Had to add to the brag thread this morning.

DD10 (skipped this year to 5th from 4th) did her first speech in Social Studies. She got an A, 110%!

Gotta celebrate the small accomplishments along the way.

Nice!

And congrats Austin!

DS7 is in a chess program after school. It was his first time (fall session). They had their trophy ceremony Tuesday. He came home with a First Champion trophy (which means that he won one of the class tournaments) and the Sportsmanship trophy, which is the one that made me MOST proud!

DD3 found some word flashcards the other day with pictures and was playing with them. I know she isn't reading or anything, but she does know her letters and sounds and everything. I randomly put 2 words in front of her with different starting letters and would ask her which one was "bird" and she would pick out the right one. I did this a bunch of times and then added 3 or 4 and she still got them right. It was so cute to watch her say "buh buh BIRD" and then pick it up. DS was reading before 2 and he just knew how how to read...so I have never gotten to see this stage before of figuring it out and sounding it out, it's kind of fun. When she was 2 I guessed she would probably be reading around 4...I think she may be right on target.

Great stuff, people. shellymos, I really like these flash cards, and they're super-cheap: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0938256815

My stepfather (married to my mom for 25 years) passed away unexpectedly last summer, and my mom spent the Christmas holidays with us. DS9 wanted to make something special to make her feel better. He wrote the most beautiful and touching poem for her that talked not just about my stepdad, but how last year was horrible and now it's gone and that the new year would be better. I wish I could post it here, because it is absolutely beautiful, but it's understandably private. I am proud and amazed that at such a young age, DS is able to understand someone's feelings and express himself so well.

The funny part was that my mom cried really hard when she read it for the first time, and DS got scared he had done something wrong. He learned a good lesson about grieving that day.

This is more of a freaky memory story than a brag... When DD was two she had to go to the local children's hospital for ear surgery. We went once for a consultation, and then back up a few weeks later for her surgery. When we pulled into the parking garage, she started saying colors, "red, blue, green, etc." Each level of the garage was color coded and she was naming the color of the next level. She got all six levels correct, naming each color before we got to it. The little twerp memorized the colors in the parking garage after one visit! We knew she was a smart little girl, but this was the defining moment when she really freaked us out!

This is really a gift. So incredibly sweet.

Well this is partially a brag on DS6's school...and partly for him. He is in 4th grade math this year and we were told at our last conference he will be completing 5th this year as well and then moving to 6th grade next year. On his homework assignment last night the math coordinator wrote that he is already ahead on the 5th grade work and and his homework was a few enrichment word problems and to "play with hexidecimals" which quite honestly I didn't know what that was until I asked DS and he explained it and started converting numbers into binary and hexidecimal. I just thought it was really cute that was his homework, and so glad to see the school challenging him some. They are also now giving him 4th grade ELA now too and will hopefully write it into his plan for next year.

These are great brags above...I wish there was a like button next to the posts that I could click on

shellymos,

That's an awesome brag, both on the school and your son. Thanks for sharing it!

It is really great - not only that he being so wonderfully challenged - but that the school seems excited about it, too!