A few students from Nora’s class at McGillis were interviewed by a local radio station for Presidents’ Day. They were asked to talk about their favorite presidents, and Nora naturally chose Obama. Luckily, she had some facts at the ready. Listen to her clip here.
Nora experiences her first measurable case of school spirit.
Now that Nora is in kindergarten, Hazel and I are just hanging out by ourselves for a large part of the day. Hazel absolutely misses Nora and knows when it’s time to pick her up–in fact she spends the whole ride to and from McGillis yelling and making crazy noises. She’s pretty relaxed in the car most of the time, so I thought you’d like to see the difference.
It’s the first day of kindergarten, and Nora is nervous AND excited. She’s most excited for naptime, and most nervous for lunchtime.
As preschool was wrapping up this spring, I started getting nervous about how to fill Nora’s time during the summer, and keep things fun but structured without making a lot of work for myself. I got some good advice from my mom, and with a little assistance from Pinterest and these two sites, I came up with a decorated jar full of tongue depressors, with an activity written on each one.
When Nora finishes her regular jobs, if we don’t have something else planned and she’s looking around for something fun or unusual to do, she can pick two sticks out of the jar and choose which one she wants to do. The rejected stick goes back in the jar. Today, the stick she picked was this one:
“Find 5 facts about the President.” Nora was pretty excited about doing some research and writing down what she found, so we went to the official Obama campaign website and started digging. I read facts out loud to her, and Nora picked her favorites and painstakingly wrote them down.
In case you can’t decipher Nora’s handwriting, here are the winners:
5 Facts About the President
So, yup. Still the best kid.
This year, Nora’s preschool teacher, Miss Terry, focused on one kid per week, helping the class learn all about that child’s favorite things. On the last day of the week, everybody comes prepared to say something they like about him or her, family is invited to come and do the same, and it all gets written on a big poster. It’s adorable and silly and touching, and there are pictures of me crying to prove it.
Here are the details from Nora’s poster.
Favorite number: 1000
Favorite shape: triangle
Favorite planet: Saturn
Favorite color: black
Favorite animal: zebra
Favorite movie: My Little Pony
Favorite book: In a Dark, Dark Room
Favorite activity at school: markers
Favorite treat: bubble gum
Favorite place: home
Favorite season: winter
What she wants to be when she grows up: ballerina, astronaut, and chef
Nora: I like how I play with my sister Hazel.
Piper: I like Nora because she’s so silly!
Hendrix: I like Nora because she’s very smart. I like to play animals with her.
Andrew: I like Nora because she is gentle and plays nicely.
Elise: I like that Nora is truthful.
Charlie: I like Nora because she’s kind and smart.
Beka: I like how she paints. I like how smart she is.
Ruby: She’s always ready to play when I ask.
Kai: I like Nora because she is friendly and I had a campfire with her.
Alex: Nora is one of my best friends. She shares her toys with me. I like getting slurpees with Nora. Sometimes we get angry and fight, but we are still always friends.
Zoe: I like Nora because she can be really fun. I like that Nora keeps her chair quiet during snack. I like Nora because she has the best imagination!
Grandsir: I like Nora because she is good at tricking. We like to play tricks on each other. I love Nora’s imagination!
Grandma Alison: I love how funny Nora can be. She is so good at making me laugh. She is hilarious when she does her belly roll!
Dad: Nora is my best friend. I love to play with her and I love the things that she says to me. The other day at McDonalds she was explaining to another child that she couldn’t go really fast down the slide because there was too much friction!
Mom: I love how Nora likes to figure out really big, long, new words to use. I love how big her vocabulary is. I also love that she is very tenderhearted. She’s like me in that way, especially toward her little sister Hazel! I love how sometimes she will cry at the end of a movie because it has a happy ending!
Teacher Terry: I love how Nora thinks outside of the box. She is always thinking of different ways to see things! She makes me laugh with all the cool words she uses.
Nora and her preschool class sing one of their Halloween songs:
Bats eat bugs, they don’t eat people
Bats eat bugs, they don’t fly in your hair
Bats eat bugs, they don’t eat people
That’s why they’re flying up there!
Nora’s preschool class sings Halloween Cat for the parents.
More photos from their class party are on Facebook.
Here are a few more photos from Nora’s class at CCNS performing their Halloween songs.
I will probably never have studio-quality class photos that I love and am proud to give as gifts ever again, so forgive me for relishing the moment.
And here is the rest of Nora’s class, and another serious but sweet pose. I attribute a small part of the success of these photos to the fact that I was a co-op parent on picture day, and not only could I tweak Nora’s hair and clothes at the last minute, but the other mom and I did a lot of crazy dancing to get the kids to smile during the group shot.
