The Newest Kindergartener

My niece, Marissa, is 5 years old and is the daughter of Matthew's sister and her husband.

Marissa is in Mrs. C.'s Kindergarten class. (Mrs. C. has also taught both my girls so she is very very important to our family.)

Mrs. C. has an intern, Miss T. of whom Hannah also had when she was in Kindergarten. She enjoys being with all the kids.

The first thing Mrs. C. said about Marissa to me (after the first day of school) was "She definitely is not like her cousins." Meaning that she is definitely more outgoing, friendly and warm to others while my girls take a while to warm up to others whether it's adults or children.

Yes, Marissa is definitely more extroverted than my girls. But Mrs. C. says that she is most like her cousins in the areas of academics: being on task, getting her work done on time and completing it neatly and correctly.

I am very proud of my niece. This is the first time she has been in school everyday for the whole day. That's a huge change from preschool. Plus this is a new school for her. She attended preschool elsewhere. I also worried about her being able to communicate effectively in English. You see, she is fluent in Chinese (Cantonese). That is her first language. But she expresses herself extremely well in English and Chinese. She has one over on her cousins. They are not bilingual.

She is also very active. Her teacher says she has great upper body strength.

She also loves seeing her Biu-Jehs (older cousins) every day too!

I am very blessed to be able to see her everyday at school. It's really nice to see family on a regular basis. Who knows.. I may even get the opportunity to be her substitute teacher. I wonder how that will be?

Because of the TV...

After 16 years, our TV is dying. This is our spare TV that was upstairs in the loft. (Our original Sony 27" that was downstairs died awhile ago.) It is a Sanyo 21". There is a loud buzzing noise that goes on while the TV is on. There is nothing wrong with the picture so we just turn up the volume so it overrides the buzzing noise. Sometimes we get so used to it we don't notice the buzzing. But it's still there.

So we've been looking at new TVs. And they sure have become real fancy these days: flat, thin, rectangular and real colorful and bright! We've never had a TV bigger than 27". Apparently that's considered tiny these days.

But before we get a TV we need to make room for a larger than 27" TV. You see, our furniture currently cannot accommodate a TV larger than 32".

When we first moved into the house , our family room was quite cozy and large enough for the two of us.

We furnished it with a nice L-shaped sofa, Matthew's stereo system, a coffee table and a nice Crate & Barrel TV stand (both wedding gifts) and our 27" Sony TV.

Then I got into scrapbooking and I needed a place for all of this:

So we got nice IKEA shelves to store all of my albums, ...

(Sorry for the picture.. it was the only one I could find that shows how the shelves looked.)

... our old traditional photo albums...

... and our DVD collection.

But that original TV space was not large enough to fit a new 'large' TV so we had to get rid of all of those shelves.

We headed to good ol' IKEA.. and got literally a ton of stuff. It took us 4 trips to get all that we needed to build a new entertainment /storage unit in the family room. Of course, everything from IKEA comes in pieces.

We also replaced some bookshelves upstairs, added a shelf unit in the loft...

 ...and under the stairs ...

Before it was my homeschool reading corner...

Now it's storage for Hannah's toys.

 ...and above the new desk in the office.

This is the finished product in the family room...our current TV looks so little in that space.

Now to find the perfect TV... what do you all suggest?

Singing in the Choir

No not me.. (heaven forbid!).. but my girls, as a part of their Sunday School class, got the opportunity to sing with our church's adult choir and Pastor. They sang "Noah Built the Ark" and everyone did a great job!

Now since our church is a 'tiny' one, our Sunday School is also 'tiny'. Looks like on this particular Sunday, we had 16 kids all between the grades Kinder through sixth.

Whenever I go visit other churches, it always seem that their congregation of children are exploding.. with the kids usually outnumbering the adults.

I  guess either more of our kids come to the 11am service instead of 9am or we just don't have that many young families. Food for thought...

A Planner... I Am

Some of you may have known that I worked in advertising before I became a teacher. I actually graduated in advertising and have worked in two large ad agencies in the city. To get into advertising you always start at the bottom and work your bottom off to get to the area where you really want to work. For me that was in Media. After about a year and a half in accounting, I was offered a position as assistant media planner. I eventually worked my way up to Media Supervisor when I was let go due to a loss of a big client but I really enjoyed being a Media Planner (one step below Media Sup).

What is a Media Planner? Well , I "plan'' how to spend the client's money in whatever "media/medium" would be the most cost efficient for their dollars. It could be in print (newspaper, magazine), outdoor (billboards) or broadcast (radio or TV). I had to do lots of research, print graphs and charts and all that good stuff that was in planning. We had lots of perks in the job. Reps from magazines and broadcast stations were really nice to us.. since we were their 'clients'. I mean, I did get to decide where our client's money goes.

Here I am with my co-workers at a Sports Illustrated function. They always had a big luncheon to promote their swimsuit issue.. and yes that is Kathy Ireland.. who was on the 1992 swimsuit cover.

I've always been a planner.. all my life actually. I 'planned' where I wanted to go to college, what to do as a career, when I was going to get married, what type of person I was going to get married to; my wedding; when I was going to have children etc.. Of course, the majority of my plans didn't pan out. I learned the hard way that "my plans" may not be "God's plans" for me and that "my" plans may not be the 'best' plans.

As a teacher, you have to write out lesson plans daily. That's pretty much what we do. Plan it out and then execute it.

Here is a sample week's lesson plan:

I guess planning things is my forte'. It is a gift from God since I do enjoy all the little details that come with planning.

At church, I help plan our women's retreats.  Normally our annual retreats have been through the weekend at a conference center in the mountains. It takes about six months to plan and execute.

This year we had a one-day retreat at the church. This one took three months to plan but felt like the same amount of work as if it was a weekend retreat. Nevertheless, we had over 90 ladies attend and it was extremely well received!

We served breakfast and lunch with the majority of the food all homemade.

We had a mini worship team lead by my dear friend who just celebrated her 25th anniversary. I, btw, coordinated her renewal of wedding vows ceremony.

I piggybacked on a great idea from my cousin's wedding: having a Favor Bar..

of candy ...

.. and bath salts (for those who are non-candy eaters). The theme of the retreat was Refresh.. Spa for the Soul so I though the bath salts would be very appropriate. It was a very blessed retreat and God was present!

I really do enjoy all the details of planning events. It's the melancholy in me I guess. Event planning is very exciting. I guess that's why I enjoy coordinating weddings; planning showers; organizing VBS and retreats. It's the little details that are thrilling to remember to include into a plan. I love the planning process. It's the execution that it not so exciting. The execution is so physically exhausting. It'll be much easier if I could just do the plan and have someone else do the execution. But of course, the choleric in me would not allow anyone to execute 'my' plan besides 'me'. (More about my temperaments in a future post).

Good Birds... Bad Squirrels

My daughter, Emily, has become a bird enthusiast. She checks out dozens of bird books from the library; researches about birds in the area; and learns how to build her own bird-friendly backyard. Currently we have five bird feeders and one homemade water feeder in the backyard. She checks the water and seed level every day after she comes home from school. (More about her 'job' in a future post.)

One particular bird feeder, the blue one she made and painted herself, was always empty of seeds everyday when she checks it. She was so excited to see the birds eating her seeds.

But one Saturday when we were at home we saw not a bird but a squirrel eating from her blue bird feeder. This squirrel climbs down the tree, hangs onto the feeder, tips it so the seeds all fall to the ground and then digs in the feeder to catch whatever remaining seeds are left in it. Then he jumps to the ground to eat all the seeds he had dropped. 

When we saw this, we yelled from the kitchen through the window to try to scare it away. It just stopped what it was doing and waited until we stopped yelling at it.

Then it started to continue his stealing of the bird seed!

 They are scavengers!! I am so not going to be sad when I see one flattened on the street when I drive by now.

Water Slide

Another blog post by Hannah. This time she wrote about going down the 'big' slide for the first time at the water park. She was too short last year to try it but this year she just made the height requirements.

 This time she'll have to learn how to use punctuation... correctly.

Food Truck Mania

My co-worker K has been literally raving about these food trucks that roll in once a week into my city. Now food trucks to me were those shiny silver trailers parked in business parks and train stations that served either American or Mexican food. I kind of stayed away from them for the fear of getting 'sick' from eating at one of these food establishments.

But when we gathered in the teacher's lounge for lunch, she would talk about all this great sounding food that I just had to try for myself.  So recently we went and it was like a huge party in the parking lot of a shopping mall.

Apparently the Food Truck Mafia travels to various cities parking themselves during a specific time period at various parking lots to sell and promo their food. It's considered 'gourmet' food actually with  lots of variety and actually amazingly delicious!! The Food Network has also featured them.

There were 10 trucks this evening varying from Vietnamese, seafood, Thai, Korean, Filipino, grilled burgers,  to dessert trucks specializing in baked goods and yogurt galore.

The first truck we ordered from was the House of Siam Truck where I was told I HAD to order the tofu taco.

It was a delicious $2.50 taco. Very filling and flavorful!

Next stop was to Mogo BBQ which serves Korean style BBQ.

Matthew got 2 short rib tacos. They looked much smaller than my tofu taco from Siam.

I also got the short rib burrito. Not bad but not fantastic. I still preferred the tofu taco.

The girls got Honey BBQ Chicken with Rice from the House of Siam. They both loved it and devoured the whole thing.

Like many of the customers, we sat on the ground and ate until some rare seats became available at the very few tables they had out there. Majority of the patrons brought their own chairs and camping tables and gathered like it was a huge tailgate party. A DJ was there playing music and announcing the great food they had available there.

For dessert, we went to the pastry truck That's Sweet! Desserts which sold mini pies and cupcakes.

I got a mini peach pie which I took home to heat up. Not bad but I would have preferred fresh peaches.

Emily got a chocolate-vanilla cupcake. She gobbled that up very quickly. I guess she liked it!

As the evening progresses, the crowds were getting bigger and the lines longer. Matthew really wanted to try an unagi taco and wanted to wait until the line died down. But it never did. He gave up waiting and decided to get it first thing the next time we go again.

We even bumped into one of Hannah's classmate's family and Matthew's sister and her family.

My niece, Marissa, was enthralled by one of the guests who was sitting next to us.

I was impressed with the growing popularity of these Food Trucks and wanted to go back again. You can follow them on Twitter to find out where they are and when the next time they are in an area near you. They take only cash so leave your plastic at home. Next time we'll bring our own drinks and chairs to get comfy in to enjoy this good food. The trucks come at the beginning of summer until winter starts and then they probably head to warmer places?

ZITzapp

Here's an interesting new app you should check out:

From their app page: " ZITzapp gives you the power to eradicate acne right from your iPhone/iPod touch. ZITzapp was developed by a noted California physician and is specifically designed to use visible light to treat mild-moderate acne and give you clearer skin.

You’ve seen commercials for benzoyl peroxide based products on TV and in magazines. These products work but can irritate your skin and cost you a bundle. ZITzapp harnesses the power of light to treat acne safely, effectively… and costs less than a buck.

Many people have noticed that their acne seems to improve after sun exposure. Several dermatology studies in the past few years have now demonstrated that blue-violet and red light are quite effective in helping those affected with mild to moderate acne.

For those who don’t want to hit the medical library, P. acnes bacteria produces porphyrins which avidly absorb certain wavelengths of light, produces free radicals which then kill the bacteria itself. This leads to significant reduction in clinical acne, in some instances, even superior to those in patients treated with benzoyl peroxide (the active ingredient in many over the counter acne products). Since porphyrins are not otherwise found in skin and no UV light is used, visible light therapy appears to be quite safe and benign.

After you enter your age and acne severity, ZITzapp crafts an effective regimen for the treatment of your acne. Simply follow the ZITzapp instructions and your iPhone will produce the right type of light; just hold the phone screen about an inch away from the area you want to treat. You'll see a timer count down and a chime will sound when your session is completed. Since ZITzapp uses visible light for only brief periods of time, it appears to be quite safe for teens and adults alike and users typically have little to no side effects. Complete the recommended course and you’ll be on your way to clearer skin."

Check out the video: zitzapp video

So why am I promoting this app to you? Well, a good friend helped develop it so I have to help her promo this! What are friends for! She is a highly educated, highly intelligent person who has a great sense of humor and great business sense! If she developed it, it has to work right? YES!! So go check it out. She gets residuals for every app sold! (Note to my Girl's Group.. check it out!! You can guess who developed this!!)

Let me know how it works for you! I don't have any zits to Zapp right now but I'm sure it'll come up in the future!

Sealants

I GOT A WINNER! 

'theyews' posted the 50th comment and won a $25 Amazon Gift Card from MamaCez. Thanks everyone for commenting and I love the feedback regarding my posts. Look forward to my 100th blog post contest.

So Hannah had gotten the blogging bug like her Mama and has written a couple of blogs herself.

In the past, she wrote about her "teeth-pulling"experience at the dentist:
http://mamacez.blogspot.com/2011/07/her-dentist-experience.html

She continues in that theme to blog about receiving 'sealants'. You see, at the age of 7, children are recommended to have sealants put on their first molars to prevent cavities.

"Dental sealants are thin plastic coatings that are applied to the grooves on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth to protect them from tooth decay. Most tooth decay in children and teens occurs on these surfaces. Sealants protect the chewing surfaces from tooth decay by keeping germs and food particles out of these grooves. Permanent molars are the most likely to benefit from sealants. The first molars usually come into the mouth when a child is about 6 years old. Second molars appear at about age 12. It is best if the sealant is applied soon after the teeth have erupted, before they have a chance to decay. The process is short and easy. After the tooth is cleaned, a special gel is placed on the chewing surface for a few seconds. The tooth is then washed off and dried. Then, the sealant is painted on the tooth. The dentist or dental hygienist also may shine a light on the tooth to help harden the sealant. It takes about a minute for the sealant to form a protective shield."
----From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Oral Health

Now, this isn't the first attempt for Hannah to have her sealants put in. This was actually her second try, and thankfully it was successful. Her first experience was six months before this appointment and she became hysterical when she was asked to keep her mouth open as they dried the surface of the molar before they put the plastic coating on. Her dentist was a very patient dentist, as you have to be, since he specializes in pediatric dentistry. He told me to not worry and he'll try again at our next six month appointment. When the date rolled around, I told Hannah about the appointment and promised her a 'BIG' prize if she didn't cry and went through the process smoothly.

Here was her experience in her own words:

I guess she has to learn about punctuation in second grade. But you have to be impressed with her ability to find her own graphics and incorporate that on the page. Even I can't do that yet :)

Emily will need to get her second set of sealants for her second molars after she turns 12. Let's see how she'll do.

Was Your Child Tested?

UPDATE: Ohhhhh sooooo close... the 50th comment is really just a couple of clicks away!!  I can't wait to find out who it is!!

For the past few years, I have been going back to my former public school to work. I usually start on the second day of school and work for about three weeks in September. It's a pretty busy time for me since I was supposed to be 'free' from the kids finally after a long summer with them 24/7. But that's okay. It's good money,  a great way of keeping connected with my colleagues in the public school arena and it's only temporary.

I test students who's primary language is not English. And at my old school, that's a significant amount of the school's population. In fact we will have tested over 200 students at this one school.

How do we know who to test? Well, one of the forms you have to fill out if you register to attend a public school in this state is the Home Language Survey.  On this form, you indicate what was the first language your child spoke when (s)he first spoke; what is the primary language spoken at home; what the primary language is spoken to your child; and what is the primary language that is spoken between the adults in your household. If you answered any language that is not English in those blanks, your child is required to be tested. This test is called the California English Language Development Test (CELDT).

To quote the California Dept of Education, "Students in Kindergarten through Grade Twelve whose home language is not English are required by law to take an English skills test. In California, the test is called the CELDT. This test helps schools identify students who need to improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. Schools also give the test each year to students who are still learning English." 

Why give this test? Well, this State has become a melting pot of languages. It's become more difficult to teach children academics when their grasp of the English language is very weak. So the State 'tries' to help these children by offering ESL services in the schools. Now with budget cuts in education, these areas are very small (or nonexistent) with minimal curriculum and manpower to teach so regular classroom teachers now are required to be trained to teach ESL learners. It is now a required part of receiving a Teaching Credential.

So I have been testing students Kinder through 6th grade at the beginning of every year for the past three years. It's a pretty long and comprehensive test. It is not easy by any means. When you don't 'pass' the test, it just means that your child will be eligible for ESL (English as a second language) services at the school (if they offer it). This test is regiven to each student every year until they show significant growth in their English language skills. It is then they will be reclassified and will hopefully 'exit' this classification.

The majority of the tested students are Kindergarteners through 3rd graders. This is because it takes quite a few years to be fluent in English not only conversationally, but auditorially, verbally, in reading and writing. Many of the Kinders at this school do not know how to speak English very well. That's because the majority of them never had any schooling (such as preschool) before entering Kindergarten. Note: You would probably not be aware of this test that was given to your child until your child comes home with a letter indicating how they did on this test.

Personally, I never went to preschool. My first language was probably not English since my parents rarely spoke it at home so I guess I was an ESL student entering Kindergarten. I don't think I was ever tested nor I received any special EL services but I think I turned out okay. I don't speak English with an accent nor have trouble expressing myself in the English language.

But I did come from a family where education comes first; doing your best in school is more important than anything else. Even though my parents could not help me with my homework or help me study for my tests, I was expected to do well on my own. I had nothing else to take my attention away from studying: no sports, no birthday parties, no sleepovers; no vacations; no hanging out outside to play.

BUT I did watch TV.. a lot of TV, as a matter a fact, since I was home with my grandma all day long. I think TV helped me learn English... yah.. that's it. Thank you to Romper Room (even though she never called my name as she said good-bye), Sesame Street, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, the Electric Company, Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island, Charlie's Angels, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, Happy Days.. I could go on and on.

So was your child tested?