Try as I might, our boys have never cared much for reading. We sign up for the summer reading program at the library each year and I end up cajoling them to complete their required reading. Forget reading for fun…it’s totally lost on them. They can’t be related to me 🙂
The boys both took the SRI this spring and I decided to do some research into books that are at the appropriate reading level. They always try to sneak super easy books onto their lists but this summer I’m steering them towards books that are more challenging.
The librarian at the elementary school recommended I check out lexile.com. Wow! What a great site! It lets you create reading lists based on SRI scores, age, and interest. BTW, the Junie B. Jones book our 10 year old read this morning is a lexile score of 340-410. Less than half of what he should be reading…but one won’t kill him and Junie B is a good read.
Soccer referees who don’t act as fair and observant participants in kids games should be ashamed to collect their pay.
Once again, our 12 year old’s soccer team suffered at the hands of a clueless ref. How can you not stop play when our goalie is bent over in obvious pain? Did she forget her glasses yesterday or is she always this bad? Because she failed to stop play, our opponents were allowed to score at the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
On a brighter note, I continue to be impressed with the sportsmanship our coaches show during and after games. They dispute the call at the time but I’ve never seen them let it escalate.
I love reading the Maryland Weather blog from Frank Roylance of the Baltimore Sun. It’s the place I check for news of upcoming weather. He posted a photo I sent of the Conowingo Dam last March. Here’s a link http://weblogs.marylandweather.com/2008/03/
and it wasn’t even in our house! I was feeling tremendous mommy-guilt because C’s ipod disappeared after we had a UFC party. Everyone remembered seeing it by the front door around midnight and then it disappeared. I looked everywhere but no luck.
Because it was a Christmas gift and C usually keeps track of his things, we bought him a new iPod with the understanding that if we found the old one, S got one of them.
We had 9 other boys here on Sat night for C’s bday. As the kids were packing to leave on Sun AM, one of the kids came downstairs to show us what he’d found in the bottom of the bag his sleeping back was in. C’s old ipod! I didn’t think to look for it at someone else’s house! We realized that his bag was near the door after the last party and the iPod must’ve gotten knocked into it.
Looks like the group trying to develop Woodlands Perryville will be presenting at the June 3, 2008 town hall meeting. They have a detailed plan for the project on their website. I’m thrilled that it includes a skate park. It was something I suggested at the charrette as a form of entertainment for kids and teenagers. I was also tickled to see my grandmother’s buildings on Washington St in Havre de Grace included as an example of the type of architecture that will be included in the development.
Our kids aren’t nearly old enough to be considered yet but it’s good to know the Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Academy will be expanded to all high schools in Cecil County for the 2008-2009 school year. They spent some time covering the program at Tuesday night’s parent advisory council meeting.
It was a pilot program for 2007-2008 and there’s still some tweaking to be done to the program, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Check out a photo I took at the Conowingo Dam on Sunday. It was posted on the Baltimore Sun’s weather blog.
The Maryland State Yo-yo competition is scheduled for March 29 at Perryville Elementary School. I think this is the third year the Brant family has hosted the event in Perryville and they invest a lot of time and energy to make it a family occasion. If you get there early in the day, you can see people from all levels practicing and learning from each other. It’s quite a unique community and they welcome yo-yo-ers and observers alike.