Our crazy school year went all the way into June this year- June 9th was our last day and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief that day. Good riddance to that year. It was a good year actually. We're beyond proud of Daniel and Annabel, who worked so hard this year and triumphed in spite of all the wackiness and crazy schedules and the changes every other week. I just can't even say enough how proud I am of these two great kids.
Both kids had fabulous teachers all around- teachers who really got it and made it all so fun. I mean, who knew my son would love getting stickers from his LA teacher?! I sure didn't. But it was cool. She was pretty cool. Daniel also enjoyed his science teacher's games. He liked the fun things his teaching team did- movie days and such. They just really made it all so fun. I was so impressed. And band for him- his band director was so encouraging and sent me so many lovely emails. AND- here's the best news- Daniel won a band award for most improved!! He did so awesome this year all around- I'm just amazed. Not surprised at all- I already knew he was a strong student and would do great- but amazed, yes, because the kid wows me at every turn, he continues to grow and strengthen and mature, and to look at Daniel becoming himself and this older person is just really incredible. I'm amazed and in awe of him.
And Annabel- her teacher was just amazing, so amazing sometimes I'm really sad she didn't have a normal year with her, but still, amazing even so. Annabel was just all in this year- she grabbed it all by the horns and just wowed us. She soaks everything up and takes every opportunity she can and it's awesome. She accomplished an incredible amount this year. And really, so much of it was all on her own- so much self-teaching happened this year. That alone is astounding. Annabel is a skilled flute player. She wowed us with her writing development this year. She read an incredible number of books and continues to grow as a reader. The way she talks and holds herself amazes me. It's all down to how so much maturing happened this year because of how it was. She knows how to have a good time, too. And she knows herself. I love this about her.
It's all so important. It was such a big year. For both kids. For all of us, I think.
Anyway, the year ended with a bang, and a few hiccups. We had a lot of fun things happen at the end, which I loved. We soaked it all up. Projects, awards, full band opportunities, "field days," and more. All good stuff! So fun! We were busy right to the end.
As for the hiccup- well, we got to experience COVID testing. Daniel came down with a cold right about two weeks before school was out, I think it was Memorial Day weekend, because I remembered thinking the extra day off would help us. Because, we're talking all the end of year stuff coming down the line and bam, he's sick. We made it alllll the way through the year healthy and all and then this, right at the very end. I couldn't believe it.
And of course, things being as they are right now, this meant potentially even Annabel couldn't go to school. Until we had a negative test result for him. Luckily, we got it right around midnight, so Annabel was allowed to go to school on Tuesday which she was desperate to do because that was the ONE day, the only day, they were doing a full band practice outside and she was dying to do that. Absolutely dying. To miss that- her heart would have been broken. I looked at all the literature, all the rules, all ways around this, but unless I had that negative result in hand for Daniel, she wouldn't be able to go. Collective sigh of relief at that midnight blessing of a text result. Not only was this just a cold for Daniel and not COVID (he'd had one vaccine dose at this point, but not the second), but also Annabel was clear to go to school (provided she was symptom free- and she was, she never did get any of what Daniel had- and his cold lasted a long while, he was just wiped out and coughing so so much, poor kid). So, off she went. Daniel stayed home and didn't even attend virtually Tuesday he was that sick. We rested and watched movies. He did virtual classes Wednesday because he was still coughing horribly but at least alert enough to pay attention. Thursday afternoon he announced he was for sure going to school Friday because he got to pick which elective he'd attend Friday- how fun is that? to pick which class he could go to for 6th period- and he picked FACS because that was the one he never did do in person, cooking. So, he was back in the building by Friday and feeling so much better.
By this point, we only had 4 days left of school. Annabel sailed through it all- enjoying her full band SO much, enjoying her field day, and movie/pajama/stuffed animal day, and all. Daniel enjoyed all his fun things, too- movies, and such. And because he missed his final band concert (it was Wed.), his band teacher presented him with his award (which we actually heard about through Daniel's friend, strangely enough, since it was announced during the concert he missed) on the very last day of school and he very proudly came home, showed it to me, happily posed for a picture even!, and asked for it be framed. I couldn't have asked for a better last day! Lows that then become highs- I'll take 'em!! We ended with a bang for sure!! Awesome!
SO- Whew. We survived!
Enjoy the pictures of our end of year fun!
Annabel's class ended their year with a study of the Oregon Trail. They were put into groups that had to earn points and move along the trail, making choices along the way as a group, too. They could earn points by doing various individual projects called Campfire Projects, which involved different arts and crafts and such- there was a large variety from which to choose. For example, Annabel played some old time songs on the flute (she made a recording of this to share with the class), she wrote poems, did research about various topics and made videos to teach the class about those topics, and so on. Annabel did a LOT of projects of course- she was all in on this! It was so fun. Here, Annabel is pictured with the beginning of one of her chosen projects, a cross stitch project. Looking good so far!
Daniel "sent" me this "postcard" from China, which was an art class project I believe. Very cool.
Daniel surprised me by coming home one day toward the end of the year with this Literary Magazine he'd voluntarily contributed to at school. Because he contributed, he got a copy. It was so fun to find what he'd chosen to submit- a few different art projects which he'd done for class or on his own time. I was so impressed he did this and so proud! He was clearly proud, too.
Another of Annabel's Oregon Trail Campfire Projects...this was her model of a covered wagon. It turned out so cute!
This was Annabel's model house that is designed to withstand certain weather disasters. They were given only so many materials and only so much of it and they had to problem solve and design a house to help survive natural disasters. A fun science project!
Cross stitch kitty!! So cute!! Another Campfire Project completed.
Another Campfire Project: a model teepee.
Just Annabel practicing the flute. Always. She's amazing and SO into it! She made astounding progress. So much in fact, that Mr. Silder even moved Annabel up into a fifth grade group to better match her progress and skills. Impressive!! We were so proud of her! She was thrilled and so tickled to be moved up, too. I was just so glad Mr. Silder recognized this in her- he's amazing.
Bumps in the road to the end of school...Daniel came down with a cold, but of course we needed proof that it was indeed just a cold and not COVID (so he could return to school whenever he felt better, as opposed to waiting out a quarantine...which at this point would have been the rest of the school year and would have been no fun because all the fun happens in the last ten days literally; and also so Annabel could continue going to school and also not miss any end of year fun). I hereby present this- our proof. That midnight sigh of relief felt good, I tell ya.
Another Campfire Project of Annabel's: a tin lantern. It turned out so cute!
Last Campfire Project: a poster about herbs that might have helped Oregon Trail travelers along the way.
An end of year art class project of Annabel's- I think it's pretty cool.
Celebrating a strange and extraordinary year! I had fun treating the kids to a few "strange" items- A Funko Pop of Hermione as a cat, a book titled Extraordinary Birds, a Strange Planet (a comic Daniel LOVES!) figurine and a Strange Planet picture book. So fun! The kids were tickled and they totally got what I did with their little goodies (the "strange" references and all, haha). I had a bit of fun. It was an end of year worth celebrating, that's for sure!
Daniel is SO proud of his band award!! We are, too!!!
The kids had fun going through their school things and getting rid of stuff and setting some materials aside for next year. Daniel found this Harry Potter themed word search among his random papers in his folder and Annabel happily completed it! Ziggy sat on it.
Annabel was VERY excited to be able to do a full band session at the end of the year, too. In fact, this fell right about the time Daniel was sick, so there had been a tiny possibility she might have had to miss this and she was devastated about this prospect, but thanks to that midnight negative result we received, she was clear to go to school! PHEW! They played outdoors so they could be spread out. I was quite tempted to "just happen to walk by school" during their lunch-time session, but I didn't. Luckily, Mr. Silder shared the video with us, which delighted me! It's so cool to see these kids who haven't played together even once this whole year get together and make it work!
In this video, you can see Annabel in the front left of the video screen at about 8 seconds in, and 42 seconds in, and again right at the end at 1:04. So fun to get these sneak peeks!
And now it's officially summer! Annabel can start reading all these books in preparation for next school year! This is the Battle of the Books shelf at our library...Annabel was delighted to see the final list of books for next year...all these books are just waiting to be read! (She's already started in fact...we did a little detective work together before the list came out, so we knew some of them in advance, sneaky gals we were!) So fun!
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