Thursday, August 13, 2020

Three Things - First Day of School




Image may contain: 1 person, standing, shoes, plant and outdoor, text that says 'First Day Of #GRADE DAY DAY'

- NAVY POLO - 
I know I've mentioned the navy polo shirt before but I'm not sure I realized what a HUGE deal it was to Luke and other kids who have been at MCA for years and years.  He mentioned how awesome it is to not be in the red "baby" shirts anymore and how it was cool that he'll wear the navy shirts until he graduates (HOLD ME!!!).  He is LOVING that navy polo!

- YOUTH QUAKE - 
Luke has been so excited for youth group to start.  Apparently there is a volleyball tournament next week and he is PUMPED!!!  Dave and I both loved youth group and hope that Luke does too!

- GUY TEACHERS -
Luke was so excited to have GUY teachers this year!  I've never really thought about it before but all of his teachers have been female so having a few classes with male instructors is completely novel and exciting!



Image may contain: 1 person, standing and child

- RECESS -
Me: "Mason! How was the first day?"
Mason: "Mom! There are sooooo many new boys this year.  Recess is going to ROCK! We're going to have the most epic football games" ;)

- MUSTANG BUCKS -
Fourth grade operates on "Mustang Bucks" where they can earn this special currency and then trade it in for privileges like lunch with the principal, homework passes, etc.  He is highly motivated and can't stop talking about it!

- CHAPTER BOOK A WEEK -
As excited as Mason is about recess football and mustang bucks he's PANICKED about having to read a chapter book a week.  We visited the library and picked out some selections but if you have suggestions leave them in the comments!  He loves graphic novels and nothing too long :)



Image may contain: 1 person, standing and child, text that says 'First Day Of 2ndGRADE LIVE LIKE'

- A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING -
Griffin loves EVERYTHING!  We're working with her to narrow things down because she currently is registered for dance (ballet, hip hop and acro) and wants to do cheer, volleyball AND soccer at school.  There's no way all of that is happening but we LOVE that she has tons of interests!

- AR STORE -
Second grade is the year of the AR store and Griffin has been reading and "stockpiling" books to test on to start earning AR bucks to spend at the store.

- GIRL GANG -
Griffin has been the MOST excited about packing her own lunch.  She's not packing anything that we wouldn't normally pack her but she is owning this and is feeling like an independent woman at night when she packs her lunch :)  


- TO WAVE OR NOT TO WAVE -
I'm letting Luke "set the tone" in terms of what it's like to be on campus with his mom.  I haven't waved, said hi in the breezeway or really even made eye contact with him this first week. hahaha  He did come up to me during lunch and side hugged me unprompted so I'm holding onto that :)

- GOLF TOURNAMENTS -
Golf tournaments are gearing back up at the club and Dave has his first tournament (in months and months) in a couple of weeks!  His schedule has been a little more "regular" since March but we're excited that things are picking back up!

- ROSIE ROO -
Rosie has been doing WONDERFUL in her crate during the day.  We worked with her during the summer so this wouldn't be a huge adjustment and she's been handling it like a total champ!  Most afternoons we get home, open her crate and it takes her a few minutes to come sauntering out ;)  I still want to sneak her into my classroom (kidding!  hahaha) but in the meantime the crate will do.

HAPPY THURSDAY, friends!!!



23 comments :

  1. When I taught 3rd/4th grade, my students loved The Weird School series. They kept the kids laughing and were short! 🙌🏻
    Good luck!

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  2. My son is a rising 4th grader and LOVES Graphic Novels as well...he's made his way though every series we can find!
    He liked the first book in this series that came out in February and is eagerly anticipating the release of book 2 at the end of September.
    https://us.macmillan.com/series/investigators/

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  3. My fourth graders love the Wayside Stories series, My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish series, George Brown Class Clown, and Jake Maddox sports books. Have a great day!

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  4. Frankie Pickle books have been a hit here. Part graphic novel, part regular.

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  5. My son loved the Geronimo Stilton series. Fun graphics and lots of books in the series.

