We Have a 2nd Grader!

Today was Izzy's last day of 1st Grade.
 



Not only did I have to get Izzy off to her final day as a first grader, but I had to get myself up and ready as well.  At 8 am I needed to be seated in her classroom for "Research Roundup".  Each student (thankfully only 16/20 were there) had to present a research project.  Izzy's paper was titled, "All About Dogs".  I was amazed at how much information was gathered for this project.  Each paper had a title page, author's page, table of contents, and then the information presented in fact form with a supporting picture for each.



I can't say enough good things about how great Miss Allan was as a 1st grade teacher for Izzy.  Just this evening as I put Izzy to bed she teared up and told me she didn't want to leave the 1st grade and Miss Allan.  Dealing with Izzy's medical issues this school year has been quite trying emotionally on me (not sure Izzy really thought much of it honestly) and Julie Allan was so wonderful.  She treated Izzy with the delicate touch she needed.  Examples would include:  Izzy failing to write down #4 on the spelling test...no problem, Julie would simply go back at the end of the test and repeat the words Izzy failed to fill in...math timed tests if Izzy appeared to not complete the typical number she would retest her at another time.  And really, she would just wait out a seizure, like we do at home, and then restate what she was saying to Izzy.


I found a great idea on Pinterest - each year have your child's teacher sign the book "Oh the Places You Will Go" by Dr. Seuss.  At the end of 12th grade it will make a neat keepsake for Izzy.  Here is what Miss Allan wrote.
Izzy, I know your first grade year with me was at the beginning of your journey, but I hope when you reach the end of high school the following things are still true: I hope you are still a kind and caring girl, I hope you are still creative and love learning.  I hope you still cherish your friends and enjoy being helpful.  As a first grader you were a ray of sunshine and a joy to teach!  I hope your life is filled with joy and that you remember the life lessons of 1st grade - be kind, care about each other, care about our earth and think for yourself.  I am proud of you!  Love Miss Allan

And here is what Miss Allan wrote on Izzy's stellar report card.
Izzy is going to be an awesome second grader.  She is finishing the year reading well above grade level.  She enjoys writing and grasps the concepts of organization and details.  She has grasped most math concepts with ease.  Keep her reading, writing and practicing math skills all summer.

She finished the year with her report card showing all "C's" - which means "the student consistently and independently mastering grade-level at this time."  Most of the year she had "c's" except for an occasional "S" (meeting grade level with some assistance) in "tells and records time to the half hour" and "represents the place value of digits to 999".  Both of these "S's" occurred last grading period.

So here is the low down on some Izzy stats based on the progress report that was sent home each week.  Chances are years from now I will have no idea what this even means!

Every day Izzy was given a color code based on behavior with green being the best.  I am super proud, and not surprised, that Izzy was on green every.single.day!

September:
Izzy started her reading level at a 10 (mid-1st grade level) and knew 91/100 sight words.  The words she missed were: use, these, would, write, people, water, been, oil and made.

End of December:
reading level of 17 (end of 1st grade level) reading with 97% accuracy and 100% comprehension
98/100 sight words.  missed: oil, these

End of February:
reading level of 23 with 96% accuracy and 100% comprehension

March the school switched to a new assessment program and reading levels are based on a letter system.  She was given a reading level "L" with 98% accuracy, 10/10 comprehension points, and a reading rate of 46.  46 is slow as the average is 90-120.  I found this surprising because I thought she read at a pretty good pace, but nonetheless her teacher suggested reading easier materials to increase her speed.

April: last reading level given was a level "M".

Spelling:  Izzy started as a late stage letter name speller and finished the year as a late stage with-in word pattern speller.  I don't know what any of that means, but hopefully will use it as a reference once Drew begins 1st grade.

Some Izzy stats per her (she is sitting next to me)

Favorite color: purple
Favorite food: steak
Favorite song: Call me Maybe
Favorite tv show: Shake it Up
Favorite Game: Club Penguin (on the computer)
Favorite Friend: Averie
Favorite Books: Katie Kazoo Switcheroo

Diffendoofer Day

Today was Izzy's last full day of school and it just so happened to be Diffendoofer Day!


