Open House

We went to Open House @ Jackson's school on Monday night.

This is always one of my favorite evenings - we get to meet his teacher, see his room (and this year, his locker), buy books @ the book fair.

Here are some of the highlights:

Good habits are encouraged!

 Say please, say thank you, pray, smile, be respectful, listen, study!

Here it is - the entire reason Jackson loves 3rd grade - the locker!

Mrs. Stevens uses positive reinforcement in her classroom. Every kiddo gets and apple and if you keep your apple in the top of the tree, you can earn various levels of rewards.

She also had the kids work together to collect pebbles in a jar; once the jar is filled, the class gets to watch a movie and have a snack.



This is a view of the entire classroom. Jackson's seat is close to the back of the room.

This is Mrs. Stevens. I'm not sure how long she's been teaching @ St. Mike's but she's very good and seems to be totally in tune with the needs of 3rd-graders. Jackson's happy, we're happy, it's a good year!

Honestly, if we all followed this simple rule, wouldn't life be better?

Classroom rules.

My favorite is "Think before you speak."

It's hard to believe that we'll be visiting 2 classrooms next year!



Happy Birthday Jackson (1 week late)

OK, so I missed Jackson's birthday post by a week. But honestly, we've been partying for at least the past week.

We started last Monday, Labor Day, with lunch @ Panera, a trip to Barnes & Noble and Petco.

Then I made homemade granola bars to send into school on your special day.

We went to Italian Village Pizza for supper on your birthday evening.

On Friday, we celebrated, once again, with a little supper-party @ our house with family. Jackson wanted Subway, so that's what we had (and delicious homemade veggie soup from Grammy Linda). Grammy Linda also made Jackson his Mario Bros cake he wanted.

This is me putting together the locker that Aunt Dana & Uncle Nate sent for Jackson's birthday.

Jackson got quite a few gifts: DS game, books, Legos, remote control boat, just to name a few!

So, just in case you were scared that we missed Jackson's birthday, fear not - I'd say we maximized the celebrations :) And why not? He's an awesome 9 y-e-a-r  o-l-d! I can't believe he's starting his last year as a boy in the single digits! Wow!



A Rose and a Thorn

I had a meeting today @ work and the consultant-guy asked all of us to 'play' rose and thorn where we identified one thing about our job that we really love (rose) and one thing that we really thought was rough (thorn). I carried that game home this evening and as we sat @ the supper table (eating a delicious crock pot meal), I asked the boys to name a rose and a thorn from today.

Jackson: "My rose was coming home and seeing all of you guys. My thorn was doing language in school today."

Jude: "My favorite thing about today was shouting 'Good good' @ school today. The bad thing was when we had to leave school."

I didn't want to forget this conversation, so I had to blog it!



My Boys :)

1st Day of Pre-K

Today was Jude's first day of PreK!

It was great and he was so excited for it!

All ready to go.

 

Jeremy took Jude to school and I met them there.

We were waiting to go in!

Miss Katie putting Jude's name tag on him.

Jude quickly found his name on the wall where the kiddos hang their backpacks.

Then he quickly found the toy shelf!

The day went so fast.

Jude waiting for Jeremy @ pick-up.

And a video Jeremy shot prior to going to school today (priceless, had to share)!

A great day all around!

Jackson finished his first week of school. He really likes it - he told me, "Mom, I love school!" Wow! He gets a locker this year and gets to share it with his best buddy, Evan - no wonder he loves school.

Long weekend this weekend.

Who knows what we have in store.......

3rd Grade

1st day of 3rd grade:

Seems like just yesterday he was off to PreK. Wow! How time flies.

Jude starts PreK on Friday!

A Different Perspective

Jude has really taken a liking to photography. He likes to grab the camera and just go to town. It's funny to look back through the photos, especially when you had no idea he was 'shooting' photos, and see some of the stuff he's been up to. It's really fun looking @ the world through Jude's eyes: