Out With a Bang

I really liked the notes the kids wrote to their teachers at the end of the year.  Here are the ones I could get my hands on before they were given away:

 

I also appreciated the thank you notes I received from Eliza's class, since I led PE several times over the course of the year.

A few days before school got out, Luke's teacher gave each child a CD with a slideshow of pictures from the year.  It was really cute and Luke was excited to watch it with Cat and me one afternoon.  Every time Luke popped up Cat would squeal, "IT'S YOU!" and tickle Luke.  Loved it.

Our kids' last day of school was actually the next-to-last day, because we left that afternoon to drive to the airport for our big summer trip.  They were worried that they'd miss out on all of the fun end-of-the-year festivities, but it didn't end up being too bad.  Jack was able to participate in the older grades' kickball tournament that week.  They were all at school for the pancake breakfast.  And Field Day + Water Day was their last day.  I would have liked to see some of the activities that day (especially the fire engines spraying water on the field and kids for the younger grades in the afternoon, while the older kids were at the nearby city pool) but I needed to keep working on getting us ready for the trip.  It had been very cool and overcast all week and I was afraid water day would end up being cancelled, but they had it anyway, and the kids loved it.

(I texted the PTO president and asked if she could just send me any pictures from Field Day/Water Day
and this is one she sent me - Human Hungry Hippos - and Luke is actually in the picture, in the
background with the parachute, wearing his dark orange shirt and navy pants.)

The one important thing that was missed by the kids not attending school on the last day was Cat's awards ceremony and yearbook day.   She was a little sad to miss that day but she understood about the trip and was a good sport.  She found out later that she was given the English award for her grade, and her good friend was kind enough to pick up her yearbook for her and ask her friends to sign it, so Cat got that once we got back from our trip.

At School Year's End

Cat

1. What was your favorite subject? history
2. What was your least favorite subject? math
3. Who was your favorite teacher? Murray or Anderson
4. What are you most proud of this year? That I didn’t have an F in math
5. What new thing did you try this year? Making a video game on PowerPoint for Computer Tech
6. Who is a new friend you made this year? Janie and Andrew
7. What is your favorite book? To Kill a Mockingbird
8. What do you most want to do or accomplish this summer? Get my Personal Progress finished and learn how to drive
9. What was something kind that someone did for you this year? Receiving Christmas presents from friends, surprise treats in class, friends visiting the house when I was home with my concussion
10. What was your favorite memory from school? Spirit Week and winning the Spirit Bowl
11. What was your favorite thing you did outside of school? Playing in the State Cup Quarter Finals
12. What would you change about this year? Understand math better
13. I am most proud of you for working hard and balancing so many demands on your time, and for being a good friend, and having a good attitude at home.

Jack

1. What was your favorite subject? Math or PE
2. What was your least favorite subject? I didn’t really have a least favorite one.
3. Who was your favorite teacher? Mr. Barbosa (music) because we’re having a Pink Panther marathon right now and he shows us movies
4. What are you most proud of this year? Finishing all my projects, especially my fractured fairytale
5. What new thing did you try this year? I tried saving up for a Kindle and I tried the Banshee ride at DisneyWorld
6. Who is a new friend you made this year? Logan
7. What is your favorite book? Wings of Fire #1-5 and #11
8. What do you most want to do or accomplish this summer? Play sports: basketball, flag football, and baseball
9. What was something kind that someone did for you this year? Mr. Chapman gave me a + one time, or maybe 12, I don’t know.  It’s for your grade.
10. What was your favorite memory from school?  Playing basketball at recess.
11. What was your favorite thing you did outside of school?  Flag football and DisneyWorld
12. What would you change about this year? Getting better grades and getting way more friends.
13. I am most proud of you for sticking with math even though it was a lot of work and having a good attitude about school even though it was hard to be in a new place and not have a lot of friends.

