The end of the school year is always a busy time for us especially with four kids in everything! April and May seem to be jam packed with concerts, end of year projects and presentations, fun activities, graduations, and exciting last day of school time with friends. This year was no different. Here is what has been keeping us busy over the last month.
First is Charlotte's Let's Play Music recital.
This was Charlotte's first year in the Let's Play Music program and she really loved it. Her teacher is Miss Ashley, the same one Logan had. She really is the best teacher we have had for this program. During the recital, Charlotte sang, played the bells, and played the autoharp all on her own. All of the kids were so adorable.
At the end of the recital, Charlotte was presented with her First Year Let's Play Music certificate. She was especially happy about receiving a balloon as well. Nice Job Charlotte!
Emily also had her Spring Band Concert.
This was an awesome concert because it was their Pops Concert so all of the songs were ones we knew. Another cool thing about this concert was Emily was able to play the drum set and she did amazing! I was so stoked to listen to her play. She is definitely a natural. At the final parent teacher conference her band teacher could not stop saying enough good things about her. He also told me that she would probably be asking for a drum set soon and Emily and I laughed and said we already have one. I'm excited to see how far she can go in her band experience.
Colby has also been doing some exciting things. First he was able to run the Wellsville Mile with the rest of the 5th graders in the district.
This was fun to watch because he was placed in the fastest heat of the boys and did amazing. He was able to beat his record time and run the mile in 7:24.
We were rushing to see him run because of an appointment in town but we made it there just in time to see him take off at the start line as we pulled into the parking lot. Then we ran to the finish just in time to see him cross the finish line. Nice job Colby!! Colby especially liked hanging out with his friends at the park afterwards. Everyone did a great job running their best.
Colby also had a few school projects to present.
This is his presentation of his state report on Idaho. As he was researching about Idaho he was kind of disappointed that there were not a lot of cool things to do in Idaho. Then I showed him all of the things we had done in Idaho including, Stanley Lake, Balanced Rock, the Snake River, and more, he got a little more excited about it. Then he found this cool Potato Hotel. It is actually a tiny house made to look like a giant potato. The people that own it rent it out as an AirBnb. It was pretty cool looking. Idaho also has some pretty funny laws. So his report turned out to be pretty informative and good.
Next was something really cool. The whole 5th grade got together to do a Civil War reenactment. It was amazing and kind of funny.
The 5th grade divided into the two sides of the Civil War, the Union and the Confederates. They all marched out onto the battlefield in their uniforms to reenact the battles. As each assigned student announced and described the battles that were important points in the Civil War, the student prepared for battle. When it was time to battle, the armies chucked water balloons at each other and had a great time battling and then retreating. Then after another explanation, another battle would take place. It was really fun to watch but also very informative.
One of the pivotal points in this reenactment was the Battle of Gettysburg and the recitation of the Gettysburg Address by one of the students. Here the students displayed the hallowed ground of Gettysburg and the turning point in the war by displaying tombstones of the men who had died in that battle. It was very awe inspiring.
The next fun part was the surrender of General Lee and the Confederates to General Grant and the Union. This action ended the Civil War. Colby played General Grant and he felt pretty important to be able to carry a sword and be the leader of the army.
Here is Colby and his friend, Ben after the reenactment. When the reenactment was over, there was another huge water balloon/water fight among the students, teachers and even some parents as they used up the rest of their ammunition and were supposed to be cleaning up. This was a fun way to learn about the Civil War and one that the kids will remember for a while.
The end of the school year is always a time for change and this year, we found out that our principal, Mrs. Williamson, would be moving to a different school next year. Because of this, the PTA wanted to do something special for her. At the final assembly of the year, we presented her with a T-shirt quilt of all of the school shirts we had during her time as principal.
This was such a fun gift to be a part of. I was able to put together all of the shirts into the quilt and make the quilt top. Then another lady in the PTA put the back on and quilted it to finish it up. I think it turned out so good! Stacie loved it and was literally in tears as she thanked us for the awesome gift. We will definitely miss Stacie, she has been a great principal.
The next exciting thing Emily found out is she was selected as part of the Student Ambassadors group for South Cache Middle School!
