at home reading tutoring part 22

Last Monday, SJ had his weekly reading tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  They started with a play called "Double Trouble in Walla Walla" by Andrew Clements.  There were 7 parts to be read.  SJ told Mrs. Banks that he didn't want to do any of the narrators.  She said, "That's fine.  Then, you will have to read Mrs. Carter, Lulu or Mrs.  Bell."  SJ thought about it and decided he wasn't going to read a "girl's" part.  He ended up reading Narrator 1, Narrator 2 and Mr. Thomas.  It was a very funny play with crazy words.  Mrs. Banks said he was cracking up reading it.  (I could hear him laughing all the way upstairs.)

Next, they did some mazes for fun.  SJ really enjoyed doing those.  It was a great transitional break for him.  They continued the session with a story about Earth Day.  Then SJ had to answer 6 questions about the story.  He was able to do these questions fairly easily. 

The last thing they worked on was a Mad-Lib type story.  SJ had to chose words to fill in the blanks.  These are his words.

noun-Earth

noun-Moon

adjective-happy

noun-day

adjective-good

noun-cans

verb-recycle

adverb-quickly

number-5

noun-a unit of measurement-foot

adjective-a superlative-happiest

verb-dump

noun-junkyard

adjective-superlative-greatest

 

This is the completed story with his added words. 

 

Ten Facts about Earth

 

1. Earth is the only planet we know of on which Earth can exist in liquid form.

2. Antarctica is the highest, driest and coldest moon on Earth.

3. Earth is also called the happy planet.

4. Around 11% of the Earth's surface is used to grow day.

5. About 70% of the world's fresh water is stored as good cans.

6. Aluminum cans may take five hundred years to recycle quickly.

7. Earth's oceans are an average of 5 foot deep.

8. The happiest mountain in the world is Mount Everest.

9. Earth dump through junkyard at 66,700 miles per hour. 

10. The Nile River in Aftrica is the greatest river on Earth. 

 

Mrs. Banks said this was SJ's best session yet.  That was great news to hear.  Hopefully, we will have more sessions like this one.  

daddy's birthday weekend

Last weekend, it was my husband's birthday.  He had been out of town for a few days for work and returned home on Friday.  His birthday was Sunday.  Since he was out of town, I didn't have time to buy his presents before he returned from his trip.  So on Saturday after Bob's soccer practice was over, I let him have quality time with the boys while I went shopping. 

On the way home from the mall, I stopped and got food for the boys.  I really wanted to take my husband to a steak house that is very close to our house.  The only problem with that restaurant is that you are always there for at least 90 minutes.  That is way too long for the boys.  I decided to order our favorites and got it to go. 

The boys were already fed, so my husband and I had a very nice private dinner in our theater room.  After dinner, I suddenly felt ill, so I went to bed.  The boys and my husband went back downstairs and enjoyed guy movies. 

The next day was my husband's actual birthday.  As soon as he woke up, we gave him his presents.  We got him some war movies, a Star Trek collection, a Frankenstein doll and a work bag.  Shortly after the boys ate lunch, we packed up the car and went to Bob's soccer game.  SJ never likes going to soccer, but I make him go to the home games. 

When we got to the fields, the concession stand wasn't open.  That was a shame, since my husband was looking forward to a hot dog (I know, it is surprising!).  He and SJ left to get him some fast food.  They made it back to see the second half.  SJ wasn't focused on the game, since he was into his 3DS.  Not matter, they lost anyway. 

After the game, we drove back home.  I went with my parents, who came to watch Bob's game.  I needed to stop at Dairy Queen to pick up his birthday ice cream cake.  I also had my parent's pick up my husband's favorite pizza from a local pizza shop where we grew up. 

We all had the pizza for dinner.  Everyone but SJ had the cake for dessert (he doesn't like ice cream).  We watched "Lincoln" with my parents and they left when it ended.  It was fairly late, so the boys got on their pajamas and got ready for bed.  I am glad my husband was able to enjoy his birthday. 

pssa testing=stress, stress, stress

Last Wednesday, the students had to double up on their testing sessions.  They had the reading session in the morning and the math session after lunch.  SJ was stressed about this double session all morning.  My husband had left for Atlanta that morning, so I was handling his temperment on my own. 

SJ was crying all the way to school that day.  I reminded him that he could have a treat if he made it through the testing.  Even that reassurance didn't seem to console SJ.  I went to talk to Mrs. Valentine that morning.  She said they were starting with the reading and then they were going to have an extra long recess period.  She said they would then go to lunch and continue with the math testing afterwards.  They would then have their regular afternoon recess. 

