What a difference a year makes.

Today was the last day of 2nd and 4th grades for my girls.

Lindsay was very excited, but Kera was feeling kind of bittersweet about the whole thing. Lindsay didn't really enjoy school this year, but Kera loved it.

It's kind of amazing to me how truly different my children are from each other. Another thing that amazes me is how much they have both changed and grown during the past school year.

First day of school, Sept 2011

Last day of school, June 2012

They have both very obviously grown a ton in height. Look at how much closer Lindsay's head is to the door window now than last year! And then of course, their hair is way longer. I think it's kinda funny that Kera is wearing the same sweatshirt on both days. But in addition to the growth you can see, I think they have broth grown in other ways too. 

First day of 4th grade 2011

Lindsay had a full year, not only did she make a huge jump academically (not just her, it's typical of 4th grade here) but she has learned a lot about how to deal with social situations that she hadn't encountered before. Thinks like how gossip spreads like wildfire, how to resolve friend conflicts, how to deal with difficulties with authorities, developing respect for others and the importance of honesty. She also learned some fun things like the benefit to saving your allowance (She bought herself an android tablet fairly recently), how to play the recorder and how to ride a bike w/ shifting gears. It's been a very full year for her and I'm sure she's ready for a relaxing summer.

First day of 2nd grade 2011

 Kera had a pretty full year as well. This was the year she really fell in love with reading. Trips to the library last summer were almost torturous for her because she wanted to read chapter books, but everything seemed too hard or not interesting. I have a feeling this summer will be different because she's reading chapter books like a champ and has discovered what kind of books she likes. Her spelling has improved by leaps and bounds thanks to extra work she did each week with another 2nd grade teacher. And she's adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers! Besides academics, Kera also learned this year about asserting herself and a little more how to deal with friend troubles. And of course I can't forget that this was the year she learned how to play the piano! She loved nearly every minute of school this year, and her teacher said some awfully nice things about her as well the other day. I teared up a little today when saying goodbye to her. 

Kera and her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Holden

I can't believe another school year is over and that now I have kids in 3rd and 5th grade! They are growing up entirely too quickly. I'm definitely going to enjoy my summer of hanging out with my little girls while they are still little.

Girls' Track & Field Day

Okay, so these are blurry because my cell phone camera doesn't do so hot when being used to capture action shots, but I still wanted to share two images of my girls that I had today. It was their "Track & Field" day at school, which basically means they spent half the day doing different track and field type events. They ran a mile, did a 100 m dash, relay, long jump, clothes line, obstacle course, noodle toss and frisbee throwing. The younger kids also did hurdles, so that would be Kera and the older kids did High Jump and Softball throw. I watched Kera do her mile, dash, long jump and clothes line. Here's her on her first lap of the mile:

I got to see Lindsay do some of her mile and then because I was volunteering at the high jump, I got to see her do that. I was a bit slow on the draw and only got her after she jumped over the bungee that was acting as the high jump thing (I don't even know the technical term for that).

Neither girl wanted to run the mile and I don't think either even really enjoyed the day. I guess I am not raising girls who enjoy running! That's totally fine by me. I think they probably enjoyed getting out of the classroom today though and the fact that Track and Field Day means the end of the school year is right around the corner!

And I just have to add, helping out with the high jump was so fun. The best part was definitely getting to see the faces of the kids as they ran up to the jump. Some of them concentrated so hard on the "bar" it was intense that it was hilarious. I enjoyed helping out for sure.

Field Trip to Moon-Randolph Homestead

I had the opportunity to accompany Lindsay's class on a field trip today. Despite her expression in the picture below, I think she actually liked having me there.

She was dealing w/ some tiredness and allergy stuff and was basically kinda whiney, thus the pout. Anyway, back to the field trip. We went to a cool place called the Moon-Randolph Homestead. It's basically a little piece of history right outside of "town".  It was originally a homestead and working farm/ranch of the Moon and Randolph families, but now it's owned by the city and offers visiting hours and private tours. There are all sorts of original buildings, including the original homestead cabin, and all sorts of equipment, etc. 

It was pretty cool walking around the homestead and learning how life was for the original homesteaders.

I loved all the worn, old wood that the buildings are made of and the weathered metal tools.

There were critters everywhere including bugs (like these yucky red ants), birds, chickens and foxes. We didn't see the foxes but were shown (from a distance) where one of their dens was...up on a rise overlooking the chicken coop!

The kids were pretty interested in most all of it. It probably helped that they had a "scavenger hunt" worksheet they had to find answers to from their teacher.

Back when all parts of the homestead were functioning, there were chickens, cows, an apple orchard, a coal mine, lots of various veggies and a milk shed where they turned milk into butter, cream, etc. I guess they would drive this small cart thing around Missoula and sell these items to families in the neighborhoods. 

It was a beautiful day for walking around and exploring.

Seeing the homestead reminded me of all those "Little House on the Prairie" books I read as a child and how I use to think the life of a pioneer sounded so cool. 

Parts of it still sound cool to me (I'd love to have chickens!) but I'm also extremely grateful to live in this day and age of electricity, running water, etc!

There were all sorts of "treasure" there, it was pretty cool.

And for spending the majority of the day with a bunch of fourth graders, that part went pretty well too. I just love being able to volunteer like that.

What I Did on Mother's Day

I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Mother's don't really ever get the day off, especially not on the day specified on the calendar to celebrate us. But, if you're a mom you knew that already, didn't you? Let's face it, Mother's are on the job 24/7. Yes, I said 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because even when we are sleeping we could be called on at any moment by our "charges, clients, customers, etc." I guess I may have had some time off, when Erik and I go on vacation just the two of us, but even then I'm not exactly "off". Even if my body is relaxing and I'm not doing anything kid-related, I'll still be worrying or thinking about my girls.

But you know what? I'm totally not complaining. I absolutely love my "job" and my two beautiful, smart daughters. I'm extremely grateful God gave them both to Erik and I. Not having to work outside the home makes it that much sweeter. Lindsay and Kera are completely worth all the blood, sweat and tears I've shed being their mother. Even if it means helping them with school projects.

School projects....I didn't even like them back when I was the student, but here I am, on my 2nd and 3rd round of dioramas, posters, reports, stories and other special assignments. This past Sunday, yes Mother's Day, was actually spent helping Lindsay finish her last book report (Amen!) of the school year, which she chose to make as a diorama. I knew in advance we'd be doing it, so we've been gathering "supplies" for a week or so. Toy tiger from the toy bin. Check. Two lego guys from a friend at church. Check. Empty shoe box from my stash. Check.

When it came down making it, it only actually took us an hour or so. Yay! And both Lindsay and I think it's her best one yet. (Because we all know she'll probably have more next year.)

Here's her project:

The two characters are suspended from a cliff on a raft and there is a tiger trying to get them from the cliff. I can't remember what book it was, but she liked it whatever it was.

If you look ever so closely you'll realize it's actually a leopard, that the girl is Princess Leia and the guy is wearing a space suit. We weren't going for perfection here, just resemblance. :)

Schema

I've been spending a lot of time down at the girls' school lately. Suddenly it seems like there is a ton of opportunity to volunteer down there, and I'm loving it. Yesterday I went in to help the 2nd graders in Kera's class with a special project. I ended up spending most of the afternoon there and I actually enjoyed it. I don't really enjoy sitting in little kid chairs for that long, but I am a bit taller than most of them. And tomorrow I'm scheduled to go in to Lindsay's class in the morning for book club and then will stay after to help her teacher with a few things. I've told the girls' teachers from the beginning of the year that I have time during the day to help out and I'm grateful that they have actually called me on it. Volunteering in the school is one of the most enjoyable parts of my "job". I love being around my girls in their "territory" and getting to know the other kids and teachers a little bit.

I've done a wide variety of things while volunteering in the school, but I can honestly say I've never been given homework until this year. And I'm not talking about cutting out a special project supplies kind of homework. I'm talking about reading and doing an assignment. Like, actual homework! Let me explain. I volunteered to help out with "Book Club" in Lindsay's 4th grade class, and it's really cool! Basically, the class is divided into five groups and each group is led by an adult (four parents and the teacher). Each group is reading a different book(s) with the same main idea.

