Things Kids Say

I went to help out in LilKat2's Kindergarten class today. When I came in, the new music teacher was there singing songs with them. I had never met him before. The old music teacher was a very kid friendly, chipper, younger lady. The new guy was quite different. I was trying to think of a way to describe him and the best thing I can come up with is Niles Crane from Frasier, but not funny.

Anyhow, while I was in class, I heard a funny story about him. Apparently, he was singing songs with the kids when he got to a part where he started to sing in a very looooow voice. The kids thought that this was very impressive. They said to him, 'Wow, Mr. ___! You sound just like a REAL man!'

Box Tops

This week at school, LilKat2 learned that if his class collects the most 'Box Tops', then they'll get to have a party. Well, I don't know if his teacher told him that they're having the party at Disneyland or that maybe that Boba Fett's going to show up with an ice cream cake. But whatever it was she said...it worked. LilKat2 is a highly motivated little boy when it comes to Box Tops.

Yesterday, he was searching through cupboards, pulling out boxes of cereal, scanning the tops and bottoms of anything cardboard and rectangular for the pink Box Top picture. When I came downstairs, I saw him holding a huge pair of kitchen scissors, wearing a very determined look on his face, about to carve off the bottom of a full box of Kleenex.

Here's the conversation we ended up having:

Me: LilKat2, you aren't allowed to cut open that box. There's stuff in there.

LilKat2: But my teacher says we need Box Tops. We need to get the most so we can have a party.

Me: But there's stuff in the box.

LilKat2: But we need them.

Me: But you can't cut it open. We need it to hold the stuff.

LilKat2: But we need them.

Me: Besides, you aren't even allowed to use those big scissors.

LilKat2: But we need them.

(and so on)

He is a boy on a mission. I am fully expecting to find little rectangular holes in any box in our pantry from now until June.

School Bus II

Last year, I wrote about how fun LilKat1's school bus is. Turns out, it's even more fun that I thought it was.

Every once in a while on a Friday, the bus driver will declare that it's 'Jelly Bean Friday'. Know what that means? Jelly beans for everyone! You don't even get stuff like that on airplanes!

Our bus driver is also good about making sure kids cross the street correctly. If they cross without looking, he'll make them go back and do it again. Back when I was a kid, I don't think the bus driver cared if you got home. As long as you got off the bus, that was good enough for her.

Our bus driver has also changed our designated stop so that it's closer to our house. Our stop is supposed to be down at the corner of our street (about 50 yards away). But since LilKat1 and LilKat2 are the only ones to get picked up at our stop, the bus driver will just stop wherever we happen to be standing. Over the past few days, LilKat1 and I have tried standing closer and closer to our house to see how far he'll go away from the designated stop. Today, we stood right at the edge of our next door neighbor's house and, sure enough, the bus stopped right in front of us. When I was a kid, I think our mean bus lady would probably have done the opposite and driven around the corner and made us run to catch up with her.

And here's the most recent cool thing that has happened with our bus driver. LilKat1 and I were standing at the bus stop, when we saw the bus come around the corner and pick up some kids down the street. I heard him saying something to them over his speaker, but couldn't quite make it out. When the bus come over and pulled up in front of us, I noticed that there were no kids in the bus. LilKat1 got on and started walking to the back. Right as he got to the middle of the bus, all of the kids jumped up and once and said 'HAHHHHHHHHH!' Oh, that was too funny! It really made me laugh.

Then, LilKat1 quickly hopped into his seat and joined the others in getting ready to surprise the kids at the next stop.

When LilKat1 go home, I found out that they did this at all of the stops. Some of the stops were better than others (they said 'HAAHHHHHHHH!' a bit too early at a couple of places). But it sounded like a very fun time.

You know, it's too bad that they don't do stuff like this on regular buses and trains. I think that public transportation in general would be more popular if they did.

Science Fair

Way back before Spring Break, we found out that LilKat1’s school was having a Science Fair and that students from K-5 were welcome to submit projects. I have always looked forward to helping my kids with Science Fair projects. I remember learning how to make electric motors for my project when I was young and having a great time. But I was in 7th grade! I had no idea that people had Science Fairs for 1st grade and younger.

Well, I thought that it would be a fun thing for me and LilKat1 to do together, so I encouraged him to sign up for it. The first thing we needed was a good age-appropriate project. We tried to think of something that he could do himself. We got an idea from an episode of Curious George. We decided to use our Science Fair project to find out what worms liked. LilKat1 named the project ‘Fascinating Worms’.

Here’s how we did it:

First, we needed some worms. So we went to the worm store and got some:

Next, we gathered up a bunch of materials that we thought worms might like. We had soil, mud, hay, cedar chips, pine bits, coffee grounds, styrofoam packing peanuts, cereal, and easter grass.

Then LilKat1 picked out 4 of the materials and put them into a container like this:

Next, we put a bunch of worms in the middle of the materials like this:

 

Then we waited while the worms figured out where they wanted to go. When the worms were happy in their new spots, we pulled them out of each section and counted them. LilKat1 used a notebook to record how many worms we found in each material.

