Highlights of the end of 1st Grade

Andrew also had a busy end of the year in 1st grade. The focus of the last few months of school was the ocean. So there were field trips to Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Seymour Marine Lab. At the Aquarium, the kids got to touch sea stars and sea urchins and feed sea anemones and sea cucumbers. After lunch, the kids got to see a few things in the aquarium so our group headed to the sea jelly and sea horse exhibits. The leafy sea dragon below was Andrew's favorite.

At the Marine Lab in Santa Cruz, the kids learned about the Santa Cruz ecosystem. Below, Andrew got to pet a leopard shark.


For the his ocean project, Andrew got to study the sea jelly. Here he is at the Art Show with his ocean folder.

And here he is showing Gina and her friend Erika his Sky Tree picture up on the wall.


Here are Gina's ceramic contributions to the Art Show.


The last few weeks of the school year went by quickly. Andrew's two teachers announced that they wouldn't be returning next year. I got a little bit of warning so another parent and I were able to put together a photo album. I never did get a photo of Andrew with his teachers but they did a great job helping Andrew grow during 1st grade. He started the year being very cautious, reluctant to raise his hand and speak up in class. By the end of the year, he was quite comfortable in class. Hopefully, this will carry over to 2nd grade.

The end of Preschool

Last week was Dylan's last day of preschool. He got to wear a crown with sharks which he loved. I had the kids each pick out a book to donate to the preschool since they each went there. I was sad to say goodbye to Dylan's teachers and they were sad to see him go. We had been at the school for 8.5 years ever since Gina was 4 months old.

Two weeks before, Dylan had his preschool graduation ceremony. The kids are always very cute walking in and then singing a few songs. This year they did it inside the classroom as the garden was under construction.

Highlights of the end of 3rd grade

In the spring the kids went to Ardenwood Farms for an all day field trip and got to hang out with chickens and sheep.

The class also went on an overnight field trip to Elkus Ranch.

The trip started with a 4 mile hike from the top of Skyline down to Purisima Creek. The weather was beautiful and we saw lots of wildflowers as well as quite a few banana slugs. The kids then spent three days learning how to take care of the animals on the ranch, pulling weeds in the garden, and preparing their homesteading report. The kids were divided into families and they had to come up with a plan for how much land they needed and how they were going to use the land. On the second night, each family presented their proposal to the "town council". Gina dressed up in her prairie outfit. The night of the town council was also Gina's 9th birthday. The kids had already planned on ice cream for dessert so I made some cake to go with it.After Elkus, the kids focused on their 1800 historic figure report. Gina had picked Laura Ingalls Wilder. She had read all the books and we found numerous biographies at the library. She worked hard on her project and did a good job on the report. At the end, the kids dress up as their figure and the parents get to go around to each kid and hear their presentation. Gina was one of the few who had their report completely memorized and she got a lot of compliments on her presentation.

The last two weeks of school went by quickly with the kids sorting through their work and bringing home bags of papers and art projects that I still need to sort through. The third graders got to walk to a nearby park on the day before the last day and had a fun day playing and running around.

The last day of school was a little sad as I was sorry to say goodbye to Gina's totally awesome 3rd grade teacher. Gina had a good last day as she got to go off with her friends for lunch and frozen yogurt. Now it is 10 weeks until 4th grade...