Happy Birthday Cammie

Cammie, I'm really sorry that I was unable to go to your birthday party at The Cow. I'm also sorry to hear that you were sick on your real birthday. That must have really been a bummer. Maybe we can go out to dinner or something the next time I go down there, and maybe we'll see each other at Christmas time.
I hope you got a lot of cool presents and had a good birthday.
Love you,
Cody

Homework Club and the Library

Today was my first day of "Homework Club". Homework club is a place where kids go after school to get their homework done and hang out if their parents have to work. It is in the library at my school.

It was ok, but it was really noisy. There were three ladies in charge. They'll help with homework if you need it. Some kids in my class this year and from last year are in the club.

When it was over I rode the school bus to a different school in my neighborhood. I walked through the park to the Public library. I knew how to get there because my mom and I had already walked there over the weekend so I would know where I was going.

I had fun at the library. All I did was finish up all my homework and read more books. One of the librarians helped me find some books that I was looking for that are on my "Battle of the Books" list. It was nice and quiet there.

When my mom came to pick me up we checked out the books that I found. My mom checked one out for herself too. We checked out the videos too, but didn't get any.

I'll be going to the Homework club three days a week.

Innisbrook Fundraiser

Innisbrook is the first fund raiser that we are doing at my school. We had an assembly at school explaining it to us and showing us the prizes. My school gets to keep 50% of all of my sales. I can win really cool prizes. My goal is winning an iPod or an intruder alert or a speaker phone with caller ID. If I can sell 150 things I will win every prize in the brochure!

Since none of you live close enough to see me about the catalog, you can go on the website and see if you like any of the things that are for sale. Some of the fun things are candies. There are special kinds that you would buy in candy stores like Peanut Butter Crunch, caramel Nut Clusters and more.

For you Uncle Bob, since you don't have any teeth, there are Coconut Creams, Peppermint Creams and Milk Chocolate Caramels. (My mouth is really watering right now!)

Since the holidays are coming up, you will find wrapping papers. There's Christmas, Hanukkah and just plain fun wrapping paper.

There's also magazines and If I were you Cammy, I would look at the Crayola sidewalk chalk that's shaped like animals.

There are cool magnets and a lot of things that families could use for gifts.

There are more products on the website than in my catalog.
The address is www.innisbrook.com and my school number is 110902.
I will get credit for everything my family buys on line.

I really appreciate it. I love you.
Cody

56 Questions

UNIQUE
1. Nervous habits -I chew my hair when I'm nervous and sometimes when I'm bored.
2. Are you double jointed - No.
3. Can you roll your tongue - Yes.
4. Can you raise one eyebrow at a time - No.
5. Can you blow spit bubbles - Yep.
6. Can you cross your eyes-I’m trying….No, I can't.
7. Tattoos - I don’t really ever want one.
8. Piercing - I used to have my ears pierced. I really want to pierce them again. I also want to pierce my belly button when I‘m old enough.
9. Do you make your bed daily - No, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

CLOTHES
10. Which shoe goes on first - It doesn’t matter.
11. Speaking of shoes, have you ever thrown one at anyone? - No!
12. On the average, how much money do you carry - None.
13. What jewelry do you wear- A necklace.
14. Favorite piece of clothing - mini skirts.

FOOD
15. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it - I cut it.
16. Have you ever eaten Spam - Yes I have and I really do like it.
17. Do you use extra salt on your food - If I can get away with it.
18. How many cereals in your kitchen cabinet - Three, two Cheerios and one Shredded Wheat.
19. What's your favorite beverage - Cherry Coke.
20. What's your favorite fast food restaurant - In N Out Burger.
21. What is your favorite dessert- Fudge brownies.

GROOMING
22. How often do you brush your teeth - Mostly every day.
23. Hair drying method - Put it in a towel till it’s dry.
24. What is your favorite hair style- Pony Tail.

MANNERS
25. What is the most important manner to follow- Don’t cuss.
26. Do you ever spit - Occasionally, if something like a bug flew in my mouth.

FAVORITE
27. Animal - Horses.
28. Food - Ribs and creamed corn and mashed potatoes.
29. Month - December.
30. Day - Fridays cause I usually get to go to the movie store.
31. Cartoon - Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
32. Pair of Shoes - My boots.
33. Subject in school - Reading.
34. Color - Pink!
35. Sport - Horse riding.
36. TV shows - That’s So Raven, Full House, Seventh Heaven, All Grown Up.
37. Thing to do in the spring - Go see my grandma in Texas.
38. Thing to do in the summer - Go to Mexico.
39. Thing to do in the autumn - Planning for Halloween. This year I’m going to be a Hippy.
40. Thing to do in the winter - Go to Big Bear.

IN AND AROUND
41. What’s in your cd player right now- Hillary Duff for homework and Velveteen Rabbit for sleeping.
42. Person you talk most on the phone with - My best friend Theresa.
43. Reading - The Nightmare Room Thrillogy 2 What Scares You the Most.
44. Do you regularly check yourself out in store windows/mirror- No, I'm 10!.
45. What color is your bedroom - White.
46. Do you use an alarm clock - Yes, I have a red heart alarm clock that my grandma bought for me.
47. Window seat or aisle - Window, cause I like to look out when we're landing.
48. What's your sleeping position - On my tummy.
49. Even in hot weather do you use a blanket - Yes.
50. Do you snore - Do I?
51. Do you sleepwalk - I don’t think so.
52. Do you talk in your sleep - Yes.
53. Do you sleep with stuffed animals -Yup.
54. How about with the light on - Yes, I sleep with my fish tank light on.
55. Do you fall asleep with the TV or radio on - Weekends I fall asleep to my TV and weeknights I fall asleep to my Velveteen Rabbit c.d.
56. Last interesting person you met - Theresa.