 

We did a total of 4 experiments. Here are pictures of the others:

 

After our experimenting was done, we had to make our display. I think this part actually took longer than the experimenting! We spent a good 3 evenings of cutting and gluing. I thought LilKat1 might start to get tired of working on his project. But he really liked seeing his experiments come to life on the display that we were creating. We actually had a lot of fun making it.

Here’s the display at the Science Fair:

 

Here is the raw data that he recorded from the experiments:

Here is a table showing how he interpreted the data:

Each of the Science Fair projects was scored by a group of judges. Projects that scored high enough received a Science Star award. We must’ve done a pretty good job because we got one!

 

It was a little difficult thinking of a good age appropriate project, but I think we picked a pretty good one. One cool thing was that we (me included) actually found out things that we didn’t know before. Did you know that worms liked styrofoam more than coffee grounds? I didn’t! But most of all, it was a very fun thing to do with my son.  In fact, on the Scientist Question and Answer section, I asked LilKat1 what his favorite thing about the project was, and his answer was ‘Being with Dad’.

School Bus

When I was a boy, the school bus was not very fun. You got on, you sat down, and you shut your mouth. If there was anything more than quiet talking, the bus would pull over and everyone would get yelled at. One time, the whole back section of the bus (where I happened to be sitting) had to get out and walk home (uphill!) because the bus driver said we were too loud. Not so fun...

Now compare this to LilKat1's bus this morning. A full bus of kids rolls up. There's smiling and waving. The bus driver waves to the parents and says good morning to everyone getting on. You can hear a familiar 50's tune coming through the windows, and suddenly the whole busload of kids explode with a shout of 'YAKETY-YAK!!! DON'T TALK BACK!!!' followed by laughing and giggling.

Their bus sounds more fun than my bus.

Less than, Same, Greater Than

I got to help out in LilKat1's 1st grade class for the first time. He's got a bunch of really nice kids in his class! I had a very good time helping out. I even got a big ole' hug as I was leaving from a little girl that I had just met. I also had this conversation with another little girl.

Girl: What's your name?

Me: Well, my name is Mr. BigKat, but some kids can't remember so they just call me LilKat1's Dad.

Girl: You have a funny last name.

Me: Really? Well, it is kind of long.

Girl: No. It's funny.

Me: What's your last name?

Girl: Flibbidy-Floo

Me: Your last name is funny too. I guess we're the funny last name twins!

(high fives)

When I got to class, they had started working on math. They were working on Less Than, Same As, and More Than. Here's how it worked. Each kid had a bunch of blocks. They got a number card and some cards that said 'Less Than', 'Same', and 'More Than'. They were supposed to gather a number of blocks that was the same as the number card, then put those blocks on their 'Same' card. Then they were to gather a number of blocks that was less than their number card, then put those blocks on their 'Less Than' card. Then do the same type of thing for their 'More Than' card.

Most of the kids weren't sure what to do. So I had many conversations that went like this:

Me: What's the number on your card?

Kid: Five

Me: So put 5 blocks on your 'Same' card

(kid does this)

Me: Ok, so now, what's a number that's less than 5?

Kid: Two

Me: So put 2 on your 'Less Than' card.

(kid does this)

Me: Now, what's a number that's more than 5?

Kid: Nine

Me: Ok, then put 9 on your 'More Than' card

I had something resembling this conversation for almost every kid there. Sometimes more than once (and sometimes the Same as once).

But LilKat1 figured this lesson out right away. And by figured out, I mean he found the lazy way to quickly do this activity, and was very proud of himself for doing so. What he would do is put the correct number of blocks on the 'Same' card, then just put the rest of his blocks on the 'More Than' card without counting them. He knew that the number would be always be bigger than the 'Same' card and that having zero blocks on the 'Less Than' card would also always be correct.

When I went to check his work, he just sat there grinning at me. After I told him it was good, I got a new number card for him and told him to do it again. And he quickly repeated his same trick again. Sneaky kid that LilKat1...

But you know, it's probably the same thing I would've done.

Bad Words

Overheard from a line of 1st graders at LilKat1's Elementary School...

"Stupid can't be a bad word because the 'S' word is already taken."

Back from school!

LilKat1 is back from school. We went to meet him at the bus stop. Our next door neighbors and across the street neighbors were also their to meet their boys. They all got off the bus together, came over to us, and immediately started playing together.

 

Which meant that I didn't get to hear about how school went.

 

So I went back inside to work. The kids rode their bikes in the front yard for a while and then went over to the next door neighbor's house to play. After they came home, Mrs. BigKat gave me an update on how LilKat1's day went. Here's what he said when he went over to play next door:

 

"Today was the best day ever! I got to ride the bus, I got to go to school, and now I get to go over to my friend's house!"

 

So I think things went pretty well. But I'll have to wait a bit to find out the details.

Not home yet

LilKat1 is still at school...Kindergarten takes too long! I told Mrs. BigKat that she should start homeschooling next week, so I wouldn't have to wait for him to come home, but she said no.