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  6. Reading specialist here! My favorite series for that age are the Who Is/What Is series. They're soooo well-written. Who was Walt Disney? and What was The Battle of Gettysburg are two of the best in my opinion :)

    xo,
    Britt
    www.basicbritt.com

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  7. My 3rd grader loves Geronimo Stilton. They are really fun books.

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  8. I will echo that the Who/What/When Is series is wonderful. There are so many options, he will surely find a pile that matches his interest. Also, we just got into the "From an Idea to ___" books. So far we've read Disney and Nike but there are more Griffin is interested in as well. As he gets older he'll probably love the Mike Lupica books because he's such a football fan.

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  9. One of my kids was a real "dabbler" in activities too. We ended up picking one bigger activity for fall/winter (Choreo Choir) and community soccer (May-June). Then we signed her up for mini sessions at our local YMCA. These sessions were only 6-8 weeks (cheap and only once per week). She did Skipping, floor hockey, gymnastics, zumba, swimming, indoor soccer etc. The bonus was that since we were members my other kids could do open gym, public swimming or I could work out at the same time.

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  10. Curious if you have any beg chapter book series that Griffin is enjoying. My daughter is reading Owl Diaries And Unicorn Diaries and LOVES them but she has almost read them all!

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    1. The Last Firehawk and Diary of a Pug are both super cute series that my kids love. Also, Notebook of Doom series.

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    2. The Lotus Lane series about three friends Kiki, Coco and Lulu are absolutely adorable!

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  11. Your school has some really great incentives for learning!! My youngest is also a huge graphic novel fan and just finished reading the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan in graphic novel form. Some lighter weight chapter books he's enjoyed include the whole Weird/Weirder School series by Dan Gutman, just about anything by Gordon Korman, Diary of Wimpy Kid books, Dragonbreath series, Jedi Academy books, and Ghost Patrol series too... in other words chapter books that didn't feel like LONG chapter books.

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  12. My boys LOVE these graphic novel series: Scurvy dogs are hilarious!
    https://l9900.myubam.com/p/5987/scurvy-dogs

    Also my older son loves this graphic novel series. Both your boys could read them! https://l9900.myubam.com/p/6339/adventures-of-robin-hood-the

    I'd love to offer any other Usborne book recommendations if you want some!

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  13. My kids love I Survived books, A to Z Mysteries, Geronimo Stilton, and for graphic novels: King of the Bench, Lunch Lady, and Secret Coders. Also, Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales is a graphic novel series my son loved last year in fourth grade. Good Luck!

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  14. My kids love I Survived books, A to Z Mysteries, Geronimo Stilton, and for graphic novels: King of the Bench, Lunch Lady, and Secret Coders. Also, Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales is a graphic novel series my son loved last year in fourth grade. Good Luck!

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  15. My kids LOVE Nathan Hales Hazardous Tales. They are graphic novels that teach some history as well. We start school in a week and a half and can't wait!

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  16. Tales of a Minecraft Zombie (I think there's like 22 in the series?) and the I Survived books.

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  17. Thinking about books for Mason-- have you tried the Magic Treehouse Kids? The books are ten short chapters each and I didn't realize how many of them existed! My son has the first 4, but I was browsing on Amazon and saw that they have 20 or 30 books in the series. It might be a good option for a "shorter" chapter book that has some pencil-drawn pictures along the way!

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  18. I hate that Mason has to read a chapter book a week. I think that discourages kids from trying A longer book or something a little more challenging, which in turns means they’re missing out on some great literature! I always do a set number of minutes with my students, as opposed to pages or books.

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  19. Oh-and the Notebook of Doom series.

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  20. Great book list for 4th grade boys...
    https://nbes.buncombeschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_97314/File/Staff/Gibson,%20Jo-4th%20Grade/Links%20for%20Students/4th_gr_boys_booklist.pdf

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  21. 20 year educator and mom of two here! :) We loved the Spy School series by Stuart Gibbs and The Green Ember series by S.D Smith. They were great ones we ready at our house over the summer break! (My son will be going into 6th grade and my Daughter into 5th.)

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