Last Day of School

It's hard to believe, but the 2017-18 school year is at an end.  Brandt and Blythe made it.  Not only that, they've had a marvelous time, and done super fun things.  Neither of them is really glad that school is over, even though summer means freedom and playing and no homework.  All the pluses of school outweigh homework.

Blythe's favorite parts of fourth grade are:  science days, art (which Mrs. Harrington did a lot of), music, and Mrs. Harrington in general.  She was a kind and funny teacher who saw Blythe's potential and was very patient with her.  

Brandt's favorite parts of sixth grade are:  Medieval Feast, swimming just before school got out, STEM Fair, planetarium field trip, Egyptian Day, Greek plays, technology, science, and social studies.  He liked language arts, even though he said he wasn't very good at it.  He loved Mrs. Neilson and will miss her.

In a text to Brenda, I reported the day's activity like this.

Hey Brenda! It's a great day. Last day of school for the kids. Brandt had a sweet graduation program. He was the head color guard person and wore his scout uniform. He led us all in the pledge of allegiance. He also got to introduce the keynote speaker who was me. I only cried when they sang a song, at the conclusion of my talk, watching the slide show, and hugging Brandt's teacher. We are having celebratory pizza lunch then collecting Blythe and going for frozen yogurt. We're seeing Solo this afternoon with friends. Sadly, school is a wrap. Neither of the kids are happy about it. It's been a wonderful year for both of them.

This evening, Brandt was invited to go hang out at David Harrison's house.  He took several math books to burn, they roasted marshmallows, and generally feted the end of school by running about wildly.  David's father sent me pictures!

Fun Run Mustache Dash

It was everyone's favorite day of school, the day the kids get to do the Fun Run!!  YAHOO!!  

Not.

The Fun Run is not the kid's favorite thing to do.  In fact, every year we get a lot of push back, people saying, "I'm not doing the Fun Run!" and complaints that it's stupid.  But this year there were some changes, so it wasn't quite as long, it was called the Mustache Dash in honor of it being Mr. Nielson's last year at the school and his mustache, and it wasn't too hot.  I think the kids walked most of the way, but that's okay.  They both participated.  I didn't even look for where they placed overall, because it wasn't anywhere near the top, and it doesn't matter anyway.  Running isn't their thing, and as it's not mine either, we don't push it at our house.  Both Brandt and Blythe did look great, sporting mustaches, and in Blythe's case, funky hair.

Lilly Bradford, Blythe, someone, and Addie Lepinski

Addie's mom took this picture.

Sixth graders were supposed to dress in green.

Brandt really does have lots of green on, it's just camouflaged by his red jacket. 

Brandt with Spencer and a photobombing Mrs. Neilsen.

She's so cute!

And speaking of cute, here's Blythe!

Near the start. 

And near the finish. 

Amy Swenson and I are both taking our traffic directing responsibilities very seriously.

No messing around here! 

Blythe felt that one mustache was not enough.

She needed a bit more facial hair.

Pancake Breakfast

Lots of end of year parties going on.  Today was an early pancake breakfast for all those in fourth grade who had at least 100 AR points.  Accelerated Reader is a program that tracks how well a student understood a book they read based on a ten question quiz.  It is hoped that each student will read enough to accumulate 25 AR points per term, so that at the end of the year, they've got at least 100.  That's an accomplishment.  Blythe has had no problem getting 100 ARpoints.  In fact, this year she had 214.5 AR points.  That's twice as many as she actually needed!  Shazam!!  And while 83.7 were from books that were read TO her, Blythe read for the other 130.8 all by herself.  That is very impressive.  She really has discovered how much she loves to read, and we love that she loves to read.

Our Blythe, off to eat lots of pancakes. 

In fact, she reported she ate four.

I'm not sure where she put them all.

Iditarod Party

Blythe and Lily Bradford

Today was the culminating event of the Iditarod unit that Blythe has been doing in school.  Mrs. Harrington loves the Iditarod, so her class does all sorts of fun things while The Last Great Race is going on.  Each student is assigned a musher that they follow as they race.  They read stories about the race and watched videos and learned a super irritating song that sticks with you long after the unit is over, the chorus of which says, "I did, I did, I did the Iditarod trail."  So fun!  

Today was the Iditarod party.  The students went after school for a party in their classroom.  They could wear their pajamas and bring blankets, and then they partied.  Here is Blythe's report.

When we went in, we got to play in the halls.  We could either slide on the floor or we could get on a blanket and have someone pull us around the halls.  Then we ate pizza and got juice and chips.  When we were done eating we got to go back out and play a little bit.  Then we went back in our classroom, got cozy, and watched Snow Buddies.  The movie is about six golden retrievers who went into an ice cream truck and then got accidentally shipped to the Iditarod.  We got to eat gorp while we watched the movie.

There you have it.  A super fun evening with school friends, miles from Alaska, celebrating the adventuring spirit of people and their dogs.

Fourth Grade Ski Trip

Blythe and the other fourth grade students and Rock Canyon Elementary got to go skiing today.  They were supposed to go in December but we didn't have enough snow, so their trip was postponed until now.  They left right after school started and rode the bus to Sundance.  It was a gloriously beautiful day, sunny and not too cold.  It was Blythe's first time doing downhill skiing, and she said it was hard at first.  But it got easier, and the tow-rope was really fun.  She told me her ski boots squished her toes, like air was being squeezed out of them and they were losing circulation.  She received some instruction from Alison, who was very nice, and who told her how to do pizza (toes in), french fries (skis parallel), and how to go downhill.  When I've asked for more details from Blythe, said said, "That's all we did.  We learned and then we did."  Mrs. Harrington, Blythe's teacher, sent me two pictures, and I'm glad to have them.

