Monthly Archives: November 2013

DIY Minion

Posted on by

2

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I have a great craft idea that came from my darling, beautiful and very crafty 6-year-old daughter, Olivia.  With a toilet paper roll, construction paper, glue, markers, scissors, and googly eyes Olivia made her very own minions from the movie “Despicable Me.”  She came up with this idea on her very own so I’m sharing it with you step by step.  Enjoy!

IMG_6038text

My husband put up a ledge shelf for Olivia’s Arts and Crafts finished projects.  Here are her Minions – Ballerina, Mom, Dad, and Baby Minion

IMG_6025text     IMG_6026text

I covered the toilet paper roll with yellow construction paper.  I added the googly eyes with the glue dots.  Then traced around the eyes with the silver marker to make the goggles and used the black sharpie to make the band.

IMG_6027text   IMG_6028text

Using the sharpie I drew the smile and hair.  With the blue construction paper I made the front of the overalls, adding a pocket and the letter G for Gru.

IMG_6029text     IMG_6032text

I glued the construction paper using the Fabri – Tac glue because it works best for me.  I used the glue dots for the small strips of construction paper.  You can always make the Minion with one eye like the toy figure pictured.

IMG_6037text

Here’s my finished Minion.

This is a fun craft project for your kids and it’s also a great decorating idea for any Minion party!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Proof is in the grade!

Posted on by

0

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Happy belated Veterans Day (THANK YOU to all veterans and those currently serving) and my thoughts are with the people in the Philippines and their worried friends and family throughout the world.  May help arrive as soon as possible and heal those in need.  May the people who lost their lives rest in peace.

________________________________________________________________________________

So, I’ve been wondering whether or not I did the correct thing in asking for my daughter to be placed in another first grade class with a new teacher.  I got the answer this past Friday when my daughter’s teacher wanted a word with me regarding speech therapy for Olivia.  I told her that we tried to get her therapy last year while she was in Kindergarten, but due to her above average grades, they felt that she didn’t need the therapy.  Olivia’s new teacher balked at that.  We are starting the process once again in order to give my daughter the help she needs because this year it’s affecting her spelling, writing, and communicating skills.  There are certain letter sounds in which Olivia has a hard time pronouncing so if she’s writing a word that includes these sounds, she spells the word wrong.  At home we do practice with her enunciating certain words and letter sounds, but she still needs a therapist.  Within a week, her new teacher picked up on this and that’s why I’m loving her.  Also, my daughter was given her first spelling test with the words of the week, which we studied for by writing them over every day, looking at homemade flash cards, and making sentences for each word.  She scored a:

IMG_0001

The proof is in the grade.

I did the right thing and the added bonus is a teacher who’s going to battle for my daughter to get the services that she rightfully deserves.  Last year, Olivia’s Kindergarten teacher mentioned that there was some issues regarding her speech, so we started the process of requesting speech therapy for her.  It was completely drawn out.  My husband and I scheduled and attended meetings, I wrote many letters and finally (many months later) my husband took Olivia to be evaluated, per an appointment made by the Board of Education.  This evaluation proved that Olivia was not struggling in school.  They concluded that she was above average, but that’s not what we asked for.  She can’t say certain letter sounds, but because she was achieving superb grades in Kindergarten, they decided that she would grow out of it.  That was their conclusion.  Obviously they were wrong, because it’s starting to affect her now in the 1st grade and if not dealt with, it might get worse, but I’m not going to let that happen.  No matter how many letters I have to write or meetings I have to attend, my child will get the assistance that she needs.

I’m her advocate.

I’m her mom.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Happy Belated Halloween 2013

Posted on by

0

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

This year for Halloween the Mercado household dressed up as…

IMG_5982text

…Princess Peach, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi from Super Mario Brothers

IMG_5988text IMG_5992text IMG_6006text

I so wanted to recreate that picture above with the stuff toys, but a certain little girl/Yoshi didn’t want to cooperate and get into the costume my talented husband created, so we went Yoshiless.  My oldest daughter, Olivia, was Princess Peach (costume gown and crown bought early at Target.com), my husband was Mario and I, as you can see, turned into Luigi.  I couldn’t smile comfortably with that darn moustache on my face.  🙂

We bought the white gloves, blue suspenders, and moustaches at Party City.  I ordered a set of Mario and Luigi hats through Amazon, but unfortunately they didn’t arrive on time so I took matters into my own hands…

CAM00222text

I took hats that we already owned and using felt, tape, glue, safety pins and a sewing needle I transformed them temporarily.

IMG_6013text

This idea popped into my head the day before Halloween so I had to hustle in order to have them ready for pics and trick or treating, which only my husband did with my oldest ’cause turns out my youngest was running a fever that night and I had to stay home with her.  That’s why she was refusing to cooperate.  She wasn’t feeling well.  😦  I was able to put a costume on her in the morning when we took her sister to school.  At that time she was okay.

sophiaflowerfairy2013text

My little forest fairy!

Several days later I was able to make Yoshi come to life…

IMG_6007text  IMG_6011text IMG_6017text

…here’s Sophia in a homemade Yoshi costume.

My husband purchased a green t-shirt and felt (white, red, orange, and green) at A.C. Moore craft store.  He made the shell using red and white felt and sewed it together.  He stuffed it with polyester fiberfill (Sophia can use it later as a small pillow).  In front of the shirt, he sewed a white felt circle and then attached/sewed the shell in the back of the shirt.  He constructed the head-piece on his own, using green, orange, and white felt.  He drew the eyes and nostrils with a sharpie marker and to make the nose prominent he used a little of the fiberfill and sewed it up.  There you go, it’s Yoshi from Super Mario Brothers!

I hope your Halloween for 2013 was fun and safe.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

A stressful month…

Posted on by

0

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I’ve been missing in action and it’s due to my wonderful powers of procrastinating, lack of ambition, and finally my computer crashing (even though there were warning signs for several months that something was awry in the system, I chose to…I’ll give you one guess…If you said, procrastinate, then you would be correct).  Plus, I’ve been dealing with the fact that my daughter’s 1st grade teacher left after teaching for a month and her replacement didn’t seem to keen on picking up where she had left off.  In fact, my daughter was constantly coming home without her sight words for the week or knowing the lessons needed to complete the homework assignments.  My instincts kept telling me to do something, speak up.  I voiced my concerns with the principal and vice principal of the school.

“Let’s give the new teacher some time to catch up.”

Every day I felt this weight getting heavier and heavier. 

“Let’s give her a week.” 

I felt the stress building up.  I didn’t want to let my daughter down.  After all, this is her education and it does start from the beginning, especially now with the common core standards in place.  New words and mathematical strategies are being introduced to our children every day.  So, if they’re not learning these very important lessons NOW, then they can’t continue to the next grade.  The straw that broke the camel’s back was when my daughter and I had to go online and learn how to do the new math strategies, that should have been taught in class on that particular day, but weren’t, in order to complete her homework assignment.

“Time’s up lady!” 

I’m not saying that I have a problem teaching my daughter because I don’t.  I am her first teacher, her advocate (like her Kindergarten teacher told me), but she’s also going to school for a reason.  Right?

Yesterday morning, the weight was lifted off my shoulders when I called the school for an update and was informed that my daughter was happily in her new class, with her new teacher.

Goodbye October, hello November.

Take good care all.

Until next time…