Julia: She was really excited for school all summer long; however, after the back to school night the Friday before the start of school she seemed a little nervous about it. She came home the first day of school though and said that it was way funner than she was expecting. She really likes her teacher. She said that she is patient and gives the students lots of chances. Julia also seems to like that her teacher is pretty short - Julia said her teacher is only three inches taller than her. So far her favorite things to do at school have been making the Idaho state seal for history and writing about her treasures for a report (things that are meaningful to her). She has done a rough draft, had someone review it, and now she is making the revisions. She said that she is also really good at jump rope this year. Her least favorite part about school so far has been multiplication. Her goal this year is to get on Mrs. Price's (her teacher) second honor roll. Julia said that no one has ever made it to the second honor roll. To get on the honor roll you have to get 350 points from reading books (they do the AR point system for books) and reading at a 6th grade level. That should be no problem for Julia. She is already reading at that level and in a good month can do 100 AR points. As a second goal she would like to become quicker at multiplication.
Ethan: He was pretty excited for school all summer long. He said he was most excited for library because he likes to get new books to read. Lately his favorite books have been the Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary. He said his teacher is "nice" and "okay". He has been really happy that she hasn't given out any homework yet, but I am guessing that will change soon. He also likes Free Fridays, in which they get to do whatever they want for about an hour during the day. He tried to grab Battleship to play with his friend, but someone else got it first. He is also really happy that he gets to be in class with his "best friend" and they even get to sit at the same table together. He said his least favorite part about school so far have been the spiders. I guess he has seen a few at recess. He also said that he is worried about "code red". I guess they have had some talks and done some drills for school intruders. His goal for this year is to not get his name on the board. As a second goal he would also like to read through the full Harry Potter series again this year.
Christian: About half way through the summer break he was saying he didn't want to go back to school and he wasn't looking forward to that. That seemed to be his opinion up until back to school night. After he got to see his classroom and meet his teacher, his attitude completely changed. He was then really excited to start school. All weekend he was saying "I can't wait until Monday." During my interview with him he said he was most excited about all of the arts and crafts he would get to do (cutting, gluing, and drawing). Recess and lunch have been his favorite parts about school so far though. At recess he likes being able to pick to play whatever games he wants. He said he has always picked to play this game where there are monsters, weapons, and black vines. The black vines try to suck them underground where the cavemen and giant worms are. If he gets to the highest place of the playground then they can't reach him there. But lots of the playground is "breaky" (not for real, but in his imaginary game) so he has to keep moving around otherwise he will fall. He said he mostly plays it with two other boys in his class, but sometimes he plays it by himself. In class his favorite thing to do is play with magform type building sets. He has only been able to do that once so far - you get to do it once you have finished all of your other work. He said his least favorite part about school so far is reading, because all of the books in his class are short and boring. He likes his teacher and says that she tells a lot of jokes. His goal for this year is to read the first Harry Potter book all on his own.
Elliott has been going through a transition too, now that he is the oldest at home every school day. I can tell that he has been enjoying that time. Julia, Ethan, and Christian came home pretty worn out and grumpy every day last week. Also, Agnes has been showing a little bit of an attitude with her terrible twos. So it was Elliott that has been getting me and Rebecca through these long days. He has been extra polite and gives lots of compliments. He also has been good at sharing and just trying to make others happy. For example, a couple times this week has has come up behind me and started rubbing my back. Today he told me to close my eyes and he snuck a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup that he got from the Bishop's office into my pocket (they get to pick out two candies from his office each week, so he made sure to get one of his for me). He gets to do reading lessons and the illustrated Book of Mormon with Rebecca every day. His reading lessons have been going well. He has now made it through the first 4 of 100 lessons, so no real reading skill development yet, but I have seen him looking at books much more often this past week. He said that he really likes to play (blocks, cars, etc.) with Rebecca while Julia, Ethan, and Christian are away. He said that his goal for this year is to write his own book.
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