webster elementary

last year hayden's kindergarten teacher recommended that we have him tested to see if he could get in to livonia's gifted school, webster elementary. they ended up doing testing over spring break for the out of district kids. a little later we received the results telling us that hayden did not get in, he missed the reading portion by about 4 points. but he did pass the math portion of the test. they told us that he could try again next year.
so a bit before spring break i started looking into it again. things were a little different this year and they didn't start testing the out of district kids until the week of may 24th. they told me everything that we would need from hayden's school...report card, benchmark testing scores, etc. and told me the applications would be up on their website starting on may 21st.
i contacted hayden's teacher and let her know what i needed from them. they were SO great and very excited for hayden. they gave hayden as much time as they could to practice his reading and retelling before they gave him the test that i would bring to webster with his scores on it. webster informed me he would need to be reading at the beginning of 3rd grade level.
in all of the tests they said the scores came out and showed he was doing math and reading at just about the beginning of 3rd grade. so we were hoping it was enough that they would give him the opportunity to test for a chance to get in to the school for 2nd grade.
on may 21st i printed off all of the forms and got all of the paperwork together. then on may 24th and went and dropped them all off at the school. they told me they would probably be calling us soon to set up a testing date, as his scores seemed to look good enough.
the paperwork they gave me said that there were only a total of 11 seats for 1st and 2nd graders from out of district. even if he passed the testing he may not get in if more than 11 qualified. at that point, they would do a lottery for the 11 open seats.
i got a call that evening i think and asked if we could bring hayden in for testing on thursday, may 27th at 8:30am. the testing would last between 2 1/2-3 hours and other kids would be there testing as well.
dave dropped him off that morning on his way into work and i went to pick him up around 11:15. there were about 6 kids there but others could have been testing on other days as well. when the kids came out, they told us that if they passed that round of testing they would call us to set up the second round of testing. hayden told me he thought that a lot of it was easy and that he didn't guess at very many of the questions.
i got a call on tuesday, june 1st asking me if there was any way i could bring hayden in for the 2nd round of testing on wednesday morning. this time, the testing was in reading and math and would only be about 1/2 hour. so on june 2nd i took him in for more testing. this time i just stayed there and he was the only one that was tested.
they came out and the lady told me that he worked really hard. she mentioned that he was "always moving" but that he was always paying attention. she also mentioned that he really needs to be challenged in school. she seemed to give a pretty positive vibe. she told me that around june 22nd we would get something in the mail showing us his scores with the percentages and telling us if he was accepted or not. i then asked about the lottery and she said...."well, i know that they put that in the paperwork, but i think there is going to be enough room." so either they didn't have as many kids apply as they thought, or some of the kids that did apply didn't pass the first round of testing.
when we got in the car hayden said that a lot of it was easy once again. he said that he sounded out some of the words and that he got one really hard word right. he said that the teacher told him he was the only kid to get that word right. i asked what the word was and he replied..."i forget."
he also said that the math testing was the exact same math test that the teacher at his current school gave him in order to get the benchmark scores for this testing. so hopefully that's a good thing as it seems like he scored well on it the first time.
dave and i will probably go to an information meeting about the school and their curriculum on june 9th and then we should hopefully hear some good news around june 22nd about him getting in.
the thing i was not looking forward to was the driving. because he doesn't live in livonia, i will have to drive him to and from school every day. but as 2nd grade gets closer, i have realized that his new elementary school in redford is close enough to us that he wouldn't have a bus. so i would have to walk, or drive him every day there as well. and once your in the car, who cares if it's a few extra miles down the road?!
it will be a pain, but it would be a pain to get him to school here in redford too. plus, it's redford. a place we swore we'd be out of by the time "our first gets into kindergarten." haha. so i'm happy to do anything i have to do in order to give hayden the best that he can have. hopefully, for 2nd grade, that will mean the gifted program at webster in livonia.
i just don't want him to get bored in school having to learn things with the rest of the kids that he already knows and has know for awhile. this year his teacher has done a GREAT job working with him so that he is being challenged and not just learning with the rest of the kids. but you just don't know that every teacher will be as great as this one is.
we'll keep you posted as to any news we get.

field day 2010

today was hayden's field day at school. it was a beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze, so it was just perfect to be outside for most of the afternoon!
mom came over to watch talan and london and i headed over to hayden's school to help out. there were about 9 different stations and the kids had 20 minutes at each one. they all seemed to have a great time, but it sure tired them all out!
as always, the favorite was probably the relay bounce house. and the popsicles, of course!
i just can't believe this is already the end of hayden's 1st grade year and his last here at macgowan elementary!

