Mother's Day Tea, Field Trip, Excel Expo and Dance Recital

In May, Sophie and I went to her Mother's Day Tea. They sang songs and we had yummy sandwiches and fruit. We also made these great looking hats.

 We went to the Delano Homestead for Sophie's class field trip. We saw lots of farm animals. Afterwards, we were able to visit the Kalamazoo Nature Center building and look at all of the animals found in Michigan. Sophie is in an indoor tree house with preschool friends: Lauren, Addy, Zac and Wendell.  

This year, Lillie did a research project for Excel on Dolphins. She made a Triorama with a clay model of a dolphin. She also made a menu with the types of food dolphins eat and packet of information about her animal.

 On Saturday, Lillie and Sophie had their dance recital. They had a lot of fun and they did a great job. Afterwards, we went to Plainwell ice cream to celebrate.

Lillie Field Trip and Excel Expo

Two weeks ago, Lillie and I went on her class field trip to the zoo.  I got to ride the bus with her and I didn't get sick.

This picture is of her class when they got off the bus. They were very tired after a long day at the zoo.

Lillie has been in excel this school year. Excel is a special accelerated class that meets for an hour each week. This past Wednesday, all of the Excel students showed off their projects at an open house.  The 1st graders did a animal research project. (They don't have Excel for Kindergarteners, so they put her in the 1st grade group.) Lillie displayed her triarama of a polar bear habitat. She also completed a research packet, made a pub menu of a polar bear's diet and a polar bear out of modeling clay.

Sophie's 1st visit to the Dentist and Lillie's School update

Sophie went to the Dentist for the first time today.  She let the Dental Hygientist count her teeth and look in her mouth, but she did not want her teeth cleaned.  After they applied the flouride to her teeth she got to pick out a toothbrush, sticker and bracelet.

Lillie loves school and she is doing great.  Last week, her teacher, Mrs. Barber, had the reading specialist test her reading level.  She is at a 3.4 (3rd grade, 4 months). She can read up to 6th grade, but she began to get frustrated at 4th grade reading level. I was worried about Lillie’s leveling off in her reading but her teacher and reading specialist both said that they wanted to keep her at her accelerated rate.

Her reading comprehension is a solid 2nd grade level.  Mrs. Barber is going to stop having her do the kindergarten reading activities and build a reading tote for her to do, when the rest of the class is doing kindergarten reading.  She is also going to have Accelerated Reading time with the reading specialist and the librarian.  I saw the reading specialist in the hallway last week and she said that she enjoyed reading with Lillie.  Reading with Lillie made her day.  Everyone noticed how happy Mrs. Hoffman (reading specialist) was the day she tested Lillie and it was because of Lillie.

Today, Lillie was pulled out of class to spend time in the ExCEL program with the 1st graders.  They don't offer it to Kindergartners until later in the year, if at all.  ExCEL is a program where students meet with an instructor for approximately 1 hour each week. This is an curriculum program in addition to their classroom curriculum. The program is designed to help them continue to strengthen curriculum, thinking skills, research activities, enhance thinking skills, and develop responsibility and interpersonal skills.