Another school year come and gone. It's easy to sit here at the end of another fast year and ask, "Where does the time go?" but when we look back, it's easy to see. It's been a year filled with a busy family-of-seven life including opportunities for learning and growing in all kinds of experiences, good and not-so-good, adventures near and far, church activities, music, soccer...always soccer, swimming, new friendships, old friendships, changes, new beginnings and endings. It's the essence of life, the living of it, so although it makes time seem to be moving at warp speed, we wouldn't change it at all.
Overall, Ben enjoyed his first year of 6th grade. There were a lot of changes from elementary school, particularly going from being a big fish in a small pond, to being one of many fish in a bigger pond. At times, it was a rocky transition, but he dealt with it gracefully. His favorite part of the year was High Trails, the week-long 6th grade camp, combining his love for learning and the outdoors. He did a great job as self-advocate at the start of the year to move from the Algebra 1A class into the Algebra 1 class, that covers 1A and 1B in one year instead of two, and it turned out to be his favorite class, mostly because he loved the challenge. He didn't love "Huff days," the days where he had one teacher, who wasn't his favorite, for three of his four classes. He also loved playing trumpet in the band and looks forward to joining jazz band next year. He finished the year out with a 4.0 GPA, including a 135% in one of his classes! We are SO proud of you, Ben!
Josh had a fantastic 4th grade year. One of the things I love about the 4th grade immersion program at our school is that the class size is tiny, which makes for a wonderful learning environment. Some kids are off to the district's 4th grade School in the Woods, in addition, as families move, the class size decreases because, by 4th grade, only kids who move to the school already speaking French can enter the program, so Josh's class this year only had 17 kids. And a handful of them are the awesome TAG kids he has been doing extensions with since he was in kindergarten. They are an impressive group who really like each other and push each other to be better. His teacher this year, Wanda Lepillez, is an inspiring teacher who asks so much of the kids in the most loving of ways. They respond to her style so well! Needless to say, Josh loved this year and all that he learned, from space exploration to traveling the Oregon Trail. Wonderful job, Josh!
Luke's teacher this year, Carolyn Brown, was such a great fit for Luke. She was an advocate for Luke, she cared about him, loved him and "got" him, and he and I both wish she could just move up to 3rd grade with him next year. She understood the things that caused him to struggle and had great ideas for how to help him out. With her encouragement, we wrote him a 504 Accommodation plan at the end of this year, so that the things that help him to be successful will be transferred to next year's classroom. Luke is a very strong student, and incredibly smart, although he hates homework passionately. He loves reading, and chooses hunkering down with a good book over almost any other kind of learning. He will tell you he isn't good at it, but he is actually just as strong in math. We are so proud of all the strides he has made this year in all that he has put his mind to. Well done, Luke!
We had to say a sad goodbye this year to Lucy Westenburg, the TAG teacher at AIES, who has worked with all of my boys over the years. She has taught them to ask questions, explore answers and seek new ways to expand their learning. She has been an advocate, educator and friend to each of them and our family has been blessed to know her. She will be deeply missed next year!
After graduating from Ms. Rachel's preschool class last week, Tommy finished this week off with his co-op preschool group. They were such a fun bunch of kids whom he loved spending time with and I enjoyed teaching. The other moms in the group were such wonderful women, and I am glad they took the time this year to work with Tommy. The kids took a field trip to a plant nursery this week and then had a big party to celebrate their great year. Tommy also had fun coming to Josh's end-of-year party on Friday, eating the goodies, getting doted on by the 4th grade ladies, and being a part of the class for a bit. Tommy says every day, "I'm so excited for kindergarten, full-day!" He will be amazing!
As the year wrapped up, after a short three months as a recess monitor at AIES, I hung up my duty whistle for the last time. With the kids all in school next year, I thought it would be something fun to do with my time, the hours would be great and it would keep me working close to my boys, plus, I'd have no work when the kids had no school. Unfortunately, it was quickly evident that it was a bad personality fit, I'm not cut out for constant refereeing and it was pretty mind-numbing at times, and, although I wasn't doing it for the money, the pay was abysmal for the time and energy investment involved, so leaving was the right move. However, I did make some great connections with many of the sweet kids. They'd run to give me hugs or tell me stories about their lives, and I really looked forward to seeing them. I could dote on them and let them be {mostly} free for a bit in a long day at school. I honestly loved that part and I will really miss it!
As we said goodbye to another crazy, busy, fun year, we celebrated with our "ice cream for dinner" tradition. Hurrah!! It's going to be a WONDERFUL summer!
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| Gold medal recipients for a 4.0 GPA from Team 631--sad to see only 2 boys! |
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| Goodbye, 631! Thanks for the memories! |
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| We are proud of our Benny! |
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| Kaitlyn, Kitty, Canyon, Josh and Eli: buddies since the beginning! |
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| I couldn't ask for better best pals for Josh. |
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| We love Mrs. Westenburg! |
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| The middle school boys: Ryan, Ben, Micah, Jake, Zac and Josiah |
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| The elementary boys: Josh, Bryson and Luke |
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| The rain held off for the traditional 2nd grade beach party, hallelujah! |
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| Mme. Lepillez and Josh; she's such an incredible teacher! |
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| Group hug! |
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| Luke and Mme. Brown; love her! |
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| Co-op exploring the nursery. |
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| Co-op party! |
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| Oh how we love ice cream for dinner! |
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| Some of the awesome AIES kids that I got to work with. The 5th graders have a fun tradition of doing an end-of-year toast at their final lunch with goblets they made in art class. |
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