Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for the squeal-inducing feedback, and to Mari for the Pumpkin bit :-). You're the best, ladies!
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.
Hope you enjoy!
Homework Time: Grandma Ang (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"… and then Pumpkin opened her Gotcha Day present from Cammie. Cammie got her a box of fuzzy orange balls because they're sisters and they love each other," Angie explained. "And she got an extra treat after dinner."
"I'm sure she was very happy with her Gotcha Day festivities." Ang ran a hand over the grinning five-year-old's hair.
"She was, and we read a story about a cat and dog for story time." She looked up. "Grandma Ang?"
"What, angel?"
"Can we share a piece of caramel apple from Halloween? We used honey crisp, I remember."
Ang chuckled. "We can. Can you get two pieces from the refrigerator like a big girl? They're already cut up."
"Yes!" She slid off her chair and returned a few seconds later with two apple halves in a ziplock bag. "They're super yummy, I'm happy we made these apples!"
Ang kissed the little cheek when Angie climbed back onto her seat. "Me too, my girl, me too."
As they munched on the apple pieces, Angie asked, "Do you think this counts as one of my pieces of candy for today? I can have two pieces of candy from trick-or-treating every day."
"Mmm, I supposed it should, but …" Angie's face grew hopeful at the word and the mischievous twinkle in Ang's eye. "This is also fruit, which is good for you."
"Maybe I could have two littler pieces of candy instead of big ones," Angie said.
Ang chuckled. "I think that's a good compromise."
Both Angelines licked the caramel off their fingers, sharing a conspiratorial smile, before Grandma Ang reached for a wet wipe to clean their hands.
"Now let's see this homework, shall we?" she said.
Angie nodded eagerly and opened her folder, pulling a single sheet from the To Do side. She placed it on the table and immediately picked up her pencil to write her name.
"DJ said that's the most important part or Mr. S won't know it's my homework."
"And DJ definitely knows about these things …" Ang said, fighting a smile.
Angie nodded seriously.
"Ohh, reading homework today," Ang said. "Reading was always my favorite subject in school."
Angie smiled, straightening in her chair, even more sure of her choice of homework helper now.
" 'Beach Fun - Beginning Sounds,' " Ang read at the top of the paper. She scanned the directions. "Okay, so we have to find the pictures in each row that start with the same sound as the first picture. Then you color them."
Angie gave a little excited gasp and reached for her backpack, looking inside for her colored pencils. "Okay, ready!" she said, emerging with the box.
"What's this first picture?" Ang asked, pointing to the left-most picture in the first row.
"A fish!" Angie answered. "Can I color it?"
"Absolutely, angel."
"I'm going to color it blue like Dory." After a moment, she sat back, satisfied with her work.
"What sound does 'fish' start with?" Ang asked.
"Fffish," Angie said slowly, concentrating on the sounds. "Ffff. That's F!"
"That's right, smart girl. Let's find the other pictures in this row that start with the ffff sound." She pointed to the next picture. "What's this?"
"That's a snorkel," Angie said. "You use it to look underwater." She gasped. "At the fishes!"
Ang smiled. "That's true, but does it start with fffff?"
Angie frowned and shook her head. "It starts with ssss."
"Okay, next picture."
Angie looked at the drawing. "Finss! They help us swim like dolphins."
"And what sound does fins start with …?"
"Fffins," Angie sounded out, and her face brightened. "Fffff! Like fish!"
Ang beamed. "Right you are. Go ahead and color them."
"I'm going to color them yellow, like my ones at home."
"Good idea."
Once she had finished, Angie moved on to the next picture in the row. "That's an anchor. It's real heavy to keep ships where they are so they don't move when you don't want them to." She shook her head. "That doesn't start with ffff."
"No, it doesn't."
"Frisbee!" Angie said in reference to the last picture. "That's ffff! I'm going to color it red like Cammie's frisbee."
"Wonderful job."
