Looking Forward To What's Ahead!

This past week found me baking several batches of cookies to serve at the local farm market meeting. As the new farm market manager, I wanted to touch base with the vendors one last time before we officially begin on June twentieth. With the market drawing nearer, I find myself getting more and more excited. I am also beginning to plan out many of the summer day trips I hope my family and I will be going on. There is the creation wax museum, a pioneer village, picnics at a local nature center, a pool party, and so much more.

Which brings me to the first book I read this week, titled Sea, Sand, Me. It reminded me of all the delicious things we have to look forward to this summer. It is a simple rhyming book that tells the story of a little girls trip to the ocean and the great joy she finds in each and every moment. This book would be perfect for children three to six.

The second book I read, titled Friendship Quilt, wasn't particularly summery in theme, but it was an excellent book none-the-less.  Raddie is sad because she has lost her grandmother, and nothing her best friend Hank does seems to cheer her up. That is until Hank convinces several other friends to work with him on a friendship quilt for Raddie. Each one adds a patch that has a warm memory for them and they hope it will help Raddie think on all the warm memories she has of her grandmother.

This book is a beautiful way to show children that it is okay to grieve, but it is also okay to cloak yourself in warm memories and move on with life. This book would be really great for children who are reading picture books on their own.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015) and my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

The end of school, The begining of summer!

 

 

 

Last week was Emily's final week of school and we had a super great time. The last full day of school was so perfect. The kids finished up some narrative writing stories. Some of the laptops weren't working, so I got to take three children to the computer lab to finish typing. I had Emily's friend, Ella, sign me into a computer and I told her I would see if I could finish a short story before she was done. She informed me she was a fast typist, so I told her I would see... what I could accomplish. I asked her to pick an animal so I would have some inspiration and she chose a pig.

In the thirty minutes or so we were there, I wrote a story that I think would be a great picture book. It is called "The Pig Who Heard Music". I even got to read it to the class before we started our read-out.  

 For lunch, their teacher, the ever so fabulous Ms. Carr, who we were blessed to have her for second and third, ordered pizza for the children. I added a huge bowl of seedless red grapes to the mix and the kids brought drinks and snacks.

After lunch we had our read out and then Miss Carr had the kids play water balloon ball. Two teams, two sheets, and lots of balloons later, they finally got the hang of tossing it from one sheet to the next We are certainly going to miss Ms. Carr, but we will carry the memory of you with us for years to come.

 

Friday found us attending the school award ceremony. Emily received the "Sensitivity" character award, a "Music" award for recognition of outstanding participation in music class, "The Outstanding Academic Award" for making the honor roll all four quarters, and a honorable mention ribbon for Math Olympics. This was the first year for MCS third grade to participate against other schools in the Math Olympics and MCS as a whole received 39 percent of the ribbons.

In addition, she received a "Outstanding Comprehension" AR Reading medal. To receive this medal she had to have above a 93 percent comprehension in reading as well as meeting her goal each quarter. And to top it all off, she won the "Overall AR Star" trophy for AR Reading in third grade. She accumulated over 83 AR points in four quarters; the goal for the year was 34 points. Her father and I feel so blessed to be her parents and to see her excel in all that she does. 

 
Now, we have officially begun summer. We kicked summer off with pizza and bowling. And let me just say what we lack in bowling skills we make up for with enthusiasm. Our next plan of attack is to head down to the library and sign up for summer reading. Hope you are getting ready to do the same! And to start you off right, I recommend Ladybug Girl At The Beach. Going to the beach just embodies the whole idea of summer to me and this book takes us along on LuLu's first trip to the ocean. To begin with, she is afraid of the ocean. But by the end of the story, she has conquered her fears and has had a stupendous time.

Another great book, one for beginning readers, is Frog And Fly Six Slurpy Stories. They short and funny blurbs of a frog teasing his food before he eats it. Deliciously amusing, the last of the six stories might even surprise you.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.