Mr. Blake

Blake's turn for a quick update :)

Blake will soon be 6 ... soon to be a kindergarten graduate!!  He is enjoying kindergarten and we are very impressed with how much he is learning and bringing home, especially since Christmas.  It's really neat to hear him interacting with his teacher in French, every morning when we drop him off at school  He and Mme. Emilie greet each other in French and have a short conversation!  She speaks French to the class as much as possible.  It is amazing how fast he has picked a second language.  I took him to his Demonstration of Learning on the 14th.  This was his second Demonstration of Learning.  This time he took us through his morning routine, identifying his name and his classmates names on the Smart Board, putting the days of the week (in French) in order and saying them as he did so and singing their days of the week and months of the year song (in French).  He told me about their recent religion discussions and the 'seeds of friendship', how they grow and what can help them grow.  He showed me the numeracy station, sorting dinosaur eggs into the various colors, telling me the colors in French, and then I asked him to create a pattern (I used ABBAC, with each color corresponding with a different letter).  We did a few of these patterns, he was way too fast and way to proficient ;)  He read me a book in French, identified various shapes, numbers and letters in French and showed me a short video on the iPad's of his class singing some of their daily songs!  His favorite centre was the fine motor centre, which during his last unit was a paleontology centre.  He told me how the centre works, what the safety guide lines are (I had to wear plastic gloves and goggles to 'dig' up some dinosaur fossils!) and what they are doing at the centre.  He has always been interested in dinosaurs, so this unit was right up his alley!!  They've learned about the world during the time of the dinosaurs, herbivores vs carnivores, how to tell the difference between the two, etc, etc.  He was very excited for his in school field trip on the 21st, a paleontologist came to the classroom!!  Which is why we thought a trip to the museum in Drumheller was a good idea.  The last time we were there, I was pregnant with Reese.  Great timing with Blake recently learning about dinosaurs at school!!

Blake LOVES math!  He will spend a lot of time doing addition in his head and on paper.  He plays a game where he rolls two dice, writes the two numbers down on a piece of paper and then adds them up!  Cal recently showed him how to do long addition (I think that is what it's called?) and he's been practicing that!

Blake was really excited to have Max over for a play date over Spring Break!  He told me Max loves science and Lego, just like him :)  Blake seems to be quite a 'popular' kid in school ... I keep hearing about all these girls who have a crush on him!!  Honestly, makes me worry a little bit but I guess that is the nature of girls?!  He has another school birthday party coming up on Friday and is excited!  I asked him what Brooke would want for her birthday and right away he said, "Monster High stuff!"  I told Cal and he said, "Isn't that like Goth Barbie Dolls?"  Yup, I think so!!!!  LOL!!  He's making lots of great friends in Kindergarten ... for example, his "bacon twin!"  Yup, that's right, his "bacon twin!"  I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but he informed me that after a couple of weeks of school, he and Gavin figured out that they both really love bacon, so Blake started calling them the "bacon twins!!"  Apparently Gavin also thinks it's funny ;)

Blake still LOVES Lego and we recently convinced him to put away his Thomas trains/tracks/accessories and turn his train table into a LEGO table!  This has given him more room to build and spread out a little bit more!!  I'd say LEGO is his #1 favorite activity, although he also really enjoys drawing and 'inventing'!  He is always asking to do science experiments and I have to admit I'm not that good at coming up with experiments :(  I've been looking on Pinterest though, so hopefully we'll put something together!

We had Blake's hockey wind-up party on Saturday afternoon.  We had a great time!  It was held on the military base, at the fitness centre.  There were 2 party host's that led the kids through games of floor hockey, dodge ball and soccer and then we also had a party room for snacks and food and trophy and Coach gift presentations!  He had such a great little team this year, I hope next year is just as great :)  The kids were all pretty tuckered out from running for 3 hours straight, not to mention the had swimming lessons before the party!  Good times :)

Blake's looking forward to playing ball hockey this Spring, it starts mid-April!  He's also talking with Cal about training for his next ABC Kids Event at the Canadian Derby Marathon :)  He likes to run, just like his Dad!  Emerson is going to give it a shot this year, too!!

Blake has some fun field trips coming up - a visit to sing to Seniors at the Kipness Veteran's Centre, a field trip to Prairie Gardens and a field trip to the Valley Zoo!  Hopefully we can get in on the volunteer list for at least one of those!!

So there's a little update on our favorite little guy :)  Love him to death!