i talked with my advisor today, he freaking broke me down hard but in a good way, i will have to elaborate later, i've had 2 glasses of wine and if i think about it now i might not keep my relaxation going which is something i want to keep.
i am in the dark about "the big game" that was on tonight. it's getting close to superbowl and i haven't been able to watch football for a month thanks to the bane of my existence, my faulty comcast remote. everytime i try to plan to go there something else happens and it's way out of my way. i think i want to go on the way to school tomorrow but then i will be worried about getting there on time. and i could go saturday, but man, it's saturday i don't want to go to the damn comcast service center. ugh.
i am sick of obamamania. portland is going too far, it's just annoying really. I got an email from one of the groups i support with the subject "Is Obama a super-hero?" my answer: no. "will people make Obama action figures to capitalize on this?" my answer: yes and it will be stretchy. i like the guy, i think he's the best candidate and soon to be president of our lives, but he's just another dude that's gonna be forced to wave at the cameras and not use his blackberry or wear track suits in public bc that's "too black". um, i am going on a tangent and i don't know where it's leading, so i'm nipping this one in the bud.
my math class tonight was AWESOME. i love it. i am a dork. out, loud and proud.
oh, i cut 16 inches off my hair whilst away and also wore the hottest and most flattering outfit ever:
before
after
donationi feel like i had TONS to say before and now uh, not so much. i chatted with a guy on-line for a while. he looks a bit like dave smith but with glasses and he looks better when he wears them vs not wearing them - we discussed since i always wear mine. he gave me his number but i told him my phone wasn't working which didn't immediately halt the convo so that was good. he's 32, he lives around here, he has some similar interests. but he also has a full collection of comic book figurines, or he could've been photographed somewhere else with all those in the background, but it did look very neat. dude, i can't believe how messy it got here after i just cleaned. now it's all christmas stuff half out, like i found out the electric blanket had some assembly required so now it's sitting on top of the box in the middle of the floor. i should get on that. i'm going to, right now.
peace in the middle east. does anyone really say that? i guess i just did. but i didn't mean it. well i did. PEACE all around.
13 comments:
I commented on your picture on flickr. I LOVE your hair. It just looks soooooooooooooooo healthy.
As soon as I get enough length, I'm going to let mine dread up again. Or, rather, I'm going to dread it again. But, nice, tidy dreads this time.
I've been staying up late too. The girls don't always wake me up in the morning, which is BAD. I need to begin setting an alarm, rather than sleeping in while my children are playing, unattended, for an hour or more!!!!!
Are you still planning on coming home to NJ in the spring?
heh, so you did ;) i love my hair, too. and it's still hella long!
i am so glad you're dreading it up, i love that on you and so do others - even jay, which rules :)
i didn't sleep at all.....by the time i was going to bed it was like 4or5 and i tried and don't understand how one so physically and mentally tired can not fall asleep. so i watched "meet the parents", i like watching movies i've seen before to watch for different things and then "toy story" and then made coffee at 8. now i look and feel cracked out and if i layed down now i would prolly sleep but i need to leave in like 2-3hours to go to school.
i've solved your dilemma - teach the girls how to make coffee and have them bring it to you in bed, a triple good wake up!
NJ is either march (less likely) or june on break. i had been leaning towards june anyway bc i'll be in field experience in march and not june and bc of the awesome job i have yet to obtain. the library has a work study position, but i didn't finish the application yet bc i applied once before so i want to make it awesome. AND phish is playing 10 shows in june AND i think it's when i'm out of school so that has me leaning toward june, too. i wish i could do all 10 shows, but those suckers, they'll be back again soon, they didn't fool me in 2000 or 2004 when they went on hiatus or dis-banded and they promised to play a show when they're 80 and if they're around, they'll do it. ahhhh phish, i might have to start reading my illphishkidz again......
Hey girl. I registered Bunny for pre-k today.