What is Diffendoofer Day, you ask?
Hooray For Diffendoofer Day is a book that Dr. Seuss started and did not finish before he died.  The project was finished by Jack Prelutsky & Lane Smith.  The book is about celebrating the hard work that students and teachers do and a school with curriculum that is child centered.

Izzy's teacher said that the class had worked hard this year so they were going to have their own Diffendoofer Day to celebrate.  They were going to read, play math games and spelling games so the day would be academic as well as fun.

They were able to:
wear pi's
bring pillow and small blanket, and stuffed animal
bring board games

To make it even more special, Averie came to our house to catch the bus.  It should come as no surprise that these two wore matching pi's (and earrings!)

The Party...a Sleepover!

Oh and what a party it was!

It was my first experience with hosting a sleepover and boy was it fun...well, maybe fun is a little extreme. I smartly (is that a word) hosted the party on a Friday night. My reasoning was that after a week of school, I would have a fighting shot at getting the girls to bed. I also thought parents would appreciate that by Sunday evening all kids should be fully recovered and ready to hit the school week running. Score 1 for mom on good planning!

Score two for mom was having only 4 girls. Izzy plus 3 friends, all whom live within walking distance, made for not too much girl drama and no stress for me should someone wake up and need to go home in the middle of the night. I could literally watch two of the girls walk home from my front door if necessary.

Score three...cute cute cute matching pj's for the girls. Might as well throw in a "score 4" here because the tops are simple tank tops from Old Navy and can be worn to school as they are within uniform guidelines.

Sleep masks were a surprise for even Izzy and who knew girls literally get giddy over sleep masks?!?

Perhaps my biggest "score" of the night was hiring a dance instructor from Izzy's old dance studio to choreograph a routine for the girls from a song of Izzy's choosing. This was by far the BEST money I spent on the party because it allowed me an hour to separate myself from the extremely high decibel level! ...even better was that the moms of the party guests came to share a glass of wine and watch the performance.

After the dance number, the girls watched a bit of the movie Annie and then headed to bed. Asleep by 10:30 and up at 6:15. I didn't get out of bed til 7 so not too bad. After a breakfast of pancakes, donuts (delivered by a party guest's dad at 8:15) and some packing all guests were gone by 10.

Izzy took a 2 hour nap around 3 (we woke her up so she would go to bed) and then asked to go to bed at 8:45. All in all the party was a huge success...loud, but a success!

Party guests with Izzy:




Gearing up for the dance party with Trina, the instructor.










We had pizza for dinner (I love her expression in this picture).


Followed by ice cream cake for dessert.




Getting ready for bed...


...I'm fearful of these two in the future...here they are kissing their stuffed animals!


Someone just found out he isn't sleeping in the playroom with the girls. So sad.

Love Note

Izzy wrote this letter to her brother while at school recently.



It says:

I love you my sweet little brother Drew. You can make me mad but no matter how much you do I still love you my sweet little brother Drew.

Pierced Ears

This girl has had a rough few weeks. Seizures suck. Meds suck. Side affects suck.

Her attitude has proved better than mine many times and although it isn't what I wanted, it was certainly what she wanted.



I'll come around.



How could I not with a face like this :)



The short story is this...

Izzy's original meds don't seem to be working. We have seen an increase in both the number of seizures as well as the length of the seizures. In fact, longer seizures have caused her to wet her pants, and I fear the day a kid at school makes fun of her. The doctor had wanted to stick out the meds another couple weeks, but once I plead my case he agreed we should change meds over the Thanksgiving holiday. Not knowing what the side affects would do to Izzy I wanted her in my site as much as possible.

Well, the old meds are a liquid that she takes without too much of a battle...in return I pay her $1 a week :)

The new meds are a capsule that I break open and mix the little beads into something for her to swallow. Unfortunately she has to slowly wean off the first meds while increasing the dosage of the second med all at the same time. She gagged, cried, stomped and hissy fitted the first two doses of the new meds. Well on the third dose I told her she didn't have to take it in hopes she would see my disappointment and begrudgingly agree to take it. No such luck.

Next I moved onto bribing her. I knew she wanted her ears pierced and while I didn't want them pierced I felt if I could get the meds in her without a battle it would be a small price to pay. Izzy agreed to take her meds as long as she could get her ears pierced.

