Teacher Gifts

The end of the school year gives me another reason to get creative and give teachers a thank you gift. I love the teachers at Range View. The kids are so lucky to have teachers that are dedicated and go above and beyond just teaching. They truly care about the students and want them to succeed. 

Jake had two teachers this year. One was there Mon - Wed AM and the other was there Wed PM - Friday. That is why there are 4 sets.  Each set had a beach towel, a magazine, sunscreen, and candy. The card said "Life's a Beach! Enjoy your summer!"

Last Day of School 2011 - 2012

Well, it's here... As a mother, I have a love/hate relationship with this day every year. I love summer and no homework, deadlines, projects, etc., but I don't look forward to daycare, I'm bored, can I blah blah blah... I am looking forward to time with the kids, camping, vacation, family visits, etc. The end of one school year means the beginning of another - or at least preparing for another. I no longer have a baby in Kindergarten - I have a 1st grader! I no longer have a little girl in 3rd grade - I have a "upper classman" in 4th grade! I am no longer a young parent - I am old and have a child in Middle School!!!

Here are the kids' pictures on the last day. (you can see their 1st day pictures here...)

last day

Last Day

Last Day

Continuing with tradition - the school has an award assembly on the last day. Jake, MaKenna, and Kyler all got Perfect Attendance certificates. MaKenna got an award for her Learners Showcase project on Oil Spills.  It was also an assembly for the 5th graders to show off. I love how all the other classes / grades (even preschool) line up in the hall to give the 5th graders "5" as they walk down the their last assembly. It's pretty cool how all the kids get along and support each other. Its a great school and you can feel the energy and support.  Here are some pictures.

Hallway with all the kids.5th grade "hall" is at the very end

Jake

Jake

Mother's Day

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. I had a great day. My only real desire was to NOT do any errands. It seems that lately all I do is run around picking up stuff and dropping off stuff. 

I was awoken Sunday morning by a lot of ruckus. I could hear the kids stirring about and of course arguing about who should do what. The natural noise that comes with this arguing is telling each other loudly to be quiet and not wake up mom. They did a great job decorating with streamers and balloons.

Mother's Day Decorations

Saturday, Steve and I had to run into town at the last minute and pick up my car from the shop (finished 30 min before they closed). We called Anya to come babysit. Her and the kids made a colorful cake. Some white, some pink, some purple... Given the special occasion - we had a piece of cake for a pre-breakfast snack.

Colorful Cake

Steve surprised me with a new knife set. I've always wanted a good knife set. This one is awesome. We used them as i finished off my special day with Steve cooking steak and baked potatoes.

I love my new knife set

Spook Hill

In Kyler's class the last couple weeks they have had "Star Readers" instead of Show -n- Tell. Today was his turn to bring a favorite book and read it to the class...

STOP Oil Spills!

This next presentation was for the Learner Showcase. The title or theme this year was "21st Century Focus - Global Awareness".  I am quite pleased with my little girl.

This was a completely optional and voluntary project.  Students in 3rd grade through high school were given the opportunity to submit a project. Up to 4 projects from each school were selected from all entries. MaKenna and her team decided to do Oil Spills. There project was selected to be part of the Showcase.

Her and her team worked on this during lunch, recesses, and before school. I felt really bad that I wasn't more help. I didn't realize what she was doing until she gave me a letter stating that her project was selected.

Here is her presentation including the imovie they made.

MaKenna's Music Program

Without further ado...

Tis the season... Projects and Programs

With the kids only having 17'ish days of school left this year, we are in the middle of Project & Program Hell. Everyone has projects due and programs to attend. This keeps us very busy as we try to get as much done on the weekend as we can - during the week is regular homework, activities, and programs.

We started off with Jake's 5th grade music program. Followed by MaKenna's 3rd Grade program, Kyler's Sharing the Earth's Resources project presentation and MaKenna's Globalization project/presentation. We have a couple weeks before Jake's big 5th Grade project is due. He has several smaller assignments that go with it due along the way. I suppose this keeps them on track instead of rushing the night before (that comes later in high school).

Here is Jake's 5th grade music program...

MaKenna also had a music program. They do music programs for 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades.

Before the program

MaKenna playing the drums

Kyler had to do something around "Sharing the Planets Resources". He chose to recycle plastic bags, use re-usable shopping bags, and plant A LOT of trees. We even took "dirt" cups for snack.

Recycling Bags

at the store

Watering the trees (61 pine, 4 apple, 4 pear, 2 cherry)

Presenting to the class!

Dirt Cups with special "Oregon" worms

I'll have to post MaKenna's music part on a different post. Stay tune... (get it "tune").