Kindergarten Sharing Stew

Thanksgiving week is a short, but busy week in Kindergarten.  Every year the Kindergarten students make sharing stew.  Each student is assigned something to bring.  Then the students peel and chop the ingredients.  Then the next day they get to eat the stew for lunch and the leftovers are taken to the Rescue Mission.

 Sharing stew has a list of ingredients that includes: carrots, potatoes, green beans, broth, corn, celery, noodles and mixed vegetables.  Their meal also includes: milk, pumpkin bread, grapes, celery and carrot sticks, bread and homemade butter.  The students make the butter out of whipping cream using a jar with a marble inside.

 The students learned all about the First Thanksgiving.  They made pilgrim hats and Native American headbands.  They also made necklaces out of cereal and macaroni. 

Justin with Gage, Lane and Bailey.

 Yesterday they got to eat their sharing stew for lunch.  They had such a good time!  Justin thought that the stew was pretty good, which really surprised me because he is such a picky eater.  He loves Kindergarten!

They all wanted their photo taken with their hats on.  This is most of the class.
 

Happy Thanksgiving,
Michelle

Junior High Basketball First Game

 The Junior High girls kicked off their basketball season yesterday with two games against Boone Central/Newman Grove.  The 7th grade game was first.  We only had four girls available to play, therefore, we have a 7th/8th grade combined team.  There are only six 7th grade girls out for basketball and one girl is hurt and another girl is on vacation in Florida this week.  Therefore, only four girls, so they moved four 8th grade "B" team girls down to play.

 The junior high girls have been practicing for about three weeks.  They are coached by Mr. Hale (the athletic director), Mr. Bamsey and Mrs. Bohacek (volunteer coaches that have children attending Norfolk Catholic). 

 The first game was a hard fought game filled with quite a few turnovers (which are expected in the first game).  Cara's team lost in a 11-14 game.  Many shots were taken, but they just would not fall for either team.  Many shots would roll around the rim or sink part way only to fall back out.  This was frustrating, but the coach told the girls to keep shooting.

 The girls need to work on free throws, lay-ups and boxing out.  As the game went on the girls started playing more aggressive.  The girls were upbeat after the game, even if it was a loss and ready to play again.  They will play this team again in a few weeks in the Norfolk Catholic Tournament.  Boone Central played two girls (I believe they are twins) down low that were as tall as Cara, but outweighed Cara by quite a bit.  Our girls had to work hard against these two girls.

 The Norfolk Catholic 8th grade team came home with a victory in a 46-18 game.  The 8th grade team created many turnovers and converted on fast break opportunities in their win.  Both teams played hard and have the opportunity to improve before their next game.

Take care,
Michelle

Long Live Junie B. Jones

All three of our girls learned to read by reading about the adventures of Junie B. Jones.  The author, Barbara Park, sparked an interest in each of them to read another book in the series.  The girls started reading about Junie B. Jones in First Grade and her adventures made us all smile. 

The reason I am posting about Junie B. Jones today is because I read that the author, Barbara Park, passed away last week from ovarian cancer.  I cannot imagine no new books in the series.  We love Junie B. books at our house.  I'm sure that Justin will also learn to read on some of the Junie B. books.  Thank you, Barbara Park for a wonderful children's series and for giving many children a gift and love of reading about Junie B. Jones' adventures.

Take care,
Michelle

YMCA 5-on-5 Spirit League Basketball

I feel like we just finished volleyball season, but basketball season is starting.  Cara has already been practicing basketball for about 3 weeks and has her first junior high game next week.  Erica decided to join a 5th Grade team from school that is going to the YMCA Spirit 5-on-5 league.  Ashlin is playing on the YMCA recreational basketball league.  Justin wants to go to Itty Bitty Basketball Clinic at the YMCA.  Then after Christmas, Cara and Erica will start playing tournaments on the weekends for Club Basketball. 