Off to Claire's we went...


At one point I thought she might change her mind, but she didn't. The tears didn't last long and so far she has kept up her end of the bargain with taking BOTH medications twice a day. ...I think it helps that we found the winning combination for those pesky little balls in the capsule...FROSTING :) Much like her mama, girlfriend loves frosting. Go ahead and judge (I know none of you will even care too much) but if she happily takes her medications prior to school and bed in a scoop of frosting then so be it.

Izzy's Future Family

My morning drive with Izzy to school sure does make for some interesting conversations. On the mornings that we are fortunate enough to leave Drew at home I get all sorts of scoop from my girl. As much as I dislike leaving the house every morning, I will miss these talks once she starts taking the bus at our new house.

So this morning my girl seemed to have all sorts of energy and lots of giggles! We started our drive to school playing "guess the singer" on the radio and then our conversation quickly turned to her future...

Izzy and Averie have it all planned out. They are both going to marry a guy whose name begins with "E" and they will have two boys and one girl. The boys will be twins and their names will start with "J". The girls names will start with "S". Izzy is going to marry Eric, and they will have Joseph, Jake and Sarah. ...she plans to marry at 39 :)

Izzy and Averie will also live one house apart. A girl named Stella in their class will live between them. It is my understanding that Izzy and Averie plan to store lots of stuff at Stella's house as well as send the kids over there to play.

Both girls will have a dogs, Bichons, Izzy's will be named Daisy and Averie's, Rose.

I spoke to Erin, Averie's mom, this morning to see if she was aware of the girls future plans and I am happy to say that she told me the girls were planning to attend college, downtown Charleston, prior to any marriage and babies. Smart cookies :)

Won't it be interesting to see how these two really turn out...

1st Grade Sass Rap

So 'lil Miss Thang is all full of her 1st grade self. In fact today she came home, called her bestie Averie on the phone and then disappeared into her room to talk. She only got off the phone when she heard that Rylie wanted to Skype. Where has my little girl gone??? And then after homework, dinner and her bath she needed to talk to Averie one last time to discuss outfits for school tomorrow. Ah, the life of a first grader...

This is what we've got going on in the house these days. She is as cute as a button, sassy as can be (in a good way most of the time), and rocking first grade!

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First Day of 1st Grade

I am now the proud mom of a 1st grader. Crazy, huh?





To say that Izzy was excited for the first day of school would be an understatement. Last night she was asking how long until bedtime because she wanted to go to sleep knowing when she woke it would be time for school. Unfortunately it took her nearly 2 hours to fall asleep!



...and a picture just wouldn't be complete without Drew hamming it up. This boy just cracks me up. Weirdo.






...the boy just loves his sister somethin fierce!


Last year I would walk Izzy into school each day. Today she decided to go through the drop off line (hooray!). We met her best friend Averie (who is also in her class - SCORE!) and her mom at Harris Teeter and then we followed one another over to school. I thought it would be a madhouse waiting in the car line, but it turns out everyone was walking into the school so we pulled right up to the front doors. Both girls got out of the car off they went.

Izzy was visibly tired when I picked her up from school, but once she got home, had a snack and watched a show she was ready to fill me in on her day. ...and what a day it was! She filled me in on who sat at her table, who was in class with whom last year, who had what for snack, and who the "trouble makers" might be. She also informed me that beginning tomorrow she would like to ride the bus home. I'm not sure I am ready for that:( but I guess I don't really have a good reason not to let her ride. The crazy part is she doesn't even have a friend on the bus? Chickie just wants to ride it. I am not going to lie...it will make my life easier, but I will also miss some of the moms I would chat with while waiting for the kids after school.

Perhaps my favorite part of her new 1st grade class is that the teacher called me this evening just to see how Izzy said the day went and to see if I had any questions. How great is that?!?! I also found out that I will get to help every Monday with reading groups. I am beyond excited to be able to be in Izzy's classroom every week!


Izzy loved that I made the explanation points into smiley faces. Isn't that funny that something so simple (and something I wasn't sure she would notice/understand made her so happy).

I think 1st grade is off to a fabulous start!