School of Tat2: *8th. 2nd. 5th.

I totally forgot to mention in yesterday's blog the snack that Babe made for everyone when they woke up from their naps. I was struggling with figuring out how to make which farm animal. I ended up giving Babe the reigns on the snack and it was like she had it pictured in her head the whole time.

"I'm going to make a cow."

"OK, I was trying to make a cow but I couldn't figure out how!"

So I handed her the ingredients I wanted in the snack and she showed me up big time.

HA! I got a big kick out of it, as did Bubs and Z.

Onto Friday, which was one of the busiest days yet. I had the day jam-packed because I knew it was a no-nap day.

I first got to the house this morning to Bubs drawing a picture. When she finished one of her lines, she gasped.

"Look! I drew a cat!"

"Wow! That does look like a cat, good job! Do you know what the first letter in cat is?"

"C!"

Amazing.

Babe started off the day with her two Math tests - the Lesson 20 evaluation that I had her do on her own, and the Chapter 2 test - both of which she did amazingly well with. Which I knew she would. When I corrected her tests, Math was done.

While she was doing her tests, I brought Bubs to the table to do her matching activity. Which she did. Amazingly. It gives me goosebumps every time.

When she finished matching, I gave her a new tracing sheet, only this time, it was actual letters to trace! It featured the first letters of most of the terms we've been working on. She loved this!!! And was able to tell me what each letter was!

When Bubs was done with that, Babe was done with Math, so I moved on to Science. I sent Bubs and Z off for a bit while I introduced Babe to the eight planets (I had to keep checking myself because when I was growing up, there were nine planets). I went through the book with her, Scholastic's "Solar System", which is an amazing reference for Kindergarteners. When we finished going through it, I handed her the Calvert worksheet on planets. I then asked her to go through the book again and color each planet as they should be. She actually did! And was so adamant about matching crayon colors that she held up the crayons to the pages. She even added The Moon next to the illustration of Earth (something that Calvert didn't include)!

When she was done with that, and naming the planets that she could (she already remembered Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn), I gathered the rest of the kids to the table to make rockets!

Then of course we had to fly them! So I stuck balloons in each one and had them do the countdown to launch their rockets. Enjoy the video!

When the rockets were launched, it was time to move on to our discussion on Farms. I told them that today we were going to pretend to be real farmers who make their own bread and butter! So first, we had to make our dough for the bread out of things we grow on the farm - flour from the wheat, honey from the bees, etc.

They all took turns stirring and mixing the ingredients until it was too hard, then I took over until the dough was made and ready for kneading, which led back to the kids' turn in working.

When the dough was kneaded and separated into two loaves, it was time to play the waiting game of letting the dough rise.

Look how high! I was glad that all the kids actually recognized the difference. So once the dough was high enough, I stuck it in the oven! Then I set Bubs and Z up with a movie while Babe did her Writing and Reading for the day.

For Writing, she turned her notes from yesterday on what she would do if a cow came into her house into full sentences to create a story. A story with illustration of course. Too funny!

Look at her lasso that cow! So cute!

I also praised her for her amazing handwriting. It has improved so much since Day 1. I love it.

I then handed her The Berenstain Bears "Down on the Farm" to add to her reading log. She struggled through two words only! Her handwriting isn't the only thing that has improved. It's just amazing!

By the time both lessons were done, the bread was ready to slice and inhale!