Back to School Night - msg from mom

Hello friends and family, mom here.

Tonight was "Back to School Night" for Cody's school. I returned home very impressed and wanted to share with all of you a little of what's ahead for Cody this year.

Fourth grade math is demanding and fast paced. Cody's teacher has divided the class up into two groups to better meet the needs of each child. Cody has been placed with the group of children who will succeed by being given more time to absorb the material. We all know that math is not one of Cody's favorite subjects, nor was it mine! All of their math lessons are online this year. You might want to take a peek to see what fourth graders are expected to learn as compared to when we were in fourth grade. www.onlineintervention.com

In Language Arts Cody is going to really expand her horizons this year to write well organized and vivid multi paragraph pieces. All writing is expected to be in cursive, which at times is still difficult for Cody due to her small motor abilities. She is giving it a good go though, practicing on her laminated work mat that Nana bought for her over the summer.

Reading is very important and Cody is expected to read every night for at least 25 min. She has a reading log in her binder and is expected to write her teacher a letter every two weeks telling her about what she has been reading. The children were tested at the beginning of this year and given what is called a "Lexile level" score which helps choose appropriate books for each child's reading ability. The average level for fourth grade is 600-800. Here is where I am going to brag a bit, Cody's Lexile level score is 910! A score of 985 is considered 7th grade.
There is a web site to check the reading level of books, www.lexile.com

Social Studies is a continuation of her 3rd grade study of California. She should be an expert on our State by the time 4th grade is finished!

In Science Cody will study Geology, Electricity and Magnetism as well as Environmental studies.


Cody will also be getting letter grades for the first time. I reminded her that although she may want to set her goals for "A", that is a perfect grade, and no one is perfect in everything they attempt to do.

One skill that Cody is going to work hard at this year is Organization. Her teacher is very well organized and presented her materials well. She has the children set up in their binders to be responsible for writing their own assignments into their planner, keeping track of their belongings, turning work in on time with proper consequences if they don't. We are going to think positive about this skill this year and hope that it will grow on Cody as she continues to grow.

Here's to a happy Fourth grade year!

Cody's mom,
P.<*)))><

Today I Lost My Tooth!

This afternoon I lost one of my baby teeth. If I didn't fall out on it's own, my mom said she would take me to the dentist's office and have him pull it out because it was really bugging me. It needed to come out because the grown up tooth was already growing in behind it.

My mom wasn't home, she was at work. My step dad was home studying for his painting contractors' license. First I went into the bathroom to take a look cause I thought it was bleeding. When I found out it was bleeding I went to tell my step dad. He wiggled it and told me that it was time for it to come out. My step dad has taken out most of my baby teeth.

He found a string with a loop. He said to put it around the tooth and then he would just pull it out. We couldn't get the string around my tooth so then I tried to pull it out myself. By accident my step dad bumped my hand which made my tooth really, really loose! I just twisted it and it fell right out.

My step dad gave me a small glass bowl to put it in. Tonight I'm going to put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy.

A Letter to my Teacher

My teacher asked my class to write her a letter, telling her all about ourselves. We had three days to write it, and it's due tomorrow. Here's what I wrote, but I'm leaving out the names, you'll have to fill them in:

Dear Mrs. M......,
My name is Cody M. S............... I am ten years old. I live with my mom P. and my Stepdad D. in M. B. I have two dogs, Cora and Charlie, and an African Grey parrot named Gracie. I also have three fish.

Some of my favorite things to do are go visit my dad T. and my 17 year old brother C. who live in V. Every Saturday my dad and C. and most of my dad's side go to a restaurant called T.C.C. in M. That's where my mom usually drops me off when ever I spend a few days with my dad. If my mom doesn't drop me off there, we meet my dad in S.B.

I also like to go visit my grandma in T. The only time I get to go see my grandma is Spring Break and summer break. I had a really good time this summer. I also like to work on my blogspot with my mom. In case you want to check it out, the address is www.cmsbajagirl.blogspot.com. Sometimes I watch TV when I'm done with my chores. I like to watch Seventh Heaven with my mom. I also like Full House and That's So Raven. I collect Breyer Horses too. Another thing I like to do is go to Baja with my mom and stepdad. We like to go see the off road races. We also like to camp, fish and ride dirt bikes. We also like to take our boat out and jump off the side in the summer time. We snorkel, tidepool and go exploring.

Before we lived in M.B. we lived in E.,Mx. I went to second grade at a collegio school. It was hard because it was in Spanish. My mom and I also did homeschool. Living in Mx. was ok, but I"m glad to be back in Calif.

My mom and I like horses. Before we lived in Mx. we lived in NJ. for a year and a half. We had two horses, Comet and Tiny. We had goats and chickens too. I dream of moving back to NJ and have my family and have a lot of horses and be a stay at home mom. But before that I want to go to Cal Poly.What is important to me you ask? Well, to me it's my friends and family. I'm good at a lot of things but I would have to say horse riding is the best thing I'm good at. I really need to concentrate and work on my math this year so I don't have to go to summer school again.

Love,
Cody