Teachers' Kid

I walked into my classroom after my lunch break and saw this on my board. My kid knows how to use the very expensive Epson smarty-pants projector/document reader thing that cost thousands of dollars, and that even my students have very limited access to. (The other funny thing about it is that I have a student named Isabella and everyone in my class tried to pin it on her--but I know that Isabella and she would never do something as brazen--or obvious-- as this. Haha. Classic second grader antics.)

I'm not sure if this is funny or a sad commentary on the state of the world...but Isabella loves to play school at home. One day I found her daily school "schedule" scribbled out on a piece of paper.  Allow me to translate--

Today's Schedule:
Writing
Reading
Recess
Art
Math
Singing
Lunch Break
Practice Lockdown
Scavenger Hunt
Home

Lockdown drills are a sad realty on school campuses. It scares me a lot more than it scares her...to Isabella it is just part of the routine (although they don't have lockdown drills daily at school).

Taking It All In

In January, Isabella established a Nature Club (this preceded the Girls' Club) and it even had its own secret code--67742. I'm not sure what the code was for--and the club has since been forgotten-- so I don't think there is harm in sharing the code here. The first official activity of the Nature Club was to go bird watching. She assigned me the job of drawing and recording our findings.

The best place to bird watch is in the vineyard, so we made our way out to the big oak tree and sat down underneath it. We saw robins, finches and a hawk. We then made our way out the the owl box in the middle of the vineyard where we discovered the skull of a mole or possibly a rat. Who knows? But it was all very Nature-y. 

 I thought it would be awesome, as we wrap up our last few months in this paradise, to make the Nature Club outings, a daily event. I want to soak up as much of this beauty as we possibly can before we move. But that ambition only lasted a few days, because everyone got sick in January.

We managed to squeeze in a few outings here and there. On another day we picked wildflowers in the vineyard.

This girl is a Napa native and has only ever known living on a ranch, on the edge of a vineyard. It's been our own piece of heaven on earth. It will be missed.

The Girls' Club

These girls started their play date by creating a Girls' Club (that's what the sign says) in the old chicken yard.

In addition to climbing the olive trees and making a little fort, the club activities also included writing, sketching, drinking water, and inviting Isabella's stuffed dog, Amethyst, to join in the fun.

The girls in the Girls' Club decided to do some exploring in the abandoned garden/farm behind our house. 

For the past couple of years a local farmer used some of our landlords' property to create a small farm and sell boxes of vegetables. It was such a glorious thing and place Isabella loved visiting. Zac (the farmer) loved to show her around the farm, taught her about edible flowers, let her pick all the strawberries she wanted, and introduced her to all kinds of vegetables. Zac and his wife are expecting their first baby soon, and he had to make the difficult decision of giving up his farm for a job with a more steady income. 

It's a little sad to walk into an abandoned garden. There are still huge, beautiful heads of cabbage and bunches of swiss chard growing, but now the weeds have taken over and most of the remaining plants have gone to seed. It is a perfect place, though, for the girls of the club to explore.

 

They loved digging through the old corn husks and picking carrots and turnips. They did not want to leave when it was time for our friends to go home. We had to drag them out of the garden, their arms filled with their collections of old vegetables. Such a fun play date. Such an awesome Club to be part of.

How We Pass Our Time in Winter

Lots and lots of art. Isabella painted this winter scene after her art teacher in school taught  her class how. She was so proud of her work.

Matthew also got creative with art--using his body as his canvas. (That would be orange paint all over his toes and marker on his belly.)

This winter Isabella and Matthew are taking swim lessons at a local health club. This is a picture of Matthew and his friend Sophie after they finished their lesson.

 Apparently Matthew is also into weight-lifting. Quite the athlete, this one.

And unfortunately we have had a rough patch of illness in our family. January was a tough month! Matthew missed 10 days of school due to viruses and this little girl missed almost 10 days of school as well, after coming down with pneumonia.

2015-2016 School Pictures

Matthew's first-ever school picture. (Preschool). When I got to school that morning to pick him up, most of the kids in the class were rolling around on the floor, while the photographer and teachers were desperately trying to wrap up the photo shoot. But they managed to get this picture of Matthew--future football player (although he seems to love soccer).
 

And here is Isabella's class picture. (2nd grade). This year Isabella has two teachers: Mrs. Holbrook and Mrs. Tinloy, both of whom are close to retirement. I love that they still throw in a little "old school" education into the mix. Isabella comes home singing folk songs, has learned how to code words phonetically, and the other day I heard her reciting the words to the story Tikki Tikki Tembo.

She also knows her way around her math facts. And I will be the first to say it: I like math practices under the common core standards. (at least the curriculum used at our school)

Wha???!!!

That's right. This kid is going to understand math concepts far better than I ever did, and I am all for that.