This book club the main subject is prejudice. Our book is "Steal Away to Freedom" by Jennifer Armstrong. It's a challenging book for the kids just because it switches between "present time" and "past/remembering" and some of the vocabulary is old fashioned and/or regional dialect. I'm enjoying the story quite a bit.

We split up the book into 5 sections and each time we meet as a group, we talk about the section we just read and share our "assignment." With each section of the book the kids (and group leader) get a different assignment. The assignments mainly assist in discussing the book, they are: discussion director (asks questions to encourage discussion and deeper thinking), summarizer (summarizes that section), word wizard (looks for important/special words) , connector (writes about schema for that section), illustrator (draws a picture of significance from that section), and highlighter (picks a couple passages to read a loud to group that are interesting, etc).

I think one of my favorite parts of being involved in this book club is that it's forced me to take time to read aloud with Lindsay. She's in my group and the first week she had a really hard time getting into the book, so I started to read some of it aloud to her. Now we make it a bit of a habit to read the section together, taking turns reading chapters aloud. She's such a good reader that I haven't actually read aloud to her for a long time and it's really nice to cuddle up with her on the couch/bed and read aloud for an hour. Then we talk a little about our job for that week and what we think we'll do for it.

So basically I'll have to do each job once, as will the kids. I think its a great way to explore the book and get the kids to do more than just talk about "what happened." Most of the assignments seemed pretty self-explanatory to me, though not necessarily easy. Most recently I got the job of "Connector", otherwise known as "schema". I like this definition of schema:

an underlying organizational pattern or structure;conceptual framework: A schema provides the basis by which someone relates to the events he or she experiences.

My "job description" was like this: Your job is to write about the schema you have for the story (the connections you make). It can be text-to-self, text-to-text (book or movie) or text-to-world. Be sure to tell which kinds of connections you made. Include what happened in the book and how that relates to your connection. Try to make at least 2 connections.


Lindsay was sort of teasing me about having one of the "hard" jobs, and I can see that it might be difficult for the kids just because it forces you to actually think about what you're reading. Honestly, I didn't think it would be difficult because I did a lot of that type of thinking/relating to books in college (being an English major and all). But  then I remembered, I'd be sharing this with 4th graders, so any examples need to be relate-able to them. Suddenly it didn't seem so easy. I had all these ideas and then figured they weren't really fourth-grade appropriate. So I had to dig a bit. I did manage to come up with a couple...

1. Susannah smells hay and oats on her tour of the barn with Byron and it reminds her so much of home, she almost cries. There is a smell, most often in hospitals or veterinary offices, that brings up a memory of when my childhood dog got hit by a car and we had to take him to the vet. (text-to-self)

2. Neither Susannah or Bethlehem felt free, even though Susannah was legally free. in "The Help", the two main characters share a similar feeling of being trapped by skin color but also because they are women, although they are both legally free. (text-to-text).

I hope that the kids can relate to those ones, especially since they get to grade me! After each person shares their "job" the others can give input on whether they think that person did a good job or not. A little intimidating knowing a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds are "grading" me! :)

In all, I'm really enjoying this book club and getting more involved in Lindsay's class. I figure she'll soon enough be an age where the last place she'll want me is in her class/school, so I'm gonna milk it for as long as I can!

Do you volunteer in your kids' school? What's your favorite task?

Glimpses of Life in Montana

The other day while driving home from my folks' house, which is only about 2 miles away through a residential neighborhood, I came across two nice sized bucks (male deer) running along the road. 

This wasn't the first time I'd seen these guys in the same area. It never ceases to amaze me how big they can get and how at home they are running around "town". 

Then, today Kera had her first field trip in 2nd grade. They went to a local farm--it is a ten acre working farm that is run by the University here. It's  It is a pretty cool place--they grow fruit and vegetables and also have pigs and chickens. They end up donating quite a bit of their product to the local food bank, which is great, I think.

I didn't bring my camera on the trip, but I did snap a few cell phone pics...

The kids were intrigued by the pigs.

The kids got to sample fresh produce including broccoli...

squash...

tomatoes, kale, plums, apples and carrots. 

They also got to look at the chickens and learned a little bit about the farm and growing produce as they were given their tour. It was pretty educational and fun. I was impressed at the little group I was with--the kids all tried the vegetables and most even wanted seconds! Not many kids will eat fresh, raw broccoli, kale and squash and be excited about it! Now that was my kind of field trip!

Maclay Flats

I had the distinct privilege of joining my eldest and her 3rd grade class on a field trip yesterday. They and another 3rd grade class headed out to Maclay Flat's, a popular river access/walking trail/picnic area. We all rode in a school bus together, which I decided isn't my favorite mode of transportation, especially when stuck with 60 some third graders! Once we got there, several folks from the Forest Service were there with 4 different stations for the kids to visit. 

The first one we went to was all about trees & flowers. They learned about how the Ponderosa Pine (our state tree) produces seeds and then they looked at some of our state flower (the Bitterroot) which were not in bloom yet. I actually learned a ton at this station--the most impressive one was that there are actually Bitterroots at Maclay Flats. I had no idea! I'll be frequenting it more often now so we can catch a glimpse of those beauties in bloom. They are my favorite flower. 

The next station they learned about grasses and how they live/die via fire and grazing. The third station was about archeology and was pretty interesting. The kids all got to try their hand at using an atlatl, which was a prehistoric tool/weapon for use with arrows. They also got to "paint" their faces with this chalk stuff, which is what Lindsay has on her face in the above picture. The last station was more about wildlife biology and the kids all had to forage for "stuff" to make art with. It was interesting.

It was an educational field trip but I think the kids all enjoyed it too. I enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with Lindz "in her element" since I didn't get to volunteer this year in her class much. I also learned quite a bit, too, so that was cool.

 Thankfully the rain held off for the duration of the trip, too. All these end of the year fun stuff for the kids through school seem to be dealing with some major rain this spring, it's kind of hit or miss for them. Tomorrow is suppose to be a Track & Field day, but we'll see what the weather holds! Then next week they have 4.5 days of school until summer vacation officially begins. I cannot wait!

First Day of School

Today is the kiddo's first day of school. They were eager to get up this morning and go--in fact Kera has been counting down the days for the last 2 weeks. It was so cute, when I went in to wake her up this morning, as soon as she realized I was waking her up, she smiled and said, "School!". She was so cute. Lindsay wanted to hit the snooze button, but then I asked her if she needed her bedtime pushed back to 8pm again (in honor of 3rd grade we moved it up to 8:30) and she said no and got up. (ha ha, tricky mom!)

It feels so nice to get them off to school and have the whole day ahead of me to get things done. There's just something about the whole routine of school days that lends itself to a little more disciplined life, I think. Sure, summer vacation is fun and we get to spend time together, but its mostly fun and games and I don't get much "work" done, so its kind of nice to get back to it. I really hope that the girls enjoy their day at school as much as I'm already enjoying my day alone! :-)

Here's to a wonderful first and third grade years! :-)

Oh, and a funny little thing that happened this morning. Last night we picked out clothes, each girl choosing at least one of their newly bought items. For Kera it was jeans mixed with a couple tops she already had and her new slip-on shoes, for Lindsay it was this super cute top and bottom outfit. Well, this morning came around and Lindsay wanted to wear her old black pants (complete with holes in the sides) with her well-worn black footprint shirt. I don't want her wearing all her old raggedy summer clothes to school, but those don't look too bad and I didn't want to argue with her. So I told her to go ahead. It was also a good reminder to me, in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter what my kids wear (as long as they are clean & appropriate) what matters is that they are happy. And this morning, Lindsay was happy to wear her worn but loved clothes to school and that made me happy.

Field Trip to the Farm

As my first wordless wendesday post (well, almost wordless), I wanted to share a few pictures taken today at my 2nd grader's field trip to the MCPS Farm....

Can you see the little bunny lounging under the fence?