Food, Friend, Frustration and Fun

FORT MAGNOLIA: This morning after breakfast, the kids were suspiciously quiet in the bedroom. I went in to check on them and found them both on CJ's bed, beneath several blankets and a couple of pillows. They had built a fort, reported Annabelle. It looked really comfortable - I wouldn't have minded invading their fort.

NO COMPRENDE: Near the end of Wednesday morning's science class, we learned that the kids would have some homework to go along with the class. I liked that idea. Their teacher gave them each a couple of worksheets comprising a reading comprehension exercise. We've done exercises like it dozens and dozens of times before. But today was a new day, and apparently all that we learned before had gone far, far out the window.

The kids both read through the passage (about recycling and conserving resources) quickly. It was the whole answer-questions-thingee they had trouble with. And for both of them, the trouble down one to one factor - they weren't really reading the questions. And if you don't read the questions, how can you answer them?

So, an exercise that should have taken 15 minutes tops took NINETY minutes, I kid you not. It was miserable for all of us.

After a break of about an hour, I found a couple of similar reading comprehension lessons in a workbook and asked CJ to read the passage, read the questions and answer the questions. He did it quickly and really well, just like I knew he could.

PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD: We scored a box of rare SCRABBLE Cheez-Its at the store yesterday, so during the midday snack time I ordered the kids to play with their food. (More specifically, I told them they couldn't eat a Cheez-It if they hadn't used it to spell a word.)

They were motivated and capable. Many words were created and consumed.

Speaking of food, tonight I made cheeseburgers and fries for dinner because I wanted to jog their memories regarding the episode of Food-Tech we saw last night that taught us lots about how those foods are made. And my plan worked - during dinner Christian and I quizzed the kids about hamburger, ketchup, cheese, tomatoes, potatoes, ketchup and so on. I was happy to hear each of them had retained quite a few factoids from the program.

I think it's the first time I've ever made fries for the kids, as I figure they get them more often than they need to (once a week or so) when we eat out. They loved the fries and seemed amazed they could be made at home. ;)

STORYBOARD: For the past couple of days, CJ has been entranced by a book from Rick and Ken's tweens/teens. It's a board book with vinyl character cut outs he can move about from page to page.

I fondly recall playing with Colorforms in my youth for hours on end. I loved a Peanuts' themed set in particular.

The set CJ has latched onto is not Snoopy. Rather, it's South Park. :o
While it may not be entirely age appropriate, what IS great about it is that CJ is creating all sorts of storyboards and storylines with the set. He and Annabelle used it to act out scene after scene this morning, with CJ directing and scripting most of the dialogue. I liked it because it was almost 100 percent imagination (at their tender age, they don't yet know all the South Park characters and their mannerisms, so they mostly had to wing it).

I will, however, admit that at one point I heard Annabelle say, "OMG, you killed Kenny!"

COOKIES AND COMPANY: This afternoon we had the pleasure of having CJ's favorite kindergarten classmate over for a quick visit.

It was her first visit to our house, so we gave her and her mother the 3-minute tour.

Earlier in the day we had made some sugar cookies for frosting during her visit.

We spent about a half hour drizzling and spreading the frosting on the cookies. Afterward, the kids had some free play.

UNDER MY SPELL: In their recent writings, it seems obvious to me that the kids need to get back into some spelling lists. The kids have been tripped up recently trying to spell could-would-should and some of those pesky wh- words where the h is silent (like in "where"!).

So after dinner they had to earn their dessert by participating in a mini spelling bee. I think they actually enjoyed their dessert more having had to earn it.