He should be getting on the bus right about now. I think I might have to go stand outside on the corner in a few minutes.

 

I miss my son.

The bus

LilKat1 just left for school!

On a bus!

And I didn't drive after it in my car!

He should be arriving for his first day of school right about now...

Kindergarten Answers!

Well, the kindergarten stuff has all been resolved. Last week, I called around to find out if LilKat1 could transfer to another school that offered half-day kindergarten. I found a form that I was supposed to fill out and went down to the school that LilKat1 is currently enrolled in to turn it in. When I got to the school, it turned out that the principal was on the phone with the principal of the school that offered the half-day class. So all I had to do was wait around a bit and find out if the transfer would be ok'd or not.

A few minutes later, the principal came out to talk to me. She said that the transfers are normally denied, but since she had talked with the other principal and there is space available there, they would ok the transfer if we wanted. But she encouraged us to stay at LilKat1's current school and just have him leave early if we didn't want to have him there for the full day.

I told her that I was concerned that the class would go over things during the afternoon that he would miss. And when he came in for the morning portion, he would be behind. The principal showed me the layout of the class, and it turns out that this won't be a problem. In the morning portion of class, they learn about math, reading, writing, etc. It lasts for about 2 and a half hours. If we just had LilKat1 go to this part and then pick him up, it would be pretty much the same thing as him going to half-day kindergarten.

After the morning session, the kids go to lunch. They get about 45 minutes for this and then come back to class for a half hour rest time.

The afternoon session also lasts for about 2 and a half hours. The kids learn about science, social studies, art, and other stuff. I think they also learn Spanish during this time.

Since the things they learn in the afternoon are not related to the things they learn in the morning, we wouldn't have to worry about LilKat1 getting behind if he went home early. The teacher would provide us the details about what the kids will be learning about in the afternoon, so we could decide which components he could go to and which ones he could skip.

It seemed like a great option because LilKat1 would be able to get a half-day kindergarten experience if we want, but he could also go to the afternoon session if the class is doing something particularly interesting. He would be able to stay at his current school which is nice because that is where all of his neighborhood friends are going. And even if we pick him up before the afternoon session, he'll still be able to eat lunch with his friends and play with them before he goes home.

So that's what we decided to do. The kindergarten picnic is tonight, so LilKat1 will get to meet his teacher and the other kids in his class. We get to bring our own dinner, so LilKat1 has requested pizza and cookies. Earlier this summer, he was very nervous about kindergarten. But now, he's really starting to look forward to it.

Kindergarten Decisions

LilKat1 is going to be starting Kindergarten this September. The school that he is currently enrolled in has just switched from half-day kindergarten to full-day. When I went to the Kindergarten registration day, there was a form that you could fill out if you wanted full-day kindergarten. The cost for full-day was extra, something like $3000 for the year. There were 46 signatures on the form and only 20-something spots. I think I may have been the only one there who did not want the full-day class.  Well, I guess the response was so big that they decided to change all of the classes to full-day. Many parents were happy about this because a) their kid would get into a full-day class and b) they wouldn't have to pay extra for it.

Well, this means that LilKat1 will be in school from 8:30-2:50. That's over 6 hours! Doesn't that seem like a lot? We think so. So we're trying to figure out our options.

Option 1 is to have him go to the same private school that he went to preschool at. The cost for this would be something like $2600 for the year. He loves his school, so we know he'd have a great time there. Plus, he'd get an extra year of Christian education. But we wouldn't be able to afford to keep him there, so he'd have to transfer for 1st grade.

Option 2 is to try to get him into a charter school. There's one near by that has half-day kindergarten. They actually look like a fantastic school. But you have to do a lottery process to get in, so there's no guarantee that he would get in.

Option 3 is to try and do an in-district transfer to another public school that offers half day kindergarten. So far, this is the most appealing. We'd have the option of letting him stay at his new school up through 5th grade. We'd also have the option of sending LilKat2 and PrincessKat there as well. However, if we did that, our kids would be going to a different school than all of the other neighborhood kids. I don't know if this is a big deal, but it's something to think about. Furthermore, registration is happening right now, and it sounds like we'd need to get that process done really quickly before the classes got filled up.

Option 4 is to have him stay at his current school, but pick him up from class half-way through. I talked with the district supervisor about this and she said it was an option. I still need to talk with the principal about it. The benefit would be that if LilKat1 decided that he really liked school and wanted to stay the whole time, then he'd be able to. The downside would be that he would miss out on all of the afternoon activities and could possibly end up behind a bit.

Option 5 is to just have him stay at school and go full time.

 

Right now, I think option 3 is the most attractive. I have a call in right now for the in-district transfer stuff. I just hope it gets done quickly. There's another public school very close by that he could go to. Some of the kids that go there would actually live closer to us than some of the kids at his current school. On his soccer team, 2 of the other boys are already enrolled at the other school (I think). The half-day kindergarten goes from 8:20-10:40. Much more reasonable I think. You know, the more I think about it, the more I'm rooting for option 3 to work out.