Abby's Second Grade Report Card

Okay, this is old, but I just found this and thought it would be worth saving in some way.

Here were a few excerpts from the comments on Abby's 2nd Grade Report Card from Missy Duncan.
I've enjoyed having Abby in my class this year. Abby is always willing to help out in the classroom when I need something. Although she would rather read books all day, she is starting to add more detail to her daily writing and stories. I've also noticed that Abby is paying more attention in Math. She's picked up on number strings, carrying and borrowing quite quickly.

Amelia at 5 Years, plus some

Amelia has been 5 for over six months now, but we just had her check up last month and I just found the sheet, so here's an update on her.

She is 44 1/4" which is 55% for her age and 43.8 lbs, which is 55%, so slightly above average. She's in kindergarten in Mrs. Tursi's class which has been a pretty good transition, except the long days means she's a little cranky in the afternoons. She's starting to sound out words and is having fun with all of the art projects in the classroom.

Morning Commute for the Kids with Susan's Broken Elbow

Susan's broken elbow has presented challenges to our initiative to be car free in our daily lives. Abigail has often been riding with neighbor Mike because she drives to pick her up after school. The xtracycle is a great tool for getting the kids there quickly and they seem to be proliferating throughout Portland as the bakfiets alternative.
I have been taking up the slack some days to get Amelia to school, riding the cruiser with the trail-a-bike. She sings to me as I take her to school and since it is only three days a week, I try to take her when I don't have morning meetings at the signal shop. It's been nice to get more time with the morning routine and nice that I am not travelling.

We Provide Water for Inmates, but not our Kindergarten Classes

I attended a Portland Public School Board’s Finance, Audit & Operations Committee meeting today. They went through a long discussion about future population at schools and the concepts of how the district might address these issues. Llewellyn is set to recieve a portable for two classrooms to ease overcrowding associated with the booming population of kids in the neighborhood.

I asked whether costs associated with the buildings could be revisited to address what I believed was a need for water in these "temporary" structures. They have water in jail cells, but I guess we can't get one spicket for the kids in their classrooms.

I have not been involved in these matters and don't appreciate the challenges of the PPS budget, but I offered the following ideas for reducing estimated costs. First, I think the costs estimated are high for the current state of the economy. Contractors in the housing sector have been hurt and there are a lot of folks that would work for less than two years ago. Second, the costs for Systems Development Charges from the City may be reduced with a clever argument that schools like Llewellyn have a higher mode split due to the Safe Routes to Schools programs and further encouragement of students riding their bikes. My daughter and our neighbors do just that and this could be another way to communicate the importance of riding bicycles to the school. That might offer $5,000 savings in SDCs, perhaps higher. Finally, by considering the use of architects that are currently out of work (we have several in our neighborhood), the District might find some ways to deliver a better project by having someone vested in the project involved.

The costs associated with running a water line to the portable is low considering that you have to trench to run fiber optic cable to the building from the existing and piping for water could use the same trench. City fees/charges associated with the new water line would be minimal because it is a water line from the existing service.

Perhaps this sort of creative cost savings could address the issue of providing water for the children in the building or be used in other parts of the district to improve accessibility.

Llewellyn Remodeled Home Tour

Fun article in the Bee (our local newspaper) on the Home Tour.

A Classic Weekend

This weekend is one of those that I can reflect back on and say with a certainty that there are several things that I enjoy doing. Today, I mixed in a little work with calling about donations for the Llewellyn School Auction. I visited the local bike shop, the library, the cleaners, and several local businesses in between to ask whether they would support the school.

I enjoy volunteering especially when it is for a good cause. It is also fun when I can use some of my strengths to improve what's been done in the past. I got off to a slow start on this task of connecting with folks that have made donations in the past. There were 11 people on the list and I knew some of the businesses, but for some of them asking for donations seemed a bit superficial to me because they aren't ones that I personally frequent. I guess at the core of my motivation is working with those that have similar values (it happens in my work too) to achieve a goal. Businesses that I frequent are those that should donate to my causes, since I help make them successful, or at least I do my part.

Since that start, I have identified a list of about 15 more that I am in the process of contacting. They're folks that I patronize on a regular basis or people that I know personally. The response has been really great. Some of the local folks include Garden State, the food cart at the end of our street, which I was suspect about a cart two blocks from our house, which doesn't quite get enough foot traffic in my estimation, but he does really good, because it is soooo tasty! Staccato Gelato also donated as did Peet's Coffee, so I am feeling pretty good about my these guys too.

Well, I had better get to bed, the Sunday is full of helping get people registered at the Worst Day of the Year Ride, which is a benefit for the Community Cycling Center. I have to leave home by 6 AM to get there, a little earlier than a work day!

Annija's Birthday Party at the Circuit Bouldering Gym

Abby was amazed at how much climbing she could do at the Bouldering Gym. I was amazed at the pictures and that she was trying to walk on a tight rope! Soccer showed us she isn't the most athletic child in her class, but it could partly be lack of exposure and she really loved this.

She came home and proclaimed that she wants her birthday party there, so it looks like a return visit is in the works. We're going to have to start developing the guest list now.

From Left to Right: Maggie, Maddie, Annija, Katie, Vivian, and Brynna. Abby is right underneat the camera. Today is a day full of birthday parties, and now we're off to go to a Kishpaugh party out in Gresham!

Llewellyn Family Fun Night

We had an exciting night at the Llewellyn Elementary School Family Fun night. The PTA hosted a juggler from OMSI that taught kids about physics. He was very creative in how he was got the kids involved, getting them to repeat words like inertia, mass, gyroscopic rotation, friction, and several others to him. It is great that the PTA puts on such varied material.
After the juggling act, we toured the exhibits that OMSI had in the gymnasium. The one that was a big hit was the animals on display and they had a white bearded dragon that both girls got to touch. The bearded dragon was very calm and that was good on a night where there were a hundred or so elementary school students running around.
I was observing last night that I hadn't posted much about bikes on the family blog, so I thought it might be fun to get a picture of the girls on the way back from the big event in the bakfiet. It was a cold night, but at least the wind we had been having has subsided and so it wasn't as bitter as it had been when biking. 2009 is getting off to a pretty good start.

Susan's Back!

It sure is nice to have Susan back home from Hawaii. Every time I look at how tan she is, it reminds me of the trip and how it was a good experience for me to be with the girls alone. I reaffirmed that I can't get as much work done at home (or ate least as much as I thought), that it makes sense that housework doesn't get done during the day, and how quickly the girls are growing up.

The day Susan got back we had a Parent Teacher Conference with Ms. Tursi and we learned about Abby's progress at Llewellyn. It was an interesting experience because I wasn't sure what to expect from her evaluation. Abby doesn't always talk about her schoolwork and based on last year's assessment at Childswork, we weren't sure how she would fit in a traditional school. It turns out that she's doing great, Ms. Tursi has a great sense of what her needs are and the style of teaching that Abby will respond to. The evaluation was very well thought out and it was very neat to see Abby's progression from knowing numbers and letters to words and sounds.

Susan and I cycled over to the appointment which was fun and Grandpa watched the girls as we were gone for about an hour. Grandma Chris took a well deserved break.

Abby's First Days of School

 

Abby started at Llewellyn School (http://www.llewellynelementary.com/) in September and was lucky to get Ms. Eunice Tursi as her teacher. She has been a classroom teacher for 25 years and it shows, in a good way! We chose Llewellyn because the school is well supported by the community and it is a public school that we are excited about supporting. Our neighbors encouraged us to request her as a teacher and we're glad we did.

 

We're having Abby go full days from 8 to 3 PM and we're paying for half of the day. Abby has made the transition into Llewellyn very easily.

 

Susan takes Abby to school by riding the Bakfiets which is fun for Amelia and Abby both. The only downside is that it doesn't give Abby exercise in the first part of the day to get her ready for school.

 

At the end of the day the kids all line up so their parents can come pick them up. It's a great way to end the day.