Color In Motion 5K

A beautiful morning for a 5K.  We (the four of us, Aunt Schneider & her work friend Raquel) showed up at the Color in Motion 5K at FairPark in Dallas wearing white.  We strolled and the boys ran until they fizzled out then rode our shoulders.  This process repeated itself practically the entire 5K.  Fun?  ummmm getting bombarded with color for sure, but the riding the shoulders, not so much. Will we do it again? Of course!

Istation Indicators of Progress (ISIP) Testing

Everett is in the Core Knowledge program at his elementary school.  In September each student takes the ISIP (Istation's Indicators of Progress) Early Reading Results Test.  This test is a comprehensive computer-based reading program that maximizes a student's reading fluency, comprehension & retention and academic success.  Computer-adaptive assessments and curriculum present reading and writing fun, in an interactive way that motivates students to participate.


September's ISIP Test Results:
Ability Index 174
Percentile Rank: Better than or equal to 87% of students who took the test in September.
Grade Equivalent: Pre-K

Today Everett came home with his November ISIP Test Results:
Ability Index 203
Percentile Rank: Better than or equal to 99% of students who took this test in November.
Grade Equivalent: K.11 (Performing as an average Kindergarten student in their 11 month.)

I am so very happy we were able to enroll Ev in the Core Knowledge program in HEB ISD.  Everett loves his teachers and looks forward to getting up and going to school each morning.

What  Everett is learning

Letter recognition - Everett recognizes 26 letters (upper & lower case)
Letter Sounds - knows 26 letter sounds and learning letter combinations "th", "ch", etc.
Identifying rhyming words and blending parts of words.
counting -  can count 1 to 100
counting - able to count in 10's to 100  (10, 20, 30, etc)
Reading -  can read 3 letter words.
Spelling -  can spell words that are true to letter sounds (cat, box, run, dog, pop, etc)

Self portrait and practice writing on his easel.

So proud of you Everett Blake! <3

Chinese Lantern Festival - Dallas

Perfect weather for a trip to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Dallas.

 

 the lanterns were all so beautiful.

Many lanterns at the festival looked like true structures.

 

 The porcelain dragon was spectacular.

 aunt Schneider and Everett

 The lovely Caballero-Shaw Family

 Auntie Sharon & Grampy Don

We had a great time at the festival.  I'm not sure It's worth $19 pp but definitely worth half price we paid via Groupon.  

Halloween at UTA (University of Texas Arlington)

We spent most of our time this Halloween at the University.  I was especially looking forward to this Halloween because one, the boys were super excited about dressing up and two, CANDY!  Each picked out what they wanted to be and they practiced how they would approach a door. Super proud to see how polite they were when given a treat; especially when they were given permission to grab their own from a candy bowl. 

Our first stop was Grammy's office at the University.   Though it's always loud and out of control when the cousins are in the mix, the boys had a great time trick-or-treating the offices in Grammy's department.  Cousin Jordan is Captain America and Matthew is Spiderman on the right.  Alex (Jordan's school friend) is in the middle.  

 

Next was UTA's Greek Row:

SO much fun on Greek Row.  It seems there were more adults than kids which equivocated to lots and lots of goodies and fun for the kids.  And a bonus...Everett had his photo taken by a couple of different photographers from the University.  I'm certain Grammy will keep us posted should she see anything in their write ups / news articles.  We wrapped up the evening by making a trip to Grampy's house and getting to meet the new dog, Arlene. :)   Lots of fun and great memories were made today. 

Red Ribbon Week

Red Ribbon week is celebrated every year in late October.  The campaign originated in Texas in 1986 as a tribute to the memory of Enrique Camerena, a Drug Enforcement Agent, who was killed by drug traffickers.  The Red Ribbon campaign focuses on drug education and prevention. 
Each day during the week students wore their ribbons and they dressed up in theme.  Here are 4 of the 5 days Everett dressed up:

Nerd Day

Why is nerd day so easy to pull off?. :)

 

Tie-Dyed/60's Day

Yea, another easy dress up day!

 

Mismatch Day

I thought Mismatch day would be easy.  It's not.

 

Bed-Head Day

Bed Head Day was boring, "bed head" day is every day in our household.