first time. She seemed very nice but I am worried.

Jonah has struggled with reading. He repeated kindergarten. His teachers have been involved and caring. He has gone to summer school for reading every single summer. He has had tutors. We knew he had some learning difficulties but it took a long time to get him tested. When they finally tested him, the results were inconclusive. He didn't have dyslexia but he had a very difficult time staying on task. Finally, my daughter took him to a doctor and insisted that he take medication for ADHD. He started on a small dose of Concerta and that has helped a lot. But by then he was in fourth grade.

To make things worse, his younger cousin, Jill, is one of those children who seems to read very naturally and easily. She is in the gifted program at the same school.

I have helped in his classroom every year, come in for lunch sometimes and chaperoned many field trips. He likes that, but it was only in the middle of last year when he finally started really letting me help him with his homework. We worked on a long project on the computer and he got an A. After that, he started to cooperate. Every afternoon he came to my house and we did his homework. I was horrified. He had great ideas and a good vocabulary, but he couldn't sound out words and his spelling was almost unreadable. I think the final straw was when he kept spelling the word "make" as "mack". I admit to freaking out when I realized the depth of the problem. Even then we did start having success. His behavior was perfect and his grades improved a lot.

I made him write sentences. "I bake a cake and take it to the lake." and "I pack it in a sack and take it back." That got to be a joke with us except that I still see him do it. Just the other day, I saw it again - "mack". I also made him correct every single paper he did for spelling and grammar. He resisted a little but he did it. Sometimes his teacher gave him extra credit for that. He had a tutor at the beginning of the summer who seemed to help. I took him and stayed for the lessons. She said things like, "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." I was feeling hopeful, but then it came time for his annual visit with his dad in Tennessee. That trip was very important to him. He didn't get back in time to make up the tutoring. Now I'm wondering. Am I sure he knows his vowels?

His mother tries to help him but she has her hands full working all day, taking care of Jonah's little sister and making supper every night. She investigated a special school last year that seemed tailor made for Jonah but it was very expensive. There was a possibility for a scholarship, but then his grades improved and she let him stay on with his friends in the neighborhood school.

So now I met the language teacher and this is what she said.

She said they were doing a lot of independent reading. She talked about the importance of finding the right level book and the book they read at school should be the same book they read at home. I have never been able to get Jonah to finish the most simple book. Even when I read to him, he loses interest. He loves books, but he wants the encyclopedia-type books about snakes and dinosaurs, etc. The teacher said that they meet in small groups or one on one while the class reads independently. She said she doesn't want to know what happened in the book in these meetings but how the child feels about what he read. Jonah can read a page or two and have lots of feelings. She said the school library will be open next week. She talked about AR where they get points each time they finish a book and take a test on the computer. Then she said this is an FCAT testing year which is pass or fail to go to the next grade. She said they don't worry about spelling at this stage and they don't have spelling tests. They study the structure of words such as endings, etc. Spelling tests and the grade that followed seemed to be the only time he learned to spell new words.

One mother raised her hand and said her son kept spelling little words wrong. The teacher said, well, they shouldn't be making mistakes on sight words. So, Jonah is not the only one. Time was up. I didn't bother to ask any questions. I am going to write a note to the language teacher and explain why we are correcting all his papers and ask her to be supportive.

I have some flash cards for sight words and multiplication tables. They are going to grow a garden in science class and do their science projects at school. Jonah will like that. I feel like this year is our last chance.

Mia and Her Teachers

Mia finished her first year of preschool at Head Start. Here she is with her teachers. On her first day I asked if she had any friends. She said, "I have a friend and his name is Ms. Rodriguez!"

School Field Trip - Lettuce Lake Park

A school field trip at Lettuce Lake Park on the Hillsborough River. Three classes full of fourth graders. What was I thinking? The trip had two main parts. First we walked on a path to the river, learning about the different types of wetlands and uplands and identifying plants (like poisin ivy) and trees. Then the children took turns scooping out mud from the river and identifying the critters they found - minnows, snails, water bugs, etc. Jonah LOVED this, of course. Then we went back to the starting point and walked the second half of the trip - a long loop of boardwalk that went out over the water. The kids were instructed on how to use binoculars. Lettuce Lake is not really a lake, but just a very wide part of the river where a tall tower is built for observing the wildlife. We saw several kinds of birds such as a white Ibis and a baby aligator who was about a foot long. Finally, we all had lunch and headed back to school. I was just glad to keep up the whole way.

Back to School

Jill and new friend at bus stop

All 3 grandchildren are happily (more or less) established at school this morning. Mia has adjusted very well to her new school and willingly went to play with the dinosaurs while her mom filled out some papers. Roger and I stopped at the church up the street to vote in the Florida primaries. I think I am getting a cold, but generally all is well. Getting ready to host a bridal shower and take a trip to Virginia for my son's wedding in September.

Birthday Party and Mia's First Day of School

The girls' faces were pictured on this screen while they road a virtual roller coaster. Amazing!

Mom and Birthday girl

Joyce

Grandma (me), Mia and Jill

Jill and Mia

Mia and Jill went to a little friend's birthday party on Saturday. I'm posting a few pictures.
***

Monday was the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL for Mia. She started at Headstart and she was very excited. A space opened up and Jaime only had two days to get all the paperwork done. I forgot my camera but Mia looked adorable with a little hat and her book bag. The building was completely plain on the outside but had the cutest little classrooms I ever saw on the inside. Jaime and I hung Mia's things in a cubbie with her name on it and she started playing with the toys. We said goodbye and she barely looked up.

***

We waited anxiously to hear what she would have to say when the day was done. Well, here is what she said about 50 times. "I missed my mommy and I cried and he got away." (She still gets her pronouns mixed up sometimes.) We asked about the playground, the other kids, the food, etc. but this is all she would say.

***

This morning was very different from yesterday. She cried and fought and didn't want to get dressed. She begged to go to Grandma's instead. She tried twice to run out of the room and finally they had to restrain her, screaming, while Jaime left. The worst possible scenario. Jaime called when she got to work and they said she was eating breakfast and being good. I plan to pick her up at the earliest possible time - 3:00. I think that will be long enough for today.

School Girl

If her birthday were before September 1st instead of in November, Mia would be starting VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten) at Florida schools. Alas, her November birthday means she has to wait a whole year more. The lady at the school said, "No exceptions!" But she will be starting Headstart day care next week. She has a new backpack and lunch box (which I don't think she can actually take to school) and close-toed shoes (which are required). Could this really be my last week of watching her full time??? Transition time for both Grandma and child. It is time. Right now she is in the kitchen playing with the Play Doh Fun Factory and making linguine, spaghetti and rigatoni. Grandma came up with the food references. That thing reminds me of a bad experience with a pasta machine a few years ago.