Blythe and Lilly Bradford

Spelling Homework

Today Blythe showed me an activity she likes to do on Spelling City, a computer program that has games and activities she can do to help her with her weekly spelling.  It's paragraph writing, the goal of which is to use all her spelling words in a paragraph.  I thought what she wrote was so funny I needed to include it, complete with her spelling and punctuation (or lack thereof).  

The words she was to use are: flower, voices, tower, mound, cowboy, gown, front, south, howling, annoy, noises, pound, hound, pouch, thousand, wound, grouch, cough, grown, voyage, cookie, zoom, huge, drought, and downtown.  

Here is her paragraph:

One day i was going out side and i saw a flower whitch i like to call a south voyage. Any way i stooped down and something got in my lunges whitch made me cough like there was a drought downtown. Afterwords for a cupple of minets i souded like a grouch who was warring an ugly gown whale a hound was howling and the noises where anof to geve a huge tower a wound and a frown that would make a cookie apper. whal i was outside a fast car whent zooming bye a pound of cheese pooped up out of a mound then a cowboy said zoom a thousand and pulled out a pouch that hade a grown when it heard voices. i am going to annoy you right

Hooray for fourth grade!

Fourth Grade Store

Blythe got to work the fourth grade store after school today.  It's her first time, and she was really excited.  She got to be the money taker, and as I watched, she seemed completely in her element, taking coins and cash and making change.  I didn't wait to take her home, just left her there at the table, amidst her friends and classmates.  She had a great time and got a free treat as a bonus for working.

I took this picture, but Blythe obviously doesn't look very happy to be doing what she's doing.

But she WAS, so I took another.  

 

And another!

Break Out Box

Today in school, Blythe and her class got to do a fun math challenge activity with Break Out Boxes.  They were awesome, but hard.  This is a box that has a number of locks that you have to open to get the box open.  Each lock has a different code and there are clues around the room you use to figure out the code.  The clues were arrows, riddles, holidays, and poems that gave you the numbers or letters to open the locks.  Inside the box was candy, and what elementary school kid doesn't like candy?  Blythe and her classmates were featured on Instagram, and I pilfered a picture of our Miss B participating.  Blythe reported she had a great time.

Matthew, top of Austin's head, Blythe, Hose, Lauren, and Addy

Santa Drawing

Blythe came home today with the cutest picture she drew of Santa Claus.  It was a directive drawing her class did, and I love what she made.  She and some of her classmates were featured on Rock Canyon's Instagram site.  Aren't they cute!  The kids are pretty darling too.

Top row: Mason, Thomas, Jose, Summer

Bottom row: Eira, Blythe, Hudson

Where My Treasure Is

Today is #LightTheWorld day 14.  I've done another post all about my Light the World efforts, but I wanted to write a bit more extensively about today as the theme is Matthew 6:21  "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

I spent the day with those I treasure. Brandt and Blythe had their Christmas concert, today, Brandt's last of elementary school (sob sob!). They both sang very well, funny songs.  Brandt sang The Twelve Days After Christmas and a hot chocolate song, and Blythe sang Hot Cup of Cocoa and Somewhere in My Memory from Home Alone.  Both did actions and were engaging to watch, though Brandt seemed a bit subdued.  Although we had great seats, I didn't film them because my phone was dying and holding the big camera aloft gets heavy and then jiggles.  So I just sat and watched and listened.  As I watched them, my heart swelled with love for them, my eyes filled with tears, and I thought, "I'm going to cry while the kids sing about hot chocolate. How embarrassing. I must really be in the Christmas spirit."  Sitting next to Kent as we listened, I realized my most treasured people were right there with me. And 500 other people there to see their treasures.  I don't think I was particularly moved by the songs they sang, but more by seeing how they've grown, how confident Blythe is and how unassuming Brandt is, how calm they both were, and how much I like them.  It was a sweet moment.  

 

As soon as the concert was over, I dashed over to the church for our annual Relief Society Christmas lunch and dinner.  Over the course of the afternoon, I got to be with 60 of my Relief Society sisters.  The theme was "Come Let Us Adore Him," and the Primary room was beautifully decorated with nativity sets sisters brought to share, sweet images of the birth of Christ.  The weekday activity committee had made a little baby Jesus in a manger for each sister to take.  I know the whole activity was a tremendous amount of work, but we all agreed it was totally worth it.  I was able to visit with the wonderful women of the ward and enjoy their friendship and spirit. I'm so blessed to be able to serve them and with them and be uplifted by our association.  I was touched as I watched sisters arriving together, talking animatedly, and enjoying being together.  It was obvious everyone was having a marvelous time.  Food was delicious, too.  Getting to be with my family treasures and then with my ward treasures made the day extra special.

Maureen Ogles, Stacie Mason, McKenzie Drake, Peggy Worthen, Stephanie Magleby, 

Charleen Doman, Angela Richards 

Rosemary Wilson, DeNeece Tueller, Carol Skeeles, Middie Magleby, Norma Bridge,

JaNeal Bradford, Diane Seckler

 Kimberly Roy's mom, Kimberly, Kathryn Seamons, Charlene Strong, Margaret Bench, 

Clarice Jensen, Karen Jensen

Rose Mary Lindberg, Analyn Smith holding Hannah Drake, Jennifer McClurg, Deborah Sheets

I really wanted a picture of the committee, me and my counselors, and the evening groups,

but I forgot to take anymore pictures after these few I took.