They said that over the summer I'll need to take her to a kindergarten readiness testing. Do you have any idea what I can expect from this?
What should I be sure that she knows (as a minimal standard)? I'm really nervous. Bunny has never been tested on anything before. When she first meets someone, she generally will not speak... at all. I don't know how it will be possible to test her. Then again... maybe not. She may very well surprise me.
I'm thinking that as a very base she should be fresh on her letter recognition A-Z, sounds and writing. Numbers 1-20 (as is, she's only good from 1-10. Tonight when I asked her to count as high as she could, she said, "Okay. Uno. Dos. Tres..." I thought that was very funny.) All of colors. Circles, squares, diamonds, octagons, triangles, ovals, rectangles... left and right... Maybe north, south, east and west? Can you think of anything else?
On a totally different note, I can't believe how long your hair still is!!!!!!!!
I love that you love phish so much. It's so appropriate. Come and stay with us when you come to the east coast.
hi mama! i understand your nerves, but try to be calm especially when you talk to bunny about it. i think it would be good to talk to her about it when you feel the time is right.
from my experience as a child partly from remembering tidbits and piecing them together with stories from my family: the testers let my parents know that academically i was a go, but socially i was below standards as i didn't talk to them without a lot of prompting and then when sent to play with others i faced away from everyone and did my own thing and turned if approached. my parents were given the choice to either go for that year or for me to take pre-k and they chose pre-k bc i didn't have any exposure to school and minimal exposure to other children. bunny has exposure to both and from what i hear from you, she does well in a school setting so i think she would be ok and they will have her history. again, i think talking to bunny to explain that she will have to answer questions and talk to people. without pressure. you should try not feel any bc you are great parents and she is an intelligent and likable child.
your list has good info and i might repeat some or even all but here is my list and this is based from experience doing readiness test prep in pre-k and what i've learned in classes:
*her full name. how to say it. possibly how to write it. recognize letters. since she has a different given name and used name, you will have to decide how to talk to her about that and it depends if you wrote that on school applications and stuff.
*address. phone number. family members. say. any writing is good. her drawing pictures.
*Upper and Lower case letter recognition.
*Say or Sing the alphabet.
*Write any letters upper or lower case.
*say numbers i think 1-20 is a good goal. spanish numbers are great also. write any numbers possible. Recognize numbers.
*counting simple objects, i.e. picture of 3 apples.
*matching, patterns, what fits - what doesn't
*colors
*shapes- recognizing. drawing.
*directions are good too
*some manipulative stuff - puzzles, drop shape block in correct hole, lacing
*oh, now a days - going to the bathroom and washing hands properly, probably a procedural question
*knowing steps - first we turn on water, then we wet hands, then soap
*how many fingers and toes
*object recognition: pictures of table, foods, different people - i.e. police
*911
*what do mom and dad do?
*playing on own
*playing with others (through observations)
that's all i can think of now. i might think of more. thanks for asking. you'll do great!
Oh Nikkol!!!!! That sounds great. I'm totally stressed by this. She knows she has to do it because she went in with me to register.
When I went in to register, I brought an explanation of Bunny's name. I even write it before her give name on all of her forms. They thanked me for this and said that they would have asked at the kindergarten readiness test anyway. They scratched out the name they had on her file and put Bunny on it instead.
oh, good, i am glad they have bunny's name listed as that already :)
i totally understand your stress, but it'll be ok. i think with what she already knows she'll do great and that you're concerned and will work will her more she'll do even better.
Thanks Nikkol!
Hey, how's your new semester going?
my new quarter is GREAT! thanks for asking! :)
i wrote some about it in my new post. i will write more tomorrow, i can't stay up all night on the Internet. or up all night at all.
also, ironically, we went over some language skills that should be mastered before entering kindergarten today in class, i totally thought of you and i will get them to you tomorrow when i look at school stuff again. =D
Whoh!!!!
Send all of that information my way.
Someone who's daughter went through these tests in Florida this year said that they aren't formal at all. It's just a person sitting there on the floor and playing with your child. Like, "Hey, can you pass me three green trucks."
yeah, all states and districts are different in their standards and how they test, but i would expect it to be fairly informal. the people giving the tests are either educators or counselors and are trained to get an accurate read of what's going on, they would never (i hope) have it be too formal a testing environment, 5 year olds are not yet prepared for that yet. i think the number of direct questions: "what color is this?" is limited and it is in more of the format your friend said. that question gets color, simple counting and object recognition and minimal personal contact. from what i remember is that:
you walk in with your parents. there is a sign in table, you sign in, the people try to conversate with parents and children, i didn't talk. then you go inside a gym and there are different areas set up, some with tables, some not. first we talked to some lady together, then someone talked to me while talking to my parents, i also remember doing a lot of flashcards and looking at items on cards at this time (back before they could actually have 3 green trucks) then we all talked together (they are asking questions or getting reads from this whole process), they i went and played by myself while my parents talked, there were games encouraging me to play with others but i didn't. the end.
i found an excellent blog post on this from a woman who lived in philly for a long time and currently (or recently) teaches HS at a Beacon school in NYC, one set up and described in the book "fist, stick, knife, gun" by geoffrey canada...but i can't find it anymore. if i do, i will pass it on.
from class:
*entering into school a 4-5 should have mastery of basic structures of language.
~ask questions.
~give commands.
~report real events.
~create imaginary stories with correct order
~express using grammatical markers. ("I am happy" not "I is happy" - "He ran to me" not "he runned to me")
~learn several words a day
~can express themselves with more advanced linguistic structures such as passives and relative clauses
~development of meta-linguistic awareness ("cake the eat" is not correct vs "eat the cake" but they could not tell you why in terms of structures of language. (some may)
bunny prolly has all these :)
Just a funny little side note, today Jay and I were watching Lila play with her dolls. She made one doll say to the other, "But, I don't know what kind of opportunities there will be."
hahaha...
Jay and I both fell over laughing.
It's crazy. They pick up things you never even realize happened.
I feel much more at ease with the testing now. Thank you, Nikkol.
My only fear is that Bunny will not speak. It really takes her awhile to warm up to people... particularly in new places with crowds. It can take a day or two. I have friends who she still doesn't interact directly with. It's just who she is. I mean, then again, there are many, many people who she warms to immediately. And, at the park she has no trouble approaching other children and inviting them to play. I guess I will just have to wait and see.
hahahaha - that was lila? your girls are smart little ones! that would definitely be something i would write down in a child's portfolio for language and imaginary play and imitation. rock it lila!
ok, about bunny not speaking...
my personal experience, i didn't speak, but i was also very cold, like they were out to get me, these scary testing ladies (i hate that i keep using that but i don't think there were any men). they suggested that i might have some type of social delay and suggested a year of pre-school before entering kindergarten. my parents had the choice, they did the pre-school thing and i am glad bc i needed it bc i didn't know any kids and she and my k-1 teacher were super helpful in being awesome first of all and noting and helping my social delays early.
i don't think bunny has social delays. she might not talk at first, but she is not bitter about not talking, she simply will do something else or walk away if she doesn't want to talk. the fact that she has been in pre-school successfully with kids and adults is a big plus, they will have your records i think (i can't believe we keep records from infancy if that's when they start "school", but those are more memory books) plus it'll be set up to play with kids and toys (to test them, mwhahahah). there may be a lot of people. my advice would be (again) to talk to her, maybe about this specific part and be like i know you feel uncomfortable but this is important for school and blah. if anything, i think all they would do is suggest to get bunny some help for socialization. but don't worry and you're right, you'll have to wait and see.
(btw, it's really cute that you're all a mom and worried about her daughters and their first big test. =D ....i wonder how i will be. prolly in a bubble sealed off from the world homeschooling - LOL)
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