Today was a big party day, first Rachael’s pary, then on to Rebecca’s this afternoon. Both were great and we got to spend time with new and old friends.

I didn’t have my camera with me this morning, but did get a little video of them playing musical statues with Eli-the-bee being a cutie.

We had our feedback session for the term with Grace’s teachers today, and she is doing very well overall. Her reading and numbers are progressing nicely. Her writing is her weakest area, but she just needs to keep practising. She loves to help the younger children, herding them like a mother hen so that she can explain numbers or whatever work they’re busy with (which is what she loves to do with Eli too). They are also happy that she will be very ready to join the junior primary next year, both on an academic and a social level.

I’m really happy that she has found her groove and is happy and settled in the school. We’ve gone from her struggling to readjust after the holidays, to settling into the focussed work and zoning in, and recently she has started asked to be dropped off at the gate (not the classroom), so she is feeling more confident and settled.

Up and over with a little help from big sis

Over the last month or so Grace has been working really hard at her reading. She has been bringing books home to practice reading, working on learning sight (puzzle) words, and picking things up really quickly. Her reading ability has exploded, and she has been loving it.

Yesterday she brought home Zak the Cat…..

Enjoying lollipops and a play date with Rebecca and Benjamin Mathew’s

Eli enjoyed some time playing with the foam numbers in the shower, sticking them, moving them and knocking them off. This could only happen once Grace was out of the shower though, as she has an unfortunate tendency to interfere, and in this case thought it was time that Eli learn his numbers (never mind the age gap).

Gardening with Sam – always a winning activity. The Spiderman wellies are a firm favourite, and he has to have his cap on – just like Sam.

It is just about always a photo event when Grace falls asleep in the day. She had been coughing quite badly at night, was just tired out, and slipped off to sleep.

Eli still enjoys his naps and doesn’t seem like he’ll be dropping it soon. Note the hair, that is Donné’s hair that he is holding on to.

Grace wanted to build some Lego today which also means that Eli wanted to build some Lego. This doesn’t always work out so well, but today Eli sat and focussed on a set of pieces he had and was busy building his “castle”. He put the pieces together in all sorts of ways, and if it all crashed down, he would just pick it up and carry on with the castle.

When I fetched Grace from school today Penny said very excitedly, “Did Grace show you what she did today?” and we all hurried off to the class room to see the exciting work she had been working on….the 1000 chain. After the hundreds board she started with the bead cabinet, and the 1000 chain is a set of 100 ten bars. A tens bar is a set of 10 unit beads put together on a bar. 10 units make a 10’s bar, ten 10’s make a hundred square, and ten 100’s squares make a 1000 cube.

The 1000 chain is a set of 10’s bars which they use to count from 1 through to 1000. After each 10 they write the number down and put down a tag, and after each 100 you put down a 100 square. Eventually you get to the 1000 cube at the end of the chain, with each set of ten marked with the total count. Grace got up to 700 today, and will be carrying on when she gets back to school on Monday. She has been working hard on her numbers and is really enjoying the new work and challenges.

Grace’s 1000 chain

The hadedas are entirely unconcerned about the cats…I guess that is the benefit of being the same size and having a pointy beak