They continued with the next two rows, finding sh sounds with shorts, ship, and shovel, and buh sounds with ball, bird, and bell.
"I'm not sure what that bell has to do with beach fun … "Ang said.
Angie frowned, thinking. "Maybe if there was something dangerous in the water, the lifeguard could ring a bell."
Ang smiled, giving her nose an affectionate tap. "You really are the smartest girl I know."
Angie beamed at the praise.
"One more row," Ang said.
"Palm tree!" Angie said, looking at the first picture. "Puh puh palm tree." She looked at the next picture in the row and shook her head. "Towel. No, that's not puh. Umbrella. No." She continued shaking her head. "Turtle. Shark." She frowned and looked up at Grandma Ang. "There's no more puh sounds. What do we do?"
Ang frowned as well, looking at the pictures. Her brow relaxed as she realized the problem. "I think we can figure this out. Are there any pictures with the same beginning sounds over here?" she asked, tracing her finger under the four pictures to the right of the palm tree.
Angie repeated the words. "Towel, umbrella, turtle, shark. Towel … umbrella … turtle … shark." Her eyes lit up in realization. "Tuh! Towel and turtle!"
Ang beamed. "Yes!" She pointed to the first picture again. "So instead of palm tree, this is a …"
"Tuh …" Angie began, thinking. "Tree! Just tree!"
"I think you're right."
Angie glared at the worksheet. "That was a trick." She looked up at Ang. "I'm going to tell Mr. S it was a trick."
Ang chuckled. "You do that. Because Halloween is over, so no more tricks."
Angie started to nod, but stopped. "But if there's no more tricks, then are there no more treats?" she asked worriedly.
Ang smiled. "I guess it's okay to still have some tricks and treats."
Angie nodded, getting out her green and tan colored pencils and starting to color the palm tree. "I'm still going to tell Mr. S." After she finished coloring the three pictures, she looked longingly at the uncolored ones on the worksheet and sighed. "I wish I could color all the beach fun pictures," she said. "But that's not following directions."
"It's not," Ang acknowledged. "But if you want to keep coloring, you could get one of your coloring books from the craft tub."
Angie smiled excitedly, nodding. She put her homework paper back in her folder, on the Done side this time and smoothed it out.
"You did a wonderful job on your homework, sweetheart," Ang said, kissing her head. "And you know what else has the same beginning sound?"
Angie looked up at her, waiting with interest.
"Our names. Angie and Ang," she said, touching Angie's chest and then her own.
Angie beamed. " 'Cause we have the same name. Angeline!"
"That's right," Ang said, leaning over to give her a hug.
"You know what, Grandma Ang?" Angie said. "Makayla in my class, she loves Angelina Ballerina."
"What's that?"
"She's a mouse ballerina," Angie explained. "Makayla asked if my name was Angelina but I told her it was Angeline. She said did I want it to be Angelina, but I said no because then I wouldn't have the same name as Grandma Ang and I like having the same name as you."
Ang blinked back tears at the unexpected story. "Ohh, my girl," she said, hugging her again. "I like having the same name as you, too."
"It's special, isn't it?" Angie asked. "Having the same name."
"It's very very special," Ang said with a smile, purposely using one of Angie's frequent expressions. "And I can think of another word that has the same beginning sound as our name …"
Angie sat up straighter, excited. "What is it?"
"Hmm … what could it be …?" Ang said teasingly, looking over to the ziplock bag on the table that had so recently held their snack.
Angie followed her gaze, frowning for a moment, but then smiling broadly. "Apple! Not caramel, though."
"No, but just like how the palm tree was just 'tree' on your homework, I think we can say 'apple' when we really mean 'caramel apple' and have one more piece. What do you say?"
Angie grinned and threw her arms around her namesake. "I say I love having Homework Time with you, Grandma Ang!"
"Me, too, my girl," Ang said, holding her close. "Me, too."
Hope you enjoyed!
Note: Anyone else done those homework sheets that seem to have one confusing question on them that can even stump the adults? :-)
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