At School

The last few weeks of school were particularly hectic for everyone!  I ended up subbing the very last week of the year for the twins' teacher.  It was a short assignment, since he was on campus at a meeting, but I was happy to spend a few extra minutes with my babies and their classmates!

I snuck some pictures of them during independent reading (a task at which the whole class excelled!)

On this particular day, Emily and William were at their first week of summer camp, and Alice was home, resting, before her first day of driving school!

I loved subbing for this class, they were so well behaved! (As were Alice and William's classes, when they had this teacher!!)

I have a bit of trepidation for next year, as the twins will still be at their school, but the teacher will be new to the school!  Hopefully we can build a rapport early in the year*.  

Assuming Emily and William will be offered bus service again in the fall, I have three days already on the calendar at Grace and Juliet's school (with previous teachers,) so I'll get to peek in on them either way!

later days

edit 7-19-24: backdated for continuity.  

*And she has a summer worth of secondhand goodies heading her way, should she want them!

Field Day - Grace and Juliet

At the start of this year, I fully anticipated field day being a very, very sad event.  However, with news that the twins would return to their school for fifth grade, it was less emotional than expected. = )

Also, construction was due to start on the new building, so field day was to be moved over to the Lion's park across the street from the school.  Thankfully, the construction was delayed so they were able to have their field day in the usual field.

One more unexpected turn was that in the morning I was asked to sub for the Dean of Students, so I dressed for work that morning, then ran home to change into warmer clothes (it was a good year to not be in a water event!) and collect Emily, who also volunteered her time.

I got my first picture of the twins at the event next to us.  It was a variation of tag, with the 'it' player having a hula hoop of 'octopuses' legs' to tag their classmates.  It was really funny to watch.  When you got out, you sat down until the next round.

Emily helped me illustrate the proper way to bunny hop through the hula hoops, in order to meet up with your opponent to play rock, paper, scissor.  The winner kept hopping along, until the next member of the opposite team met them to challenge them.  

It's a cute game, with a bit of waiting, after all the group running that they did in the previous game.

As we went along, my instructions became more concise and refined, but after saying the instructions so many times, I couldn't recall if I gave my entire spiel.  lol.

Next year is shaping up to be radically different in every way, so we'll see how it looks at the end of the year.  Grace and Juliet will get out even earlier than Emily and William, with their wildly early start date, so I won't have my Emily to help me!

I'm happy to have one more field day to look forward to.

later days

edit 7-20-24: backdated for continuity. 

Fun Run - GJ Fourth Grade

I never feel like I quite capture the excitement of the fun run!  The kids love the music and chalk and this year there was a balloon arch!!!

At the last minute I was called in to work, so these images are 'stolen' thanks to Mrs. Ambs watching the class that I was in charge of during this time!

I ran ahead to catch Juliet and Kennedy in motion, and they went in slow motion.  lol.  goofballs!

Another few shots before running inside to take over my charges!

Fun Run Class Photo!

Despite not getting to decorate and spend the entire time with my girls, I felt super privileged to spend a few seconds with their class!

later days

edit 5-26-24: backdated for continuity.

Fourth Grade Author Party

After months of working on their research projects for Underrepresented people, the twins' class finally got to 'publish' their work!  They had a party to commemorate the occasion, and I do love to party, so when their teacher said he was thinking 'fancy' I was on it!

I was hoping for a chocolate fountain, but was still quite happy with this juice fountain from the Mason FUMC rummage sale! (my total for everything I bought was $18.)  By carrying it in in a box filled with other things, I was able to keep it from the twins, so that they could also be surprised. = )

Grace had a balloon arch kit that she got with Avia from a free box at some point, and was excited to build and contribute it as a decoration for the party. 

Kristy and I hit a rummage sale the morning of the event, and I scored some adorable little cups to hold some flowers that were blooming right outside my kitchen window*!

I also scored some shiny candles to add to the doily centerpieces.

I got to be the one parent volunteer for the party, and felt very privileged to be there and see all of their hard work on display!

On party day, I arrived about an hour before the party was due to start, and worked every moment of it to transform this corner from school to fancy.  Hanging the foil wall decorations really made it feel so special!  I was able to hide the empties behind it, and so it looked really pretty and uncluttered!

Grace wanted to make cupcakes with blue icing (though I did advise against it, she was set on blue.)  We also brought in a tube of chocolate eclairs and cream puffs.  Someone else sent in the oreos and yet a third person sent in the cereal bars! 

Ms. Shay made these adorable little display signs to go around the table!

There were nine bottles of sparkling grape juice, and 6 bottles of regular apple juice, to go through the fountain.  The fourth graders polished off all the bottles of sparkling juice and drank somewhere around 3 of the apple juice bottles.  In the future, I would also provide some water, as many of them were hot and thirsty, but really didn't need more sugar.

Instead of having platters of crackers & meat & cheese, I was instructed to separate them into servings, which I think was a good call.  It minimized time at the table, and ensured that everyone got a little bit.  I didn't bring the meat and cheese or crackers, I don't know if it were sent in or their teacher made it happen.  Either way, the kids really liked it!

The overall effect was nice, and I think the kids felt how special many of the adults in the school felt their work was!

I was a little sad that I didn't make it all the way through Grace's presentation on Bessie Coleman, before having to rush off to attend the table again.  I didn't even get to start Juliet's presentation, though she wrote about Toni Morrison. 

Then, just as fast as it started, the party was over and clean up began.  It took far less time to pull it down than it did to set it up!  I'm really glad I got to be a part of their celebration.

later days

*I had recently listened to an audio cookbook, and in it she is a huge proponent of bringing unexpected or beautiful things inside to make everything feel novel and special. = )

edit 5-27-24: backdated for continuity.

Living to the Full in Fourth Grade!

The twins were able to serve as Safteys at the same time this year!  About the time they were over it, it was time for the next group to keep the kindergartners safe!  (Grace is shorter than Juliet, but this picture definitely exaggerates the situation!)

Grace got in all of her recommendations super quick, so that she could be VIP early in the year!  She was actually the first one, but Billy and I were in Germany when I got the email from their teacher, and I didn't want to stick my mom with yet another responsibility, so I said we'd wait.  

I helped her make up her word search, so that she could just copy it, but decided to use the one that I made.  I sent an answer key to the teacher, just in case I misspelled something! 

Her poster turned out really cute, and very Grace!

We went to family reading night, but Billy and Emily both had other engagements, so they didn't come.  Alice was on her own schedule, so we didn't see much of her, but she was under strict orders not to leave the building.

Everyone had a fun time, and Grace and Juliet both won an invisible ink pen from the raffle the next day!

One day, when I was working as the para in Grace and Juliet's classroom, we went for a nature walk!  I was the caboose of the group and took some cute pictures.  I won't post the ones of the class here, but I did see some cool moss!

Grace and Juliet were assigned the assignment from he)) last week.  It is the first 'last' that I've not been sad to see go!

It's an estimation/multiplication page that has five single digit numbers and five triple digit numbers, and you are expected to match them to meet the criteria.  Some aren't so bad (make the lowest product) but others are just cruel, find a number with only digits of 2 and 9 and there are 6 options!

Alice was so frustrated when she had it 5 years ago, and we did our best, but after an hour or so I had her turn it in unfinished.  With William, I was able to help better, but we still did not finish!  Finally, on my third iteration, I found a system that helped them without giving them the answer!

They had to make an attempt on their own first.  If they did not find the correct answer, I would give them one of the numbers from the answer.  If they were still unable to find the second number, I would give it to them, and they would calculate the product.

Since the practice was supposed to be multiplication, I didn't feel bad about this method in the least and finally had children* finish the assignment!!!!

As a child, I personally would have just solved every combination (by the time you do the page, you've pretty much done that anyhow) so that I could easily match the answer to the problem.  The issue was, I couldn't convince mine to solve the 25ish combinations at the onset.

But it's all fine now, it is over, and I never have to help with this particular assignment ever again!

later days

 *Emily was homeschooled for fourth grade and never had this particular assignment, though I fully expect that she would have finished it.