Eliza

1. What was your favorite subject? Science, because Ms. Hornberger made it fun.
2. What was your least favorite subject? Math, because it’s hard and it’s just complicated and I don’t really like it.  It’s just not my thing.
3. Who was your favorite teacher? Ms. Rodgers (who didn’t actually teach Eliza) and Mr. Barbosa (music)
4. What are you most proud of this year? Already knowing more than half the stuff in reading, writing, science, and sometimes in math.
5. What new thing did you try this year? Harder gymnastics.
6. Who is a new friend you made this year? Everyone that I made friends with.  Rachel was the most special.
7. What is your favorite book? Ivy & Bean or Clementine
8. What do you most want to do or accomplish this summer? To be good at competitive gymnastics.
9. What was something kind that someone did for you this year? Garrett (an aid) would give us lollipops and so would Mr. Z (an aid).  Also, my friends shared a lot of stuff with me. Ms. H at the beginning of the year tried to make me comfortable in this new school.
10. What was your favorite memory from school? Watching the end of the year video and singing along with “It’s Raining Tacos.”  Also, I like how the aids let me give them nicknames and Aspen does the competition with me (to see which of our nickname will get more people using it).
11. What was your favorite thing you did outside of school? Hearing that I can start competitive gymnastics.
12. What would you change about this year? I would try to be nicer to people.
13. I am most proud of you for adjusting to the changes at the new school so well.

Luke

1. What was your favorite subject? Art
2. What was your least favorite subject? Library
3. Who was your favorite teacher? Mr. Chapman (art)
4. What are you most proud of this year? Math.  I’m not sort of proud. But I am pretty good at it.
5. What new thing did you try this year? Reading Buddies (Dallin from Jack’s class)
6. Who is a new friend you made this year? I don’t have an answer for that.
7. What is your favorite book? Baryonyx
8. What do you most want to do or accomplish this summer? I want to stop being called the baby of the family.
9. What was something kind that someone did for you this year? Someone - a stranger, a grown-up - picked up my red (homework) folder when I dropped it and gave it to me.
10. What was your favorite memory from school? Making my totem pole sculpture in art.
11. What was your favorite thing you did outside of school? Going to Scheels.
12. What would you change about this year? Play more fun.
13. I am most proud of you for becoming a good reader and learning how to be a good student.

Cat's Spring Celtic Season

It was a rough season for Cat.  First of all, she missed most of the winter trainings with her team because they were scheduled at the exact same time as her school basketball games.  We found out during the pre-season games in Vegas that Cat had lost her starting spot, and she didn't get as much playing time as usual because of her absences in the winter.

To add injury to injury, she got her concussion during the first regular-season game, and wasn't recovered for a few weeks.  And the way the schedule worked, the next game she was ready to play in wasn't for another week - over a month from the injury to the next game she played.  She played in the last 4 games of the season, then the post-season tournament.  She looked pretty good but wasn't as strong as she had been.  Her play time continued to diminish during the season, I'm guessing both because of the missed trainings in the winter and being off after needing to recover from the concussion.

Early in the season, right after the concussion, in fact, Cat decided she was ready to hang up her Celtic cleats.  We didn't tell anyone on the team just in case Cat changed her mind, but she didn't change her mind.

There are lots of reasons to stop playing club soccer, but one of the biggest is that she likes having the option to play as many school sports as she wants.  It will be nice to have flexibility to be more involved, or not, with school athletics.  There were two other girls on her team who made the same decision, for similar reasons.

The team did pretty well during the season (winning every game in which Cat played, thankyouverymuch) and making it into the semifinals of the post-season tournament, the State Cup.

It was hard for Cat to tell her coach and teammates that she wasn't coming back.  And it's an adjustment for her not to have "Celtic player" as part of her identity anymore, especially since she still really loves soccer, but I think it was a mature decision for her to make.  She's already involved in summer trainings with the high school soccer and basketball teams and enjoying that, and also enjoying having more money in her pocket since she no longer has to make a monthly soccer contribution.

And, below are some pics the mother of one of the players took during a joint birthday party for two girls on the team from December.  We're thankful for the friendships that we formed during the two years Cat played on this team!

A Science-and-Art Kind of Saturday

Last June I bought us the "SLC Attractions Pass" on Groupon.  It included about two dozen area attractions and activities.  It was going to expire right after our summer trip and there were several items we hadn't used yet, so I twisted everyone's arms into going up to Salt Lake for a couple of activities the Saturday before school got out.  Thank goodness we all had a good time and nobody was upset about having to go to the Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park, and the Leonardo Museum on Library Squre.

We had beautiful weather for our visit to Tracy Aviary.  The highlight was definitely the bird show, with exciting fly-overs and interesting and comical commentary.  After that we enjoyed walking around and checking out the huge variety of birds in the park, stopping to play at the playground for a bit, and even hugging a sweater-clad tree.

We made a stop for lunch, then on to the Leonardo museum.  I was excited to finally see what this museum had to offer.  We explored the downstairs first: a cool interactive exhibit all about flight, and a big art studio with a community art project that Ben, Cat, and I participated in while Jack, Eliza, and Luke sculpted.  Then upstairs it was more fun interactive science displays, which ended up being our favorite area.