Splashdown

WE GOT THE BEAT: This morning we revisited the online metronome while the kids practiced their glockenspiels. They did waaaaaaay better this week in keeping the tempo. Interestingly, the slow (45 beats per minute) and fast (100 beats per minute) were much easier for them to handle than a mid range (85 BPM).

After the regimented practice time, they did some composing. I had them look out the window and play music they think matched the weather (a dynamic mix of sun, wind rain and clouds at the moment). Then I had them play theme songs for various action figures I put on the table in front of them (everyone from Shredder of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fame to Kirby of the Nintendo persuasion).

STORY STARTERS: After music, we turned to the Scholastic Web site for some language arts. I introduced the kids to Scholastic's story starters tool. It's a bit like a slot machine. You use your mouse to click on its handle and four windows spin in the middle. They randomly stop and you have to write about whatever wacky thing it is they combine to form. For instance, Annabelle's task was to write about a wet skunk who had a birthday party. CJ was directed to write about going camping with a chicken who had round glasses. The writing is done right there on a template on the Web site, and there's a drawing tool, too. They were pretty proud of themselves when they printed out their finished product. (In fact, as I type this tonight, Annabelle's in her room, using the story starters site for fun!)

Interestingly, CJ didn't hesitate hardly at all when faced with the blank "page" today when it was a computer screen. He dove right in, sounding out words and spelling phonetically. Hmmm.

AIR FORCE: Our fresh air and light exercise was a walk to the neighborhood park, Kirby along, of course. There, I was surprised to see an entire daycare class. I recognize the group - I've seen them out and about before, and I know their daycare is all the way over the hill, in Magnolia Village. That's quite a walk for 3 year old legs! Good for them and their teachers for taking that trek on!

MORE MULTIPLICATION: Since we had so much success in our intro-to-multiplication session yesterday, I figured we should keep it rolling. Today we worked on more multiples of 2s and 5s. No problem! That done, Annabelle flipped one of her (second grade level) worksheets over and found some subtraction problems. Specifically, subtracting a two-digit numbers from another two-digit number, with lots of borrowing involved. We'd never talked about or done that before, but she was game and I'll be darned if she didn't catch right on to the concept.

DIVING IN: This afternoon we started yet another type/session of lessons - swimming! I was able to get CJ signed up for the "Youth Beginners" class, for ages 6 to 16, which was advertised as follows:

We will sort children into groups by ability level on the first day of class. Level 1: Introduction to Water Skills: Getting comfortable with the face in the water and floating and kicking on front, back, and side. Level 2: Fundamental Aquatic Skills: Crawlstroke, turning over front to back, and introduction to side breathing. Level 3: Stroke Development: Crawlstroke with bilateral side breathing, backstroke, whip kick, and diving.

Sounded like it should fit the bill - CJ is definitely a youth and a beginner and definitely Level 1. Well, we get there and it's clear within about 5 seconds that he's the only real beginner in the class. The rest of the kids were crawlstroking and submarine swimming all over the pool. I honestly thought we might be at the wrong place/time. ... (Once back home I checked, and we were in the right place, at least by the book, so to speak.)
This expression says it all ...
Anyway, there were eight kids in CJ's class and a few of them were, shall we say, testing the new teacher/class's boundaries (translation - spazzing out and not listening most of the time). So that made it a bit unpleasant for everyone. I could tell CJ was having a hard time hearing the teacher, which made it harder for him to follow instructions. Plus, there was another class going on, as well as lap swimming and even just open water swimmers and as you might expect the acoustics in the place are harsh, making it a bit of sensory overload for Mr. CJ.

And speaking of unpleasant, Annabelle spent the half hour lesson sitting next to me on the sidelines. You can imagine how thrilled she was with that. Because she's only 5, she couldn't be in the youth beginner class (even though she could have been one of those kids zipping around, swimming under water). Incredulous Annabelle, poolside and peeved about it
"It's so stupid, they didn't even ask the parents how good a swimmer their kid is," she groused to Christian at the dinner table. "They base it on your age, not your intelligence!" she railed. Of course, we told her that in life she'll encounter lots of seemingly stupid rules. Tis the way the world is. ...

CLASS ACT: Last but not least, CJ had Tae Kwon Do this evening, too. I think he'll sleep well tonight!