filling up a bucket with a soaked sponge relay. hayden and his team (on the right) won:


tug of war. the girls won the first game (their assistant teacher helped) and the boys won the 2nd:


the sack race that seemed to go on for hours:

crab soccer. someone thought it was a good idea to use the entire soccer field for this. most of the kids dropped out pretty quickly:
this game of volleyball was mad chaos what with the wind blowing the balls all around and children fighting over who's turn it was to hit it over the net:
showing off his muscles while waiting in line for the bounce house relay:
eye of the tiger:


i was just planning on taking a picture of hayden and a couple of his friends that were next to him and the next thing i knew, his whole class ran over to have their picture taken. i think it turned out great...they seated themselves and everything:
hayden showing off his mad hula hoop skills:
monkey bars:


hayden made it all the way across this set which apparently he had never done before:

author's nite

the end of the school year is here and with that brought "author's nite" at hayden's school. all year, the first graders at macgowan elementary have been working on their reading and writing skills. they had several "author celebrations" throughout the year where they would get dressed up and read one of their stories to their classmates.
tonite, to celebrate all of the young author's, the parents were invited to come and see their accomplishments. we started off in the gym where we watched a slide show filled with pictures of the first graders reading. then we moved to their classroom where the each student got a turn sitting in the "author's chair" while the teacher read one of their stories.
hayden chose his story "i just got started" a story that he wrote on 12/15/09. and here it is:

I just got started playing Wii. "Mom, NO SCHOOL," I said. "I know you don't want to go to school, but you have to go to school today." "okay, I will." I got home. "Can I play Wii?" "No. Every time you come in you always want to play Wii." I listened to my mom. "I'll play the Wii later." I want to play Wii ooooooohhhhhhhh mannnnnnnnn wii wii wiiiiiii.

his about the author page read like this:
My name is Hayden. I live in Redford. I have 1 brother and 1 sister. My favorite foods are macaroni and cheese and cheese pizza. In my spare time I like to play soccer. I like learning about animals. If I could have one wish I would ask for lots and lots of ice cream.
I hope you enjoy reading my stories.

we were also able to walk around the class and look at every one's stories and "about the author" page.
hayden has told me several times throughout this year that when he grows up he wants to be an author and an illustrator. he has come home several times and just wanted to sit at the table and write a story and illustrate the pages.
when all of the kids had their stories read, we were all given something to drink (juice boxes for the kids and water for the adults) and a brownie. we then all stood and toasted the author's.
we had a really nice evening and are so proud of all of the hard work hayden has done this year!!


hayden reading his "about the author" page:


one of hayden's illustrations:
mrs. taurence reading hayden's story:




hayden and some friends waiting for the toast:

5 school zone celebration!

hayden's school behavior chart starts out with each kid in the "school zone." if they misbehave during the day it will change to a green, then a yellow and then a red. while hayden hasn't had too many red's this year, school zones can be quite difficult for him to get.
we've always told him that if he gets a school zone every day one week, he will be rewarded handsomely. while he's come close before, he has never gotten a week of school zones until this week!!!
we were SO proud of hayden today when he came home and excitedly told us he had gotten his fifth school zone of the week. dave was home early from work today, so he was also able to hear the news right away.
we asked hayden what he might want for dinner, knowing he'd probably want logan's. he told us he wasn't sure and when we asked if he wanted to go to a restaurant he excitedly said "yeah! how about logan's?!" he loves that place mostly for the peanuts that he gets to eat before his food comes and that he gets to put the shells on the floor.
so the family headed out to logan's and after that we went to 7-11 where hayden (and talan) got a "frozen drink." we made it home just it time before a big storm hit and dave and hayden played mario kart for awhile.
hayden was so proud of himself and was so excited to call grandma and grandpa to share the great news with them as well!
he's now on a mission to get 5 more school zones next week!

hayden loves logan's!:


"frozen drink" time!:
hayden really wanted me to take his picture with iron man:

spring soccer

for the past 2 years we have put hayden in soccer during the fall. the place that we take him also does a spring soccer which we have never done. this year we decided it would be a good idea to put him in it for the spring as well.
unfortunately, the first game day...april 23rd, was rained out. so we went over to the field to pick up his shirt...this year he's on a new field with the oldest kids (7 and 8 year olds) and on the yellow team. he was very happy that he was on yellow and not on the purple team.
so today was the first game hayden had. it was a little chaotic as there was only one coach and the field was really wet from all of the rain we've been getting. but hayden still seemed to really enjoy himself.
talan just wanted to get out on the field and kick a ball around as well. it's going to be pretty difficult to keep him on the sidelines this time around! in the fall he'll probably be able to play as well though!

hayden as goalie:
talan sitting RIGHT behind the line:
talan wanting in on the action:

talan was scared that dave was only holding his feet. so he held dave's face:
hayden blocking the ball:

u of m spring game

hayden headed to ann arbor with dave once again this year for the u of m spring game. they met up with chadd and ashton howard and seemed to have a great time. earlier in the week they were saying the weather was going to be great for today. unfortunately, once today finally rolled around, the forecast was much different. a high of only 47 with some scattered showers.
thankfully the rain never came in, but it was a bit colder than they would have wanted.

hayden, ashton and chadd: