Tatum decided to rearrange her floor today. She Is carrying the “B” around and deciding where to put it. She carried it all the way over to her Leap Frog. Maybe this is her new “bear?” or “baby?”
Play Date Sunday
OK, now I’m obsessed with shoes for HER! Pink! Perfect for my Tot. The first thing she did when I placed them on her feet was attempt to put them in her mouth. The velcro fascinated her producing a need to taste them. Eradicating this habit is going to take some time apparently. Taste first, then wear.
We are off to our play date now at Desert Horizon Park. Hat and all.
Well, the hat lasted about 10 seconds. She cannot stand anything on her head, so off the hat went. Thankfully, she got to see Will and Alex after a whole two days hiatus. More importantly, I enjoyed meeting the moms!I
t’s funny, every day, I enjoy playing with all the kiddos from Temple Chai, yet I’ve never met the mommies! So, for me, today was especially fun. Plus, I don’t feel so alone in this “what’s that she’s doing?..why is she doing this?…or does yours do this or that!??” Tatum did great for a WHOLE hour investigating the grass flakes and various twigs on the mat. Perfect!
And then…..it was time to go. It is amazing how they have an internal clock of “I’ve had enough of this scene..time to move on!” Moreover, she was hungry and had missed her nap.
Since I was meeting with Kaitlin at 11:30, we had enough time to head to church to hide in the “serenity” room for a feeding, mom to chill, and to hopefully get fed a bit of God’s wisdom. And so it was! We did just that.
It is now 1:00 and we made it home with happy tummies, active feet and unscraped knees, and ready for nappies (hopefully :-))
I love my Grandma!
Shoes and Choo Choos
Size 1. Did you know there was such a thing? Thanks to Marla at Temple Chai, Tatum had a nice pair of tennies on yesterday. This definitely helps the stability factor when attempting to stand. The weather has dropped in Phoenix to the 70’s and this means brrrrrrr for us wimpies here. Tatum needed to be bundled up in the morning and her feet need coverings now too.
I have a 4-day weekend, and to celebrate, we walked over to the McCormick and Stillman Railroad park to ride the train! It was the first time Tatum has been in her stroller sans the infant seat too. Plus it was to be 80 degrees today!
The place was filled with strollers and kids of ALL ages; the park is one big momfest! I imagine her riding the carousel very soon since her eyes became like saucers when we entered the park.
We got
So, first time today for many things….shoes, stroller, and choo choo!
We ended the day at Starbucks for some refreshments.
Post-Swim with Tater and MAMAMAMAMAMAMA
This weekend has been a bit of a breakthrough in a couple of ways. First, she has started to articulate her MAMA sound and appropriately when looking for me. Kinda like this! My confidence ebbs and flows with her which many find silly, but it makes sense to me. I want her to know how much I love her. I feel like Bruce Almighty when he becomes God…he finally gets how God must feel. When she fusses/moans/cries etc… I cannot take it personally. Yet I do. Ick!
When she says MAMA, she looks at me adoringly and for that I am so grateful.
Then at swimming class this weekend, she back floated confidently for 3 laps! She’s splashing like a many-finned fishy and having a blast. Also, when she comes up from going under, she now reaches for the side of the pool. WOOHOO! Now, getting out is the next step. After class this Saturday, we met Kelly, my sweet cousin, and the girls for coffee at Barnes and Noble.
A lovely time with Tater. Next thing I know, she’ll be walking. This lap time I’ll savor as long as I can 🙂
Responding to the Reading with Writing
Whenever my class reads their assigned section of the class novel, they can expect to be responding by writing. That is why I make sure they are so very diligent with their annotations.
Thankfully, as discussed in my previous post regarding Notice and Note Signposts, it is much easier for them to identify the concrete details or examples to cite from the book to insert into their literary responses. One of my group of readers is reading Uprising by Margaret Haddix. After reading through about half of the book, I have them STOP and think about one of the protagonists. They have a choice between Bella, Yetta or Jane. Once they pick one, they are to characterize her. In other words, how would they describe her in a “two-chunk” Schaffer paragraph. This is just an approximately 11-sentence paragraph which utilizes 2 direct examples from their reading. They must make commentary about each example and include a topic sentence and concluding sentence. It may be structured as assigned, but they have become masterful about embedding text into their paragraphs seamlessly. They must make it flow with proper transitions.
Now, this is where they can scour their annotations (they focus on the C & C mainly) and find some examples that would support their chosen character which they can see changing and growing in the book.
Here are a few samples from my 8th graders from this book:
The other book going in the class parallels this with history regarding Ellis Island entry and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch
Here are a few writing samples from this book:
This is only the start. I plan on introducing the next signpost (Tough Questions) when I feel they have mastered AHA and C & C. In the meantime, they are mastering the literary responses thanks to the ease of annotating as they read.