St. Marys | Dawn Cullo's Blog

Summer Camp Success

July 23, 2011 By Dawn Cullo Leave a Comment

Abigail Waiting for Lily to get out of Gadets, Gizmos and Goop Class

Lily has completed 6 weeks of Summer Camp at St. Mary’s School and it was worth every penny. There were two sessions, each lasting three weeks. I was nervous at first because each hour she started a new class and needed to navigate her way there. When she was in Kindergarten the teachers took the entire class from place to place, but now she was kind of on her own to get to the next place. I did find out the the teachers do help direct them so she did have some guidance.

My biggest annoyance was the stupid Snack Cart that they had set up at recess and lunch recess, Lou dubbed it the “Crack Rack”, it was filled with candy and chips costing anywhere from .10 cents to $1.00. I only gave her .50 cents per day and on one day I did not give her money because her behavior the night before did not warrant the candy ‘reward’. However a little girl gave Lily $2.00 because she felt bad that Lily didn’t have any candy money and as I recall that was the day that Lily came home with a stomach ache. I think she learned her lesson that candy is best eaten in moderation.

She took some great classes such as Art Explorers, Dynamic Detective, Gardening, Hip Hop, Legos, Gadgets Gizmos & Goop and Scrapbooking. She was busy all day and she loved it, this was great practice for her when school starts in a few weeks. She will be entering First Grade, thank goodness we are done with those stinky 3 hour days of Kindergarten. She is sooooo ready for First Grade even though she will be turning 6 a few weeks after school starts I still believe that we made the right choice to not hold her back a year.

Here are some photos of her time during Summer School.

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And here is a video of her Hip Hop class performing for the school.

Filed Under: Blog, Dawn's Blog Tagged With: Lily, School, St. Marys, summer camp

It’s A New Chapter

August 23, 2010 By Dawn Cullo Leave a Comment

Finally, the day we have all been waiting for has arrived. It’s Lily’s 1st day of Kindergarten. We have been looking forward to this day because it starts a whole new chapter in all of our lives. This day starts Lily on her path to school and our families path to connecting with new people and reconnecting with old friends. We are looking forward to being part of a community where everyone is ‘on the same page’.

Lily said that she had fun on her first day and can’t wait to go on her first field trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Cullo Family Moment at St. Mary's

Lily & Abigail

Lily in her Kindergarten Class

In Lily's Classroom

Dawn in 1979 at the same school.

Filed Under: Blog, Cullo Family News, Dawn's Blog Tagged With: Lily, St. Marys

Taxi Please

July 19, 2010 By Dawn Cullo Leave a Comment

Lily is starting Kindergarten at the end of August and we thought it would be a good idea for her to attend Summer School at her new school so that she could get used to the environment. We are almost done with the program and she is doing great, but I am the one who has been in an adjustment period.

I had no idea how hard this would be to drop her off and pick her up from school. At her new school they give every parent a security badge to wear once they have been ‘cleared’ by the office to be on campus. The badge is actually a yellow card that reads “Taxi Driver”. On the first day that I got my badge, I thought it was so cute, now I hate it because yes it reminds me that I am fricken Taxi Driver.

Every day I have had to drive her to school by a specific time, not like in Preschool where we could just come and go as we pleased. No, not when you are in real school, you’ve got to be on time people! Then I have to occupy myself for 2 hours with Abigail and then it is time to pick Lily up again from school. My entire morning and early afternoon is built around being her taxi, it is crazy.

There is an afternoon session that she doesn’t stay for and they ring a bell, holy cow if I am late picking her up I am pretty sure that she would go into category 5 hurricane mode. So every day I get there early and wait….tap tap tap my fingers, check my work email on my phone and get on facebook mobile while Abigail sleeps in the car and I wait for the perfect time to go into the school and pick Lily up…..wait did I mention that I have to actually get out of my car, sign her ‘out’ in the office walk to her classroom and get her? Oh My GOSH, this is madness and tons of fun when I have to wake up Abigail to do it.

I am almost sad in a way that this is what the next year is going to be like, my entire days filled with dropping her off and picking her up from school. Well, at least when she starts Kindergarten she will be in the afternoon class from noon – 3:00 and this means that we don’t need to rush out of the house or deal with morning traffic. I will also be able to do the ‘drive through’ lane to pick her up, I don’t need to get myself or Abigail out of the car to pick her up.

So, we are in her last week of Kindercamp and I am really looking forward to it being over, it was a great experience for both of us but dang it I am so exhausted.

Filed Under: Blog, Dawn's Blog Tagged With: Abigail, Dawn, Lily, School, St. Marys

Kindergarten Bound

March 21, 2010 By Dawn Cullo Leave a Comment

Lily had her Kindergarten assessment with St. Mary School in Sacramento and did great. As we left the appointment she said “That was fun”. A few days later we received the good news that she was accepted. We were a little worried that she may not get in because this is one of the best catholic schools in Sacramento and we are not exactly fully participating in all things Catholic at the moment, but we will be from now on. I know that by having Lily at this school it will really help our family. We are excited to be part of a community of people with the same values as we do.

She will actually start this summer in their Kinder Camp program. For Lily this will be a way for her to get used to the Kindergarten surroundings and make some new friends before the school year starts.

Filed Under: Blog, Cullo Family News, Dawn's Blog Tagged With: Kindergarten, Lily, School, St. Marys

St. Mary’s School Here We Come

October 17, 2009 By Dawn Cullo 1 Comment

We took the school tour for St. Mary’s School and will be submitting our application for Lily in a few weeks. We were really impressed with all that the school has to offer. They have a separate building with rooms for Music, a Science lab (which rivaled the one I had in high school), Chapel, Art, Computer Lab and a Library. When I went there we sat in one classroom for an entire day, and the Library was in a mobile classroom. They also have a tutoring program, which would have come in handy during my 8th grade math experience. But the tutor isn’t just for kids who need help with a subject, they are there to help kids who excel in their subjects and need more challenging assignments.

On this day we did not get to see the Kindergartners as they were out on a field trip to the pumpkin patch, which was a little disappointing but at least we got to see their classroom. I didn’t really like the classroom too much because it seemed small and cluttered but they are moving the classroom next year to the 8th grade classroom which is a lot bigger so that problem is solved.

We were told that they will only be admitting 40 children into Kindergarten next year and 10 of the spots are already spoken for due to siblings already enrolled at the school and they get first priority. The priority scale after that gets a little tricky and we wind up some where in the middle, probably with the majority of the applicants. There were about 25 families there for tour, so who knows! Of course if you are a participating member of the school parish you have a better chance of getting in so guess what I am doing this weekend? That’s right, headed back to Church with my offertory envelope in hand and I have contacted someone at the church to volunteer my time.

They also do a placement test for the kids in March and I know that Lily will do well on the test, it is just the getting her to do it alone. She can be a little shy and I don’t want her to freak out that she has to go into the classroom without us and talk to the teacher. So we are also going to attend as many functions as we can to get her used to the environment at the school. The next event we will be attending is the Fine Art and Craft Show on November 14th.