- omg, that sounds so fun, 4 yrear olds or not. I would have had a blast. The only thing I can remember from my field Days are that we played softball and dodge ball. There were also 3 legged races and just "who's the wquickest" races. It was a lot more "formal" then yours sounds like. A lot of what we did was stuff we did in gym class anyways. I think kids today need more gym/outside time. The public school my youngest was going to go to before I decided to homeschool him had a 30 min recess for kids who were cooped up from 8 to 3. Not a good idea in my opinion.

Not sure if I told you gals about this buy my youngest, 20 at the end of this month, had his first bike riding lesson yesterday. He never was able to learn as a child so he's decided to learn now. Mainly because he doesn't want to learn to drive and have to deal with the headache of a car (gas and insurance ugh XD .) He wiped out a few times earning himself a skinned knee and left palm and a torn pair of pants. But he got up, brushed the dust off, and got back on. He's managed to glide for a ways but would fall over as soon as he tried to pedal. I'm proud of him for giving it a try at this stage in life. Most kids his age would hide the fact that they couldn't ride instead of trying to learn in public. There is hope for him after all. ;) :D

GOOD for him!! A bike to get around will be a lot cheaper than car/gas/insurance!! Especially if you live in an area that it is easy to do so with a bike! (Could not where I live, not easily).

I agree, all kids need more recess time. In PreK we are "allowed" up to an hour - some years due to the schedule we may only do a 30-45min recess instead. But the other kids, get 15-20min a day and that is NOT enough. I remember when I was in elementary school - we got to school early enough before the bell to play on the playground, then lined up to go in when the bell rang for school (no morning work, or sitting at tables in the classroom! OUTSIDE PLAYING!!) Then we had morning recess. We had gym class. We had a long enough lunch time that if we finished eating we could go to the playground after we ate, until the bell rang or our teacher called us. And sometimes we had afternoon recess with the teacher directing a game or something rather than free play. I have no idea how long those times were, but its a LOT more than these kids get. And once you leave elementary school, no recess, no break. Insane. Middle school and even high school need a break sometimes! Go outside and walk the track or something! Go visit the courtyard and tend a garden I don't know, but take a break!

I do know that a lot of teachers work in some time to take a "brain break" and do a "music and movement" video to get the kids moving when they get restless, especially the younger grades (K, 1, 2...)

Good for him for trying! I never learned when I was a kid too, now I can ride on flat places... too bad there's none of them around :P

The game I remember most from field day was the one where you have a relay race to get the water from one bucket to another one with a sponge. And we got those triangle minute maid triangle push up pops. Those were my favoritesssssssss, I wish they still sold them! :(

Iz is doing field day tomorrow, they're having the kids walk the mile to the college before they do the field day haha.

Snacks for sale at field day?! That's crazy to me, but I guess that's a thing!

Lilys chorus concert tonight! She's playing the drum during one of their songs and so she's very excited haha.

77 (I'll just lump the pings in first and then answer, etc. after. Easier that way. ;)

I'm showing my age right now but we never had snacks for sale at Field Day. There were rewards, though, whoever came in 1st/2nd/3rd got ribbons and the rest of us got nothing. No participation prize, nothing, and we survived, learned how to become gracious losers although it took some of us longer then others. lol Kids are kids in that regard. XDAs for the rest, I remembeer from k-5 I had an hour each week of gym, art, and music class. This was on top of a 45 min recess right after lunch. So, the quicker you ate, the longer you had to play outside. 6th grade was a change. Art and music became elective and we had 1 hour of gym every day until 10th grade when gym became elective also. Emphasis was put on college entrance skills and math and reading became more important then art or gym. I still took art as my elective, though. I loved it. I stressed it with my kids when they went toschool. Of course my A personality daughter said she didn't have time for art and focused more on college entrance skills then my other ones and she's gone farther then the others too. . :)

Mieke - good luck to Lily on her concert solo. :D

No prizes whatsoever. Just a lot of fun games to play. As I said before I think PTO does the snacks as a fundraiser. I remember the triangle pushup pops too!! Lol they were good.

