Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Haven Kindergarten Screening!!

On the morning of Haven's 3 1/2 birthday, she had her kindergarten screening appointment.  She did so amazing!!!  I don't know why I'm still surprised by these things, she's such a great kid! :)

Our district does the Dial-R test for screening and screens all the kids going into 4K or Kindergarten (if they hadn't gone to 4K) with the same test.  This was our first time testing at Wheatland since Venily had to test at Trevor/Wilmot because they didn't allow early entrance into 4K at that time.  I was really surprised at how extensive the testing was!  She was testing for over an hour and as soon as I signed her in, someone came and took her into the testing room right away and I couldn't see her the entire time!  I was super nervous.  She is nothing like Venily at this age (Venily's screening was kind of a nightmare at first) but she does get shy around people from time to time.  Luckily Mrs. Jacobs (Venily's kindergarten teacher) was involved in the testing and put me to work, lol.  I had to make some bunny things for Venily's class and bring them to the sub in her room.  I was definitely getting emotional any time I thought about Haven being in there all by herself!

The testing was set up in 8 or so different stations with Mrs. Graham (the 4K teacher), Mrs. Jacobs and Mrs. Coates (the kindergarten teachers) and various other teacher (including the speech therapist) at the stations.  Here are some of the things she had to do:

*hearing test

*large motor- skip, hop on one foot, balance on one foot, throw a ball at a target
*small motor- replicate drawings- cross, circle, etc.  Write name.  Touch each finger to thumb, cut out a semicircle, rectangle, and dinosaur shape
*count to 20+, count groups of objects, identify #'s
*identify body parts
*identify pictures (bird, bee, etc) and make up a story about them, then rapid identify the pictures
*follow directions, directional words, identify the meaning of coldest, longest, etc.
*colors
*they set up different block pyramid things and she had to replicate them with her own blocks
*she had to say various words and they listened to how she said each sound in the word

Those are just the things I remember the teacher talking about when she went over her results with me, lol!  And I really liked that they DID go over her results and what they did, they didn't do that when Venily had screening!  The teacher said she did great though, especially given that she is only 3.5!!  They evaluated her specifically to see if she would be able to be put in a year early, and she said that she definitely thinks Haven will be able to!  I think her overall score was a 98%!  I'm very happy, I couldn't imagine making her wait another year.  When I teach the 4K class now and think that Venily is SUPPOSED to be in that class this year, it just seems ridiculous, lol.

I am still surprised though that the screening does not involve identifying letters or letter sounds whatsoever.

Haven thought the whole thing was so fun!  She got cookies, juice, a pencil, magnet, and tattoo when she was done and thought it was the greatest thing ever!  I can't wait to hear "officially" that she'll be able to go to 4 year old kindergarten next year!

Haven is 3.5 Years old!!!

We love half birthdays!!! :)

Haven has been talking about her half birthday for weeks!  I can't believe that she's 3 and a half already!  

She spent the morning of March 26th at kindergarten screening (which I will post about next) and had so much fun!  She then went to preschool, came home, and made a cake to celebrate!







At 3.5 years old, she is just the sweetest, smartest, more perfect little thing!  

She is getting better and better at reading now.  Here is a video of her reading one of her books.  She rocks! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKZ_mvAvXHk&feature=share



Her 3.5 stats (based off doctor visit 2 months ago) are:

Haven- 2/12/13- (3 years, 4 months old)

Height: 3'6" (42 inches) (99.20%)


Weight: 35lbs, 6.4oz (77.20%)


BMI: 14.11 (8.21%)


She is wearing 5's now in tops and bottoms.  11's in shoes.

Next month she has her follow up for her heart condition.  I'm not even sure what to expect from that appointment, but probably more testing and another heart ultrasound and the scheduling of her procedure in July.  Now that it's getting closer, it's starting to give me anxiety again.  I know she will do great though!

Haven also starts her next 6 week ballet class next week!  She's very excited, especially since her friend is coming with her this time! :)

Fish problems- RIP Edward, welcome Reddy!

So, while Venily was very sick, her pet fish, Edward, died.  She got him on her 2nd birthday and was quite attached.  




We found out after she was laying in bed and decided to tell her.  She cried for 45 minutes and cried herself to sleep. :(  I decided to let her pick out a new fish at the store a few days later.  She was so excited and picked out a red female Betta this time.  Unfortunately, she didn't last even 12 hours.  "Reddy" was dead the next morning we checked on her.  Jason and I didn't want to disappoint her again, but decided to tell her and she was so upset again.  Jason went out the next day and got a red male Betta.  So far, so good.  The new fish is also "Reddy" (lol).  We have our fingers crossed that this one lasts a little longer!  I'm hoping that someday we'll be able to get something a little more substantial!


March sickness


March was rough for us with sickness!  Venily ran a 104+ temp and had a sore throat, cough, and was exhausted all of the time.  I brought her to the walk-in on a Sunday and ended up being there for 5 hours! :(  Venily ended up testing positive for Influenza B and her x-rays showed some bronchitis as well.  She missed 2 days of school and was not 100% until about 2 weeks later.

Jason, unfortunately caught it as well.  He spent an entire week in bed crying.  He handled it even worse than Venily, lol!  I'm so glad that is over and Haven and I were spared!  Influenza is nothing to fool around about!