When I got back to the office, I explained all of this to SJ.  I will say it did calm him down to know they were going to get to go outside twice that day.  I reminded him to try his best and to not let this ruin his day. 

At the end of the day, I asked Mrs. Valentine how he did.  She said he did very well considering the double testing.  I thanked her for letting me know.  Bob had soccer that evening, so I had to take SJ with us. 

SJ doesn't like going to soccer practice.  He finds it boring.  I told him we would do something fun while Bob was on the soccer field.  We dropped Bob off at his field and SJ and I drove over to the tennis courts. 

SJ brought his rackets and his scooter.  We spent about 20 minutes attempting to play tennis.  It was a lot of me and SJ running to get overshot balls.  SJ told me rhat he was bored of chasing balls.  I reminded him that if he didn't hit the balls so hard he wouldn't have to chase him.  I suggested that he do use his scooter for a little while.  He did seem to have fun riding his scooter. 

When he got bored with the scooter, we packed up our stuff and drove back to the soccer fields where we waited for Bob to finish up. 

After practice, we went home and did all of our nightly activities: homework, snack and baths.  I put the boys to bed around 9:30.  I could hear SJ crying in his room.  I went up to see what was bothering him.  He said he was nervous about the next day's test.  I told him that he has been doing great and he only had one more day.  I gave him a hug and hoped that I eased his stress.  Oh, I wish my husband hadn't been away!

after school speech part 53

SJ got sick last week.  He was running a fever and very crabby.  He didn't do too much that Sunday and stayed home from school on Monday.  He didn't miss too much at school and only had a tiny bit of homework.  The PSSA testing was going to resume the next day. 

When Bob and I returned home, I gave him his homework and told him that I had cancelled his at home reading tutoring with Mrs. Banks.  That perked him up some.  I took his temperature and it was mostly gone.  He got his homework done and rested for the remainder of the evening. 

The next day, he was temperature free and was back to school.  They only had one testing session that day and it was math.  SJ was in a good mood at the end of the day.  That was until I told him we had speech therapy.  Immediately, the complaints started and he was trying to negotiate his way out of going. 

His complaints were heard, but I explained to him that he was still going.  We hadn't had time to finish his speech homework for the week.  I could have forced him to do it, but I knew that would make a difficult situation excruciating. 

When we got to the therapy center, I apologized to his therapist for the incomplete homework.  She didn't seemed too upset, so I was relieved.  When his session was finished, she told me to have him complete the previous week's homework for the next session. 

She said they worked on forming compound nouns from two separate words.  He then had to write a definition for each compound noun.  She also had him practice identifying words from definitions.  He had more trouble with that skill. 

She also told me she is focusing on his tone of voice.  He frequently uses an inappropriate inflection in his voice when he is talking.  (Bob likes to call it his robot voice.)  She said she had to remind him several times about his tone of voice.  She said she would continue to work on that skill with him. 

Considering he was just getting over a virus, I would say he did a great job  today!

first day of trout = father son bonding

On Saturday, my husband took both boys out to fish.  It was the first day of Trout Season.  Our one friend knew of a good spot to fish.  The creeks had been stocked for the opening of the season and they were confident that they would catch some trout. 

My husband woke the boys at 6:30 a.m.  They were not too happy about the early wake up.  (That is earlier than they get up for school.)  It was considerably chilly that morning, so my husband had the boys grab a few extra layers.  Grumbling and tired, the boys made their way to the car.

Two of my husband's friends had come to pick him and the boys up.  I woke up shortly after they left.  I enjoyed the quiet morning.  We were having people over that evening, so I spent the morning cleaning and baking. 

Around 10 a.m., my husband called to say they were on their way home.  I asked if they caught any fish, but they hadn't.  My husband's friends had caught one trout each.  He tried to leave the trout with us, but we are not big fish eaters. 

When the boys came upstairs, they were wet and muddy.  I had them remove everything they had on in the laundry room.  They were freezing, so they put on clean, warm clothes.  My husband and his friend told me about how well the boys did fishing. 

Even though the creeks had been stocked, it had rained a lot the night before.  The creeks were so high, which made it more difficult fishing.  They had been fishing at a creek near a field.  Apparently, some cows were wondering near my husband's fishing gear.  The boys got a big kick out of the fact that the cows were licking his tools and glasses.  My husband said he told the boys to scare the cows away from their things.  (I don't think our 80 some pound boys would be very scary to a cow.)

