back to school

James went back to work yesterday and Evie goes back to school today now that the Christmas break is over...

...Christmas was good and Evie had loads of presents so a great time was had :)

I feel like I have lost my blogging mojo so hopefully it will come back soon :)

All is ok :)

a call form school

Yesterday morning an hour and a half after I had dropped Evie off at school, my phone started ringing and it was Evies school...

...my heart sank (I didnt want her missing her Christmas lunch with Christmas cracker), the lady told me that it was L from the school office "and not to worry it was nothing bad" :).

It was making sure that I was still happy helping on the history off the page day, and that that morning I will go to the staff room to go through the risk assessment.

So that was all good :)

Mr J is here to stay

Since the beginning of September Mrs B has been off sick...

...the school havent been very good at giving us updates - we had to collectively bully them into giving us the last update after the half term break.

Yesterday we actually got a parentmail saying that there were staffing changes.

When I read it it said that Mrs B isnt coming back now (due to family issues) and Mr J is staying on until the end of the school year to give the kids continuity and even mentioned the dreaded SATS!

And they will be looking to recruit a new teacher for next year, I think that they will keep Mr J.

a day off sick

Over Evies birthday weekend she had a horrible croup sounding cough...

...it didnt stop us doing birthday stuff on the Saturday though :)

As Evies cough still sounded horrible yesterday morning I kept her off school (after asking in the school facebook group if the school would be ok for her to go in with the cough).

I booked her an appointment at the doctors (just to rule out her being contagious) and it wasnt until yesterday afternoon (by then her cough was sounding chesty) her chest is clear and she is ok to go to school :).

We dont have Gym trail today either (as her last session before the holidays was on Friday) and I am going to pop into Aldi this morning to get our Christmas Dinner (main thing) :)

last session before Christmas

Yesterday was my last helping out session before Christmas (next Wednesday is the last day of term).

I did more gluing into books and stuck the class awards up on the wall of fame :) best table, star of the week and mind growthset :)

I was also asked to come in on the first Monday that they are back at school to help in their history off the page day they are doing the great fire of London.

I have already bought a black dress that I can wear :)

knot sew good

I was asked to go on yesterday rather than my normal Wednesday morning to help the kids sew christmas stockings.

I arrived for 1pm and the teacher was showing the kids on the white board how they were to sew their stockings, she said that the threads had to be split into strands so tat they could be threaded through the eye of the needles (my heart sank - I knew that I was going to be no use).

The threads were getting knotted up too as we were trying to split them.

Thankfully F's Mum and H's Mum were helping too so they managed to thread the needles (I did manage to thread one so I was happy with that :)).

I did tell the teacher that I wasnt any good at threading needles and she said that she wasnt either (although she was just being kind).

I think the kids have cushions to sew later in the year too (I will make see I tell her teacher how useless I am :)).

Evie said that she was happy that I was in class yesterday so tat is good.

Monday afternoon instead

Yesterday helping in class was more gluing and sticking :)

Then at breaktime Mr J came in and said that next week he would like me to come in on Monday afternoon instead...

...the kids will be sewing Christmas stockings and they want an adult in to help with every table, with things like threading the needles.

Im useless at sewing so I just hope that the needles have huge holes :)

I was talking with the teaching assistant and said that Monday afternoon sounded fun and she said that you need a lot of patience that afternoon :)

narrator #22

The other day when I picked Evie up from school she told me that they were practicing songs for the Christmas play :)

So I excitedly asked her what part she had and she said that she is narrator #22, so I asked her how many narrators there are and there are 22!

So I asked her what her lines are and she said "celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ"

We have since had the song sheet and the script and they are doing Christmas around the world (our version is slightly different)

therapy assessment appointment

Yesterday I got a letter giving us an appointment for Evies therapy assessment, the pediatrician thought that a referral to an occupational therapist would determine if there was anything she was having trouble with.

The appointment is for 19th December (Evies last day at school before the Christmas holidays and the day of her Christmas lunch).

So I cancelled it...

They only hold a clinic one day a month and the next clinic that isnt in term time is in August!  So we have an appointment then.

The lady I spoke to on the phone said that she had never booked an appointment that far in advance before! :)

more gluing and sticking

Yesterday I got into Evies class to find more stuff to stick into their books :)

It was their homework (both maths and spellings), the maths is prices of items and how much 2 different items cost...

...as Evie is in the bottom set, her items are single figures, the middle set has double figures and the top set has triple figures (with even 3 lots of 3 items), I think the top sets ones will be hard for them!

I saw the washing line that I pegged the odd socks onto hanging up which made me smile :)

On Tuesday we got a letter saying that Evie has been picked to take part in a competition!  As Evie had PE yesterday I asked the PE teacher why Evie was picked (as she has the same non athletic abilities as me and James) and the teacher said that its a fun competition for kids that wouldnt normally be picked for competitions :)

James did a search and its a way for kids to try different activities (one of them is archery!) Im hoping its the darts with suckers on :)

We can go and watch too so that is fun :)

Im getting my flu jab done today and Evie is having her nasal spray done tomorrow :)

gluing sticking cutting and pegging

When I got into Evies classroom yesterday there was a pile of stuff waiting for me to get on with :)

I had to glue 2 lots of work into their maths books :)

staple a leaflet on hedgehogs into their English books (they had to label all the different things on there)

And cut out odd socks that the kids had coloured in and peg them onto a ribbon (washing line) :)

odd socks day

Its the start of anti-bullying week today and in honour of that its odd socks day

Evie decided on a wonder woman/my little pony combo :)

now we have trickling

On Tuesday night James told me that he though the overflow pipe from our water tank in the loft was trickling...

...I looked yesterday after helping out in Evies class and indeed it is.

I am now waiting for the plumbing company I used last week to make an appointment to come and adjust the float valve.

Yesterday as well as reading with L I glued the homework (the maths is on 3D shape recognition)  into the homework books and did some laminating :)

school lunches and photos

Yesterday on our walk to school Evie was saying how on cottage pie day she was going to have chessy bean yorkshire (without the cheese) so as she put it beany yorkshire :)

Also yesterday it was school photo day...

...I put a hairbrush in her bag in case it was needed :)

When I picked Evie up I noticed that the buttons on her polo shirt were done up, she said that Mrs B (another one not the one who is still off sick), but there was a smear of chicken korma sauce on her forehead!

I asked Evie when the school photos were taken and she said that they were done after lunch (hopefully the smear will get airbrushed out).

It made me laugh that they were more concerned with her top than food around her face :)

When we got home from school I changed Evies lunch on Cottage Pie day so that she could see that I had actually done it :)

At bedtime Evie tried to take her top off and it would not go over her head, so she took off her glasses and it still wouldnt go over her head!  So we did one button each :)

8.20

My appointment yesterday was for between 9 am and 1 pm...

...I was just locking the door yesterday morning about to take Evie to school when an unmarked van pulled up and a british gas man called out our house number, and I said that I was just about to take my daughter to school.  He asked what time I would be back and I said 9 am, he then said that he would go and do his next job if he could.

I rushed back from taking Evie to school and waited and waited and waited.

By 12 pm it dawned on me that he wasnt going to come back (but as the time slot was until 1 pm I gave him the benefit of the doubt).

At 1 pm I called British Gas and explained the situation, the earliest appointment they could offer me was Monday (which would mean then almost 2 weeks with no hot water or heating), I was mad!

The upshot is I have found someone who is coming out today, the lady I spoke to thought I wanted a boiler fitted so hopefully she understood that its to be repaired, I did it explain it to her.

We still have the British Gas appointment on Monday if this one goes wrong too.

Hopefully we will have heating tonight...

On the plus side James has his lunch today with Evie (she is quite excited about showing Daddy what to do) :)

gluing and sticking

Yesterday I was helping in Evies class...

...there were three piles of books to have work glued into :)

homework, English and Maths.

Evie had PE yesterday and when the kids came back the teacher put on a 5 minute timer, I was really pleased that Evie was dressed and sitting on the floor just as it was getting to zero :)

And she wasnt the last person dressed either so I was pleased with that too :)

Just as we were leaving to go to school Evie proudly told me that she did her number sentences on Tuesday without any help :)

first Y2 parents evening

My appointment for Evies parent teacher consultation (as they call it) was for 5.20 to look at her Maths & English books and 5.30 to speak to her teacher.

So i left home early to give me plenty of time :)

I even had to hang around for 10 mins before the classrooms were ready to look in.

I had a look through her books that I havent previously glued pages into... :)

One thing that I didnt realise is that Evie has started writing what she gets upto at the weekend (so I told James that :)).

And spent the time until the first appointment looking at the photos from the aerozone visit :)

Hee hee one Mum who has 3 (of her 5 kids) at school had a quick look through J's books and went off to the next classroom :)

It was then time to look at Evies Maths & English books and no sooner had I sat down Mr J said that he was running early so I could have my chat with him now and then look at her books in the classroom later which was fine by me :)

The chat went well (for once) he said that her English and Maths are coming on and she it on target to be where she is supposed to be by the end of the school year.

He even said that Evie was putting her hand up more to answer questions and was even getting them right :)

And the exception words spelling tests she had done, she had done well (getting just over half correct), and to try and get her to write sentences every now and again with one of the words :)

Evie also has to work on using finger spaces (which she does when I remind her) nd commas and full stops (yes I know Mum I have the same problem with them myself :)), I almost told him that but stopped myself :)

Its the start of half term today and I am going to have lunch with Evie in town :)

gurgling

On Sunday night James came downstairs saying "can your hear that?" I couldnt...

...he said that the boiler was making noises, so he got me to listen in the airing cupboard and there were no noises there either...

Monday morning I woke up to go the loo and heard what I thought was swooshing water (I thought it must have been raining and the gutter was blocked (that sort of noise) James told me it was the boiler!

The upshot is the gas engineer is coming back after the half term...

Yesterday I was helping in class and while I was gluing in the homework into the kids homework books the teaching assistant told me that Evie was the only person on her table (the table that she helps with for maths) who didnt need help with subtracting :)

I was really pleased :)

Tonight its parents evening so that will be fun :)

a daddy and evie lunch

Last week we got through a letter about the year 2 lunch...

...as the options were fish fingers or vegetarian lasagna and as I dont like either of them I decided that I would give it a miss :)

James then said that he would book the day off work and do it with Evie instead :)  He is having fish fingers.

Evie is now all excited as she can show Daddy how to get your lunch and where it sit :)

I would rather have the pet pigeon

I was helping out in Evies class again yesterday...

...when I got in there were 4 piles of filing to do :)

One of the things was a story and then the kids had to answer questions on it.

I was pleased that Evie had answered all of the questions :) A couple of the kids only answered the first 3!

The last question asked if you had a pet or what sort of pet would you like?  Evie put that she would like a pigeon!  So I asked her about it later and she said that she actually wrote pet dog!  So I asked her what would she do if the dog jumped up at her and she said that it wouldnt because it would be busy by throwing it a ball all the time! :)