- Sounds like they had so much fun they didn't even notice there were no prizes. That says something about the games and teachers. (That they both were good. :) )

Well I appreciate that sentiment! but I think it's because there have been no prizes for years - they don't expect them and they aren't used to getting them. I dont remember there being prizes at all since I started working at this school 8-9yrs ago? I don't really remember my kids (maybe Shane or Katie for a couple years?) getting prizes (maybe ribbons? I vaguely recall a few ribbons but I'd have to find them to see what they were for ...). I know Nathan didn't get prizes on field day. Just free popsicles and lots of fun. And his field day days were....7+ years ago? Lol he is in 12th and they don't do field day in middle of high school so 5th grade would have been his last field day. They did so some sporty outdoor event in middle school but didn't call it field day...

Yeah, we never had field day prizes as kids, and they still don't.. I think the prize IS the field day! ahha.

Also, you guys really don't have to ping me.. well, unless I don't show up for a while :P I just ping you to make it easy to find us all the time!

I know you said it was a fundraiser Kat, it's still weird to me to have them at like, an in school thing like that :P But we always sell candy bars and water at concerts and the plays and stuff, so!

Lily did great on her drum solo during the concert, and she sang while she was playing!

On to next weeks band concert now, then Isabelles on the 15th.. then we're done! That's 5!! concerts in 5 weeks, for anyone counting :P

I saw the video mieke, she looked so good (I had my sound off, lol I was in bed about to go to sleep) That is a lot of concerts!!

Yea PTO sells refreshments at ALL the school events. Maybe not open house :P There they give you a ticket when you complete the survey and someone provides popcorn or popsicles for the kids. But any other event? Pretty much. Daddy/Daughter Dance? Yep. Fall Festival? Yep (they sell hot dogs and chips/drinks for dinner too, along with snacks then), I would not be surprised if they sell snacks at PTO meetings but I don't know because I don't go to them LOL I am not sure if they did sales at the Mother/Son Kickball game, but I wouldn't be surprised. That wasn't held at our school this year but at a local park instead, so maybe not. They used to sell CFA biscuits in the morning in car rider line once a week or twice a month or something....not anymore tho. That stopped with covid :P Tho they do sometimes still provide the teachers with them for a free appreciation breakfast.

You got a forum point while making a post! Check out the shop here! Oh yay! I'm back up to 13 now.

Oh yeah, anything outside of school hours they sell snacks at, but not DURING school events, those are all free. They even pay to give each kid a free book during book fair weeks twice a year, so no one is left out.

So like, everyone will get popsicles at field day today, there's an ice cream recess at the end of the month (everyone gets an ice cream sundae at recess :P). There are snacks for sale in the cafeteria, and I often see even the little kids buying them for their friends, too, which is super sweet!

Hi guys sorry ive been AWOL for the last couple of days Iv'e had a bug I havent even been able to do dalies I missed bathouse and im back to day 2 Ive not even done any quests till last night and I keep falling asleep at the keyboard all the time haha I don't know whats wrong with me im so exhausted :( I think its my meds maybe?

you find a bucket of Polar Water! YAY! I got through the Polar Ice Field again :P

Ouch your finger sounds sore glad it's healing up well. Good on your boy for learning to ride a bike at this stsge of his life :D

Whoo well done for finishing all your assignments and Exams 100 in your EXAMS is BRILLIANT! and WELL DONE for finishing your first Semester with A for EVERY class, Im so pleased for you! :D

Glad Nathan is helping you out more :) Congrats on your plushie from BHH

We used to have school sports day (Field day) when I was a kid, we had egg and spoon race, three legged race, relay race, sack race and wheelbarrow race, it was lots of fun, :D (I never won) :P LOL we had a small bag of snacks and a beaker of squash (we all had the same) to make it fair for all the kids :P

Mieke glad Lilly's Drum solo went well :) , and 5! concerts in 5 weeks is a lot :P LOL Hope Isabelles concert goes well :)

Aww that is so sweet. I wish our PTO would do a free book at the book fair for kids. Do it during buy 1 get 1 free and save some money too! There are lots of $5 books. But we have around 600 kids here so that is a lot lol I always feel bad when the kids don't get to go to the book fair. Or for the ones that bring in a dollar.

We've got to the point we don't take the kids to look, we only take the ones that bring money to buy.

And thanks Chelle! I'm proud of myself. I hope I can keep it up, I have no idea if the classes will continue to be easy for me or get harder.

Silly question, but what do all the funds these PTO people raise selling snacks go to? :D

LOL I honestly don't exactly know. I DO know that this week they bought Italian Ice for EVERYONE at school (kids/teachers/etc, not parents) AND that they are buying us all a Honeybaked Ham lunch box (sandwich, chips, cookie) on Monday for Teacher Appreciation Week - so those are a few things that the funds will pay for. Also those times they give us CFA biscuits for breakfast.... Money for buying the snacks for SELLING the snacks is PTO funds I'm sure....

speaking of snacks, Nathan made brownies (NOT from a box!) last night after I went to bed. I almost stole one this morning but I didn't want to wake him to ask :P So I just figured I'd wait. First thing he says when I get home? Why didn't you take a brownie? LOL So I'm eating one now, and they are quite good. My boy can bake, I tell you. I wish I'd been able to talk him into culinary classes at school.

Anyone who is my house knows that first come first served and if you leave anything out on the counter it's fair game whether you're there or not.Sometimes it's a feeding frenzy here at dinner time. lol

I never did understand all the things PTO funds were needed for. I think some of the ones at my kid's schools did it just to see if anyone would buy their stuff. lol It's nice that yours buys you things like the ham lunch and biscuits. :D

they get us tshirts from time to time too (and thats another thing they sell for fundraising, school tshirts, they sold regular school tshirts at the beginning of the year, special ones for mother/son kickball game and for field day) I like the one from about 5 years ago best - end of year shirt - it says "Dear Parents, Tag! You're It! Love, Teachers" :D HAHAHAHAHAH Its the greatest! I like to wear it on the last day of school every year! (They got them for us to wear the last day that specific year). And it especially tickles me when I have car rider duty that week - so all the parents picking up their kids get to see my shirt :P

I think at my kids school once PTO gave funds to the gym teacher to help pay to pave a running track, that was the year they started the "Road Runners" club. Katie and Nathan both participated in that. Who knows what all they do with it, they DO tell you what at PTO meetings, I know that much from when I went - when my kids did performances hahaha. When I become a certified teacher I'll have to attend the PTO meetings all the time sigh Oh well.

I really don't think he would have minded had I just taken one (especially since he asked why I didn't) - but I try to ask, when he's made it himself. Just like I expect him to ask before he eats things I buy for me. We usually share pretty good ;)

Those t-shirts are cute. I can see why you like weariing it. I never went to PTO meetings with my older kids and since I was my youngest's teacher there was no need to go to PTO meetings then. I've always wondered what all the bake sale stuff bought. I remember growing up the PTO was like some kind of cult. My mom never wanted to go but did anyways and complained the whole time.

That's very considerate of you to do it that way. In my house, the brownies would have been gone before he woke up. He'd be lucky if there were crumbs left behind. lol 😂

it was more of a free for all when there was more of us living here....although we usually did get some specific "this person only" type of snacks...that you had to ask before eating if you wanted But with just the two of us, and most of the time we don't want each others snacks, because we have our own, we ask. :) (most of the time. Sometimes I'll come out and be like, uuuhhh did you eat my snack cakes? yes because they were already open, I waited until you opened them LOL!! Then I"m like WHY DID YOU EAT FOUR PACKS??? :P (because he is a teenager, obviously. Not sure WHY I ask him that LOL)

My youngest is the same way. He sees food and just absorbs it whole. He is a human black hole because I can never tell where all the food goes. We, also, have person specific snacks and we know not to touch them w/out permissiohn but sometimes I wonder if we'll be able to move to a bigger apartment with the money saved once we stop feeding him or he moves out. 90% of our food bill is him. :D

I know here the PTO pays for t-shirts at the beginning of the year, t-shirts for field day, $5 for books for all 550 kids at the book fair twice a year, PAWS (pick a wonderful story) books twice a year during standardized testing, the ice cream recesses, ROAR (Respectful, Organized, Accepting and Responsible) prizes, etc.

So they really do do a lot, because 550 kids is kind of a lot :P