Student Ambassadors is the student council for the school. She was so excited to apply for this position and was even more excited to get it! As part of the Student Ambassadors, she will help plan activities for the school, help other students find their way around, and just be more involved in the school. Now she can't wait for the new school year.
This year Russell and I were in charge of planning the end of year school party, Super Kids Day! This is the big outdoor water party put on by the PTA on the last day of school each year. We have loved helping with this activity each year but this was our first year being in charge and planning it. It was a lot of work but the day was so much fun.
We planned a bunch of activities like Tug-o-War, water kickball, water gun fight, and hockey. These were all fun but the hit of the day was the dunk tank! We had teachers volunteer to be in the dunk tank and the kids loved trying to dunk their teachers. Poor Mrs. Potter, Colby's teacher, was the first to be dunked in the morning and she was freezing. Luckily she had a wet suit on but it was still pretty chilly. She was a good sport though and had a great time.
Another highlight of the day was getting the custodian, Clayton, soaked. Every year Clayton hides out somewhere and gets everyone else wet unexpectedly and then laughs so hard. This year Russell's goal was to get Clayton! After going in cahoots with a couple of teachers, it happened! One teacher distracted Clayton while Russell ran up with the fire hose and sprayed him. Clayton saw Russell coming and tried to run but he was not fast enough. It was great.
The kids also loved that Russell had borrowed a fire hose and connected it to the hydrant. He got everyone wet with this thing. There was no hiding from the fire hose because it could spray so far.
This was such a fun day for all of the kids and it is our favorite activity to help out with on the PTA. There was only one casualty this year and that was because the kid was being stupid. At the end of the day, Clayton always turns the hydrant on full blast to flush it out. This is a ton of water pressure all at once so we make all of the kids stand clear back. Well one kid got dared to jump out in front of the hydrant as it was going off and unfortunately, he took the dare. Right as Clayton was turning on the hydrant, the kid jumped out and before we knew what had happened got washed away literally. Luckily he was not hurt too bad just really scraped up. Thankfully, one parent got it on video that we had told everyone to stay back and then got the kid going around us to jump. Oh well if only one kid got hurt, we call it a success...
Charlotte graduated from preschool this month. She absolutely loved preschool especially her teacher, Ms. Mindy.
During the graduation the class sang a couple songs and walked out like real graduates. Then each of the students were called up to get their preschool diploma.
Here is our awesome preschool graduate Charlotte!
We could not be more proud of this girl! Before school started, I really had a hard time getting her to be motivated to learn her letters, write her name, learn to read, or anything that had to do with school. She just did not care to learn or do it. She had other things to do I guess. Then once she started preschool, something switched. After going to school, she was more motivated to learn. She learned all of the letters, numbers, is even reading now! I told her teacher that she must be doing something right because Charlotte is loving learning so much more now than she was when I was trying to teach her.
Here she is with her two friends from school. Everett is her best friend and it was good to have him in the same class together. The top picture is Charlotte and Jackson. Jackson is her boyfriend. They like each other and would always play together during school. It is so funny to hear Charlotte talk about Jackson. We were teasing her saying, "Is he your boyfriend?" and she just smiled and said "Yes!"
During the final awards ceremony for the Fifth Grade, Colby got some pretty awesome awards. He had been working really hard throughout the school year to get high honors and he did it! The first award he received was for reading over 50 books during the school year. These books were all over 150 pages. Next he received the Presidential Award of Excellence. This award was for scoring in the top on every test. The award is actually signed by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, as well as the Secretary of Education. It also came with a letter from the president congratulating him on his good work. Finally, the biggest award he earned was the Great American award. This award is a great achievement. Colby had to memorize the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star-Spangled Banner, the Presidents in order, the States and Capitals, the Preamble to the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address. This was a lot of work but he was able to do it.
Finally the last day of school arrived and summer was finally here! Emily and her friends celebrated their last day of seventh grade by taking some memorable photos.
This is such a good group of girls Emily was able to meet this year in school. I was worried that she would not have many friends but these girls have been really good for her. They are from all over the south end of the valley like Wellsville, Millville, Mendon, and Hyrum but they like to get together and hang out as much as they can.
Well there you have it, our busy end of the school year craziness. Hopefully we can slow down a little bit now that summer is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment