School Year Wrap-Up

We finished up another great school year.  It had some bumps but the girls both seemed to adjust really well to another new school.  Elizabeth had some issues with some of her friends but I'm wondering if that is just typical of girls that age.  I think she would have liked to have made a closer friend during the year, though.  She had a wonderful veteran teacher who was strict but very kind and she loved her.  She had some struggles with the timed math facts tests this year.  But, after all the worry, she ended up right where she needed to be for 4th grade.  I had a hard time encouraging her, though, since I lived for those tests when I was kid.  Her reading level shot up this year and she has a real talent for reading and comprehension.  The homework load was a bit heavy at times and I'm a little worried about how next year will go.  Some friends of mine in this area have started homeschooling their older kids because the homework just gets to be way too much and doesn't leave much family time.  We'll see how it goes.  The school definitely has a competitive environment.

Natalie was in a combined class of 1st and 2nd graders this year.  It went really well.  She also had a wonderful veteran teacher.  He was the first male teacher our kids have had and we loved him.  He admitted openly that he didn't love arts and crafts and wouldn't be doing much of that, but he did have a really talent for pushing his students to achieve.  It was amazing to see the math that Natalie was doing by the end of the year.  She will be ready for 3rd grade.  She had some homework struggles during the year, too, but not too bad.  She needs to learn to be a bit more organized.  It will come, I'm sure.  She made some good friends who were 3rd graders actually, and a couple of friends in her own class.

Open House:

Natalie with her report on Siberian tigers

I loved this that was hanging in Elizabeth's classroom:

Field Day

Elizabeth getting ready to do the three-legged race with her friend Kara:

They didn't do as well as they did in practice so she was disappointed but they did pretty well for falling a couple of times.

Natalie was on her class's tug-of-war team and they had an exciting first match:

(One nice thing about our school is that it's pretty easy to pick my blond kids out of a crowd :)

It looked like they were going to lose but they held on and won a really long match.

That's her teacher in the dark blue shirt talking to them.  He works as a referee so he refereed the events and it was fun to watch him.  He was constantly encouraging all the kids and helping them finish strong. I'm so thankful for great teachers like him!

Violin Concert:

She made a little progress in violin this year.  It's hard to learn much for a few minutes once a week with a whole class of kids.  We need to decide if we're going to pursue that any more outside of school so she can keep learning.

School Play:

Two of the 3rd grade classes put on a musical called "U.S. Geography".  Elizabeth had a good amount of lines and she did a great job.  We still have the songs running through our heads all the time.  I think Nate knows them all by heart. :)

I enjoyed volunteering for a program called Project Cornerstone at their school this year.  You go in a read a book to the kids and then do a related activity.  It's mainly to encourage empathy, kindness and conflict resolution skills.  It was a good way to volunteer since it was just once a month for an hour or so and I could bring the boys if I had to.  I had another mom helping me in Elizabeth's class but I was on my own in Natalie's.   I'm really glad I did it.

Natalie and Eli with a new school mural:

Now we're in the thick of summer and couldn't be happier about that! :)