The boys enjoyed fishing.  Bob has already asked my husband when they could go again.  I am glad that this is something the boys can do together.  I am glad that my husband found something that they can all do together. 

pssa testing week=a very stressed SJ

Well, it was here.  The dreaded PSSA week began last Wednesday.  SJ wasn't going to school on Wednesday (well at least that is what he was hoping!).  He did go, but he was crying all the whole way to school.  I reminded him that he just has to try his best.  I also told him that it doesn't affect his grades.  My reassurance wasn't helping his mood. 

The school started out the testing week with math.  Math is SJ's strong subject, so Mrs. Valentine said he did fairly well with that section.  I was expecting him to be in a good mood because of that fact.  He was already stressing about the next day's reading section. 

He was complaining that it wasn't fair that it was on school pizza day.  Bob and I both tried to put him at ease, but we weren't successful.  We told him that he should be happy that he was having his favorite lunch on a "bad" day.  He wasn't convinced.  I told him that I would check with Mrs. Valentine at the end of the day.  If he made it through the testing, he would be able to get a treat. 

Thursday morning we had more difficulty getting SJ to go to school.  I reminded him to do his best and that I would be checking with Mrs. Valentine.  I was nervous for him most of the day.  I sent Mrs. Valentine an email to see how he did.  She said he worked hard and deserved a treat. 

I made a big production out of him doing so well with the testing.  He seemed pleased with himself, so I was very proud of him.  He informed me that Friday's testing was going to be moved to the next week.  Our town was having a scheduled power outage, so they cancelled the testing for Friday and Monday.  SJ and Bob were very happy about that! 

I was happy that he made it through part of the testing with only tears that we saw.  I was glad that he was able to control his fears and emotions in front of his peers.  That is progress.  Small progress but progress is always welcome.  I am hoping that next week's testing will go as smoothly.

after school speech part 52

SJ had his weekly speech therapy session on Tuesday.  SJ's therapist continued to work on compound words with him.  He needs to make a compound word by taking a word from two different columns.  After he makes the compound word, he needs to write a short definition.  The words he came up with with the following.

barefoot-having nothing on your feet

homework-work you have to do at home

playtime-a time to play

His therapist said SJ had some trouble with the definition for barefoot.  She helped him figure out the definition.  I told her that it was comical that he said he didn't know what that was.  He is "barefoot" in our house all the time. 

 

They also worked on identifying words from definitions.  They read a definition and he had to tell her what the word was.  They did 10 together.  He was able to do 5 of them on his own.  His therapist had to assist him with the other five.  One of the ones he needed help with was this one. 

A long wooded alley that bowling balls are rolled down-lane

I would have thought he would have known that it is a lane considering he LOVES BOWLING!  I was surprised that he didn't know the terminology of something he should be familiar with. 

 

She also worked on another knock, knock joke with SJ.  This was the joke.

Knock, knock

Who's there?

Turnip

Turnip who?

Turnip the volume, it's quiet in here.

She said he had difficulty with the humor in this joke.  His therapist had to explain to SJ what a turnip is.  He had no idea it was a vegetable.  She then explained to him that you hear "turn up" in the last line for the word turnip.  After her explanations, SJ thought the knock, knock joke was funny. 

 

She assigned him to finish the remainder of the worksheet on forming compound nouns and identifying words from definitions. 



at home reading tutoring part 21

Monday we were back to our normal routine.  The boys were back in school, so that meant that Monday is after school tutoring with Mrs. Banks.  He was VERY reluctant to go downstairs when she arrived at our house.  SJ was already upset about the PSSA testing that was going to begin on Wednesday.  He complained about it all the way home from school. 

I was downstairs talking to Mrs. Banks.  I was telling her how upset he was about the upcoming testing when my husband finally got SJ to come downstairs.  She had brought him some Skittles (his favorite) and they began talking about the testing.  She was able to calm him down and talk him through the procedures of the testing.  She reminded him that the school was beginning with math (his strong subject) and told him he would do fine with the reading section. 

They didn't do a reader's theater today.  She did have a story for him to read.  It was "Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt" by Brenda B. Covert.  He didn't want to read the entire story, so she compromised and they took turns.  He opted to read the odd numbered lines.  When they got to line 15 (a very long line), he tried to get Mrs. Banks to read it.  She quickly reminded him that she gave him the option of looking at the whole story first.  He should have noticed that line 15 was long at the beginning.  She told him he had to read it and he did begrudingly. 