Team huddle

 Erica's team had their first practice on Saturday and then started playing games yesterday.  The girls are being coached by Michelle (CeCe's Mom) and Tonja (Alexis' Mom).  Both of these Moms played basketball in college, so, the girls are in very good hands.  The coaches are stressing skills, learning the game, teamwork, sportsmanship and above all, having FUN. 

 Some of the girls have never played basketball before, so, everyone is learning.  Erica is one of the girls that has never played basketball before.  She has never shown an interest, but after hearing the girls talk about it at school, Erica is giving the game a try.

 The girls played a team from Columbus and Crofton in games yesterday.  The team from Crofton has been practicing for 3 weeks already.  One Crofton Dad commented that for our girls to only have one practice, he thought they played a pretty good game.

 The girls played hard both games and they never gave up.  Everyone got to play equal playing time.  They had some success, but they need more practice.  By the end of the season, they will be playing as a much improved team.

 Erica had fun playing is ready to learn more about the game.  We asked her to give basketball a chance and she is giving her best. 

These brothers had a mini game of their own going on before one game started.  It was two boys in 2nd Grade (Nolan and Dillon) against the two boys in Kindergarten (Jack and Justin).  They can only sit for so long in a gym watching their sisters play.

Take care,
Michelle

Visiting the Farm

Justin on the 4-wheeler with Grandpa Leader

A few weeks ago the kids had a Friday off so Keith took them to visit his Uncle Allen's farm to pick pumpkins.  First, they stopped in Bloomfield to pick up Grandpa and Grandma Leader.  They picked pumpkins, rode on the 4-wheeler, rode on the gator, etc.  Justin thought it was awesome!  I see more visits in the future.  (Sorry the quality of this photo is so poor, Keith e-mailed it to me from his phone.)

Take care,
Michelle

Halloween 2013

 The kids were excited for Halloween.  They are always ready to eat candy and run around the neighborhood ringing doorbells.  The class parties are all at 2:00 on Halloween at school.  Many parents come to help run the parties.

 One of the games, Justin's class played was to wrap a classmate with toilet paper like a mummy.  Justin and Zach had to wrap Blaise as a mummy.  Justin had this game figured out pretty quick and wrapped Blaise up fairly fast.

 Erica and some of her friends all wore pajamas, robes and slippers for the party.  5th Grade is given the option of costumes or no costumes for their party.  Erica wanted no part of photos during her party, but her friends were ready to pose.

 One parent brought these decorated cookies for a sweet treat for the students.  Justin gobbled his up right away.

Ashlin dressed up as a cat.  She also did not want a photo taken, so I had to take one on the sly. 

After school, I took Justin downtown trick-or-treating at the businesses.  He made it up and down the main street in about 45 minutes and then we headed home for a quick supper before heading out in our neighborhood.  It was the first round of the high school football playoffs so we were not sure how many trick-or-treaters we would have, but we ended up having 72 kids stop by which is a large number for us.

Take care,
Michelle

First Snowfall

 Yesterday was our first snowfall.  It started out as rainfall, then sleet, and then snow.  It changed between the three of them all day long.  Officially, we received 0.7 inches.  The kids at school were all crazy because it was snowing and it was our first one this fall.  Prediction is for a bad winter with low temps and quite a bit of snow, but we'll see if the Farmer's Almanac holds true this year.

Take care,
Michelle

Singing at The Meadows

 The three Kindergarten classes walked to The Meadows on Halloween to sing for the residents some Halloween songs.  The Meadows is a retirement home/assisted living facility that is about six blocks from the school.  I walked along with the students.

 The children sang about pumpkins, spiders, ghosts, etc. for the residents.  The sun was shining bright that morning and the students had to face a big bank of windows so the photos aren't very good.  The residents love it when the students come to entertain them.

The students even had a few riddles for the residents to solve.  This was a good morning Halloween activity because the students were very excited for their Halloween parties that afternoon.

Take care,
Michelle