Done with First Grade

And just like that, 1^st grade is over.  

This has been a great year for Olivia.  She has really grown in her reading, writing and math skills.  Looking over her journal just her spelling and handwriting alone is completely different!  She has come more into her own personality, made some sweet friends, and gained a confidence and sense of self that I really love.  I think Ms. Brown is the kind of teacher she needs – she brilliantly strikes the delicate balance between firm and kind.  Olivia just adored her and so did Matt and I.  

I volunteered for the party at her school on the last day where the kids all signed each other's yearbooks.

While we were at the school party, I got this face and asked “Please please please please please please can we have a sleepover tonight?”  I am a total sucker for Olivia so I said we would need to talk to Andrea's mom but immediately texted Matt and said "Head's up: Pretty sure I'm going to agree to a sleepover tonight."

After her mom said it was okay,  I said yes, and if I must say, it was pretty genius of me to agree to a sleepover on the night when the girls spent 4 hours swimming.  The entire 1st Grade went to a swim party at the Racquet Club.  They were WIPED and basically both fell asleep by 8pm.  The party continued the next day with a trip to WonderWild.  So it was a great start to the summer.  This summer will be an interesting one for Olivia.  We don’t have the comfort of Cathedral House anymore so we are trying a slew of camps around town.  I think it will push both of us outside our comfort zones but I’ve tried to pick camps that are a mix of academic, artsy, and athletic.  I am so proud of Olivia’s bravery these days and I think she will do great with these new camps!

Olivia’s Shows

Towards the end of May, Olivia had 3 different shows that she was in.

The first was Ms. Brown’s Insect Fair.  When we found out that Olivia was going to have Ms. Brown for 1^st grade, I did a little recon and found out all good things about her, including that she did 2 special activities with the kids that the other 1^st grade teachers didn’t do – a lesson on Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol during the Winter + an Insect Fair in the Spring.  We absolutely loved the caroling so we were excited for Insect Fair.  About 6 weeks beforehand, the kids started learning about what they would be doing.  Each kid got assigned an insect.  Olivia got the honeybee.  She was pretty happy with that.  And then they had to research that insect and write 2 books on them – one fiction and one non-fiction.  But the fiction story had to be based on some realistic aspect of their insect.  In addition, they put on a show for all the parents with these poems and songs that they had all memorized.  The amount of work that went into this Fair was unbelievable!  All the kids were so prepared with their stories and poems.  Olivia was in several songs/poems but the best was on about the worker bees v. queen bee.  In this poem, Olivia got the part of the Queen Bee.  Apparently she had  to try out for it and one day she came home telling us she got the part!  The next day I got an email from Ms. Brown with some information on the costume and her lines.  It was a pretty long poem that she and her friends memorized about the differences between the queen and workers.  They all did great! 

It was pretty endearing to see her in that role!  And as if that wasn’t enough, after the show they went out and got ready at their “booths.”  These kiddos had done some amazing research into the insects they were assigned.  Olivia had 2 bound books complete with illustrations, indexes, and a glossary!  This school and teacher never cease to amaze us!  I don’t think I have the words to adequately convey how impressed and proud we were of all these kids!

 

Then it was time for Grandparents Day.  The 1^st Graders put on a show entitled “Food, Glorious Food” and invited the grandparents to come watch.  It was a great show and I think the grandparents all loved it! 

And finally she had her annual ballet recital.  Unfortunately the date got rescheduled because of some bad weather on the original date, so Matt wasn’t able to come.  But she did a great job and we taped it for daddy to watch later!

Breakfast Club

So Matt's travel has been INSANE lately and I struggle more than usual to get the kids out the door in the morning for school/work.  So one day I came up with this idea for "Breakfast Club."  In the "Breakfast Club" you can eat your breakfast in front of the TV, BUT you have to be all ready for school.  Is this ideal parenting?  Probably not.  Recommended by AAP?  Definitely no.  But did it let us get out the door in a peaceful and timely manner for 3 weeks in a row when Matt was traveling.  Yep!

Mother's Day

 I had a great Mother's Day this year.  The kids and Matt took me to brunch at a new Italian restaurant that just opened up by our house.  It was super kid friendly and delicious!