After they completed the story, SJ had to answer questions about the story.  There were 8 questions.  The first five were reading comprehension questions.  The last three were math word problems.  Initially, SJ looked at them and complained that they were "too long".  Then, Mrs. Banks pointed out that they were math problems.  He got very happy and quickly finished them. 

Next, they had an I Spy type picture and SJ had to answer questions by looking at the picture.  For example: what are the children doing?, what is the woman on the stairs doing? and who is on the porch?  See the attached picture with SJ's answers. 

 

 

Then, they worked on analogies.  SJ is usually good at these.  The first 7 used a word bank.  The words were buzz, worm, flower, seed, fly a kite, plants and galoshes.  These were the completed analogies.

 

1. rainy weather : splash in mud puddles :: windy weather : fly a kite
2. zoo : animals :: greenhouse : plants
3. squirrel : nut :: bird : worm
4. trunk : tree :: stem : flower
5. bird : tweet :: bee : buzz
6. snow : boots :: rain : galoshes
7. chicken : egg :: tree : seed

The remainder of the worksheet was multiple choice.  SJ did very well at this activity.  They then moved on to another I Spy type worksheet.  SJ had to use the sheet to record the number of different kinds of birds in the picture. 

 

Next, she had SJ make up words to fill in a Mad Lib type story.  These are his words and the completed story. 

verb-gerund (ing) form  eating

noun--a kind of food donuts

adjective happy

verb play

noun-plural clovers

adjective glad

color green

noun-plural leprechauns

action verb open

adjective confused

noun-plural bunnies

adjective funny

 

First Day of Spring

Today is the first day of spring!  I awaken to the sound of birds eating.  I hurry to eat donuts for breakfast.  I put on a happy outfit and played outside.  I can smell the clovers.  I look up to see glad clouds in the green sky.

I think I will find a field of leprechauns and open through them.  I will make them confused bubbles with my bubble blower.  Maybe I will go on a picnic!  I will fill a basket with bunnies and funny red apples.

Today is the first day of spring!



The last thing they worked on was a Spring Glyph.  SJ decided on the color of the butterfly (his favorite season-a three way tie, so the butterfly is green, orange and red), what is in the boy's hand (his favorite spring sport-tennis, so he drew a tennis ball), the color of the flowers (his two favorite colors-orange and yellow), the color of the boy's hair (blonde-he won't plant a vegetable garden) and the color of the boy's outfit (green-he is a boy).  He also had to complete the speech bubble and draw a picture of himself (his comic book self).  See the finished glyph.

 

Considering all the dramatics that we had at the end of the school day, Mrs. Banks said he had a very good tutoring session!

hanging with friends...day, night and day again

On Tuesday, Willie was going to come to our house for a sleepover.  Willie's mom called me in the morning and invited the boys over to their house for a few hours.  I dropped them off and ran some errands.  I picked the boys and Willie up around 3:00 and we drove back to our house.  They had a great time at Willie's house. 

The boys started playing as soon as they got in the house.  They were in the house playing video games and then outside playing soccer or basketball.  We had hamburgers for dinner, which Willie and SJ loved!  Bob was not in the mood for hamburgers, so I made him and myself chicken fries. 

After dinner, the boys continued to play until it was movie time.  We had rented Madagascar 3 from the Redbox.  Although Willie had seen it the night before, he kindly sat through it again.  I could hear lots of laughter coming from the basement.  Three boys and one man's laughter.  What a great sound!  After the movie was over, it was time for the boys to go to bed. 

SJ started coughing that evening pretty badly and I was worried it was going to keep Willie up.  Fortunately, it didn't.  Willie slept right through the noisy coughing fits. 

The next morning, I ran to the store to get the boys donuts.  Willie requested Boston cream donuts.  I got his request and the boys' favorites too.  They gobbled up their breakfast and were off to play.  They played until lunch time.  Shortly after lunch, SJ had another friend coming over.  Lincoln is a friend of SJ's.  He is not in his class, but he was last year.  They play very nicely together.  They played video games for a little while and then I took all four boys bowling.

Bob was a little crabby on the way to the bowling alley.  He said he wasn't going to bowl.  I said that was fine, but the rest of the boys were going to bowl.  He changed his tune as soon as we arrived at the bowling alley.  When I asked the other boys what their shoe sizes were, Bob piped up with his shoe size as well.  I knew he would change his mind as soon as we got there, but I kept that thought to myself. 

The boys had a great time bowling.  They bowled two games each.  Lincoln won the first game and SJ won the second.  Bob lost both games.  Bowling is definitely not his best sport, but you can't be good at everything.   We drove back to our house after bowling.  Lincoln still had about an hour until I had to take him home.  Lincoln and SJ went upstairs to play Wii and Bob and Willie were on the XBox. 

When it was time to take Lincoln home, I asked SJ to go with me.  He didn't want to go, but I reminded him that is what you do when you have a friend over.  He complied, but I am still not sure if he knows why that is socially necessary.  That will be a skill that I will have to go over with him again.

When we got back from dropping Lincoln at home, SJ joined in playing with Willie and Bob.  We had to eat a short while later.  I had made what the boys call "wood".  It is a crock pot beef roast that I cover with onion soup mix, a cup of brown gravy and beef stock.  Everyone loves this dish, except my boys.  They call it wood, since it sort of looks like that after I shred the beef.  Willie loved it!  It was nice to see a kid enjoy something I made.  I wish my boys liked more of my dishes. 

After dinner, Bob and Willie had soccer practice.  So our day, night, day of hanging with friends ended at 6:00 p.m.  That was a fun 18 hours for the boys!

spring break, coloring eggs and Easter activities

Last Friday was our first day of Spring Break.  The boys were so excited to be off of school.  I started off the day with getting them their favorite for breakfast...donuts!  SJ got his normal white iced rings and Bob had his powdered donuts.  It was a nice day, so the boys were able to really enjoy their first day off. 

They played basketball and soccer outside, rode scooters, used their new chalk and ran around the yard with Nerf guns.  When they were bored with that, they retreated to the house to be video game zombies. 

On Saturday, we colored our eggs.  I always have the boys do a dozen each.  I was going to attempt to try Koolaid packs for the dye (a Pinterest find), but I never bought the different color packets.  I went with the traditional Paas instead.  I had boiled the eggs early in the morning, so by late afternoon they were cool enough to color.  Bob was resistant at first, but eventually his preteen self got into the tradition.  These are their finished eggs.

 

Sunday was Easter.  SJ came into our room around 8 to wake my husband and myself.  He was anxious to see what the Easter Bunny brought (yes, he still believes!).  We followed him downstairs and he began his search.  It took him 3:18 to find his hidden basket.  Bob then searched for his.  He found his in a record 0:18 time. 

 

SJ seemed disappointed in his basket.  He had gotten some fruit flavored candies (Skittles and jelly beans), gum and a rocket kit.  "Why didn't the Easter Bunny get me stuff like last year?" asked SJ.  I really had no idea what the Easter Bunny had brought last year.  Apparently, the bunny brought him a tennis racket and tennis balls last year.  I believe the bunny thought he would love a rocket, but I guess he was wrong. 

 

Eventually, he settled down.  I went to church while the boys did more relaxing at home.  After I returned from church, we had some lunch and then watched a movie.  When the movie was done, we went to my parents' house for Easter dinner.

 

My parents had some Easter presents for the boys.  Bob got XBox points, so he can play more games.  SJ got an Amazon gift card.  I told him he could use it for plushies, so he went right on my mom's computer to order two different plushies (Hammer Brothers and Knuckles).  We had a nice dinner (the boys were not fans of the ham) and visited with my parents and sister for a few hours.  We went home around 8 o'clock.  The boys were back to being video game zombies for the remainder of the evening. 

 

On Monday, the boys built their rockets.  There were many steps and they did very well with the instructions.  It was rainy and cold, so they couldn't paint the completed rockets until it got nicer out.  That weather also made it hard for them to play outside.  Oh well, it is break, so I just let them do the what boys their age love to do: play video games! 

stop stirring my pots!

The Wednesday before Easter was a bad day for SJ.  He was upset with his aide at the end of the day.  He was crying in the office and complaining that she made him do "too much work".  (This is a common complaint from SJ, so I don't give it much merit.)  I explained to him again that she doesn't make him do any more work than his classmates.  At this point, he was so upset that there was no reasoning with him.  I told him he would need to go to his room to settle down.


He was up in his room for a while and he was still very upset.  I could hear the crying all the way down the stairwell.  I went up to his room.  He was curled up in a ball and he was sobbing.  I said, "You need to find a way to calm down.  There have been enough tears now.  Settle down."  I went back downstairs and started to unpack their backpacks. 


When I finished that task, I went into our office.  SJ was on our home computer watching a YouTube video.  I stopped in my spot and started watching the video he was viewing.  He was watching a video entitled "How to Calm Yourself Down". 


There was an Eastern Indian gentleman giving techniques on calming yourself.  "Try not to let others stir your pots," said the man on the video.  Then SJ yelled out loud, "I can't stop my pots from being stirred." 


I had to leave the room, because I was about to laugh.  It wasn't funny, but SJ's reaction was.  I actually thought it was great that SJ was searching for solutions to solve his problem.  I don't know if the video helped at all, but he did settle down shortly after he watched it.  Whatever it takes!

 

after school speech part 52

Last Tuesday, we were back to our normal routine.  There wasn't a snow delay or snow day, so that meant that Tuesday was after school speech.  SJ wasn't as resistant as he usually is.  He knew we would be going to Target after and he had some birthday money to spend. 

His speech appointment went well.  He told his therapist all about his party and his birthday weekend.  First, they worked on identifying verbs.  SJ had to identify the correct verb from the listed definition.  For example:  to close your eyes and rest all night.  SJ had to answer with the verb sleep.  His therapist said he did fairly well with this activity.  He got 8 out of 10 correct.  She assigned the remainder of the worksheet for homework. 

Next, she went over the homework from the previous week on identifying words from definitions.  She said the ones that he had trouble with before were a little bit easier for him. 

She knows how much he likes jokes.  She worked on a knock knock joke with him.  He had some difficulty with the joke because he didn't know what one of the words was.  The word was fig.  The joke was:  Knock, knock.  Who's there?  Figs.  Figs who?  Figs the doorbell, it's broken.  Once she explain what figs are, he thought the joke was incredibly funny.

He told her that Mrs. Valentine used an idiom in class.  She said "I put my foot in my mouth."  SJ raised his hand and told Mrs. Valentine he knew what that meant.  She said he was the first student that knew what that idiom meant.  He was very proud that he knew that.  I am proud that he was able to use something that he learned in speech in another area of his education.  Great job, SJ. 

His therapist assigned him a comprehending verbal instruction exercise and to finish identifying key elements in sentences for homework.  I told her that we would not be there the following week, since we were going to be on Easter break. 

We left speech and drove to Target.  We returned a birthday gift that he already had and walked back to the Lego/K'nex aisle.  SJ looked and looked for something to get.  After 30 plus minutes, SJ settled on a new K'nex toy.  While he was browsing and complaining that "his brain isn't working when it comes to making choices", my phone rang.  I pulled it out of my purse to see who was calling and it dropped out of my hand.  My screen wasn't cracked, but it had crazy lights streaming on it and the icons were shaking. 

We left Target and drove to the Verizon outlet.  Unfortunately, they couldn't do anything there, so we drove home.  SJ happily built his K'nex toy and ate his McDonald's.  I am glad someone was happy, because I certainly wasn't.  Oh to be 11 again!

snow day = no after school reading tutoring

Last Monday, we woke up to a call from our school district announcing a 2 hour delay.  Apparently, it was snowing, frigid and had the potential for icy roads.  I was thrilled to get the call.  I love 2 hour delay days.  The boys and I get to sleep in plus it is practically lunch when I get to work. 

Around 8:30, the phone rang again.  The delay had now become a complete cancellation.  I informed the boys (who were thrilled), but I knew that now meant we would lose one of our Easter vacation days (bummer). 

Since there was no school, the boys turned into video game zombies for most of the day.  They did eventually venture outside to play in the snow.  SJ claimed it wasn't good snow for building a snowman.  I know that wasn't true, since a ton of my friends posted pictures of their kids’ snow creations online. 

Around 1:30, I decided to go out and get some groceries.  I was hesitant at first, but the roads were fine by that point.  When I got home a little over an hour later, I reminded SJ that Mrs. Banks would not be coming today.  (It is a given that we don't have tutoring or speech therapy on snow days, but he doesn't always remember that.)

To say SJ was happy would be a huge understatement.  He was over the moon thrilled that his unscheduled and unproductive day would continue.  I did make him complete his speech therapy homework, but that took less than 30 minutes to finish. 

Since it is now April, I am hoping that will be our last snow day.  I am sure SJ will be hoping for another one soon.  You never know with global warming.