A 5th Grade Graduate

My baby girl "graduated" from elementary school in May.  I used to laugh at the thought of celebrating a graduation from 5th grade - I mean, big deal - everyone moves from 5th to 6th grade...what do we need a graduation?

And then you see a picture like this:

And you realize how much change and growth has occurred in the past 6 years.  ANd yes, there does deserve to be a graduation!

Sis started at this elementary school in 2nd grade.  On the first day of school, she met her best friend. They were wearing the same outfit and lived 5 doors apart.  They have been inseparable for the past 4 years.

We just had to recreate this sweet photo on the last day of school back in Mrs. Eddin's old room.  My how they have changed!!

Morganne has been blessed to have met lots of sweet friends over the past few years - just a great group of girls who care more about books and soccer than they do clothes or boys yet.  I know it's coming, but it can take it's time......

The last day of school was jam packed with activities - Pizza Party & Games, a march through the hall ways for the last time (not a dry eye out of these parents) and a countdown to the last bell on the blacktop outside.  Sis was all smiles...Mom? Not so much!

Graduation was on Thursday - a wonderful celebration honoring academic awards and extra-curricular activities.

All A's and Perfect Attendance for the Whole Year!!  She also was the Secretary on the Student Council and a part of Safety Patrol, among other activities she participated in this past year.

She had a wonderful, sweet teacher that we loved - Mrs. Vandiver was the perfect 5th grade teacher - very encouraging and patient.  We loved her!!

I'm so incredibly proud of the young lady she has become.  She is sweet and helpful and empathetic and funny.  I love who she has become.

Am I nervous about her moving on to Middle School?  Yes and No.  I know she is ready - she is confident and excited to go.  But she is my baby girl - my first - and this is a big move.  She is going to be moving on to a big school with big kids and big talk....... How can I keep her sheltered?  I can't and I know that. I just have to be confident that I have raised her to make good decisions.  It's just hard to see your oldest grow up so fast......

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy every minute with her this summer.....my big girl.....

Reading, Running, or Sponge-Bob?

Every year, the 4th & 5th grade classes are required to participate in the Science Fair.  It's funny, when Sis was younger, we would do a project for the Science Fair for "fun", but once it became required, we were tired of doing them!!  

So this past December, when the notice came home with all the official dates and rules,  I pushed back on her a bit.  This being her 5th grade year, it was going to be up to her to get this monster done.

That night at the dinner table we brain-stormed ideas.  And I am so proud to say that she came up with a brilliant one.  She remembered a conversation I had had when the study came out a few months back showing that watching a SpongeBob Squarepants cartoon worsened a toddler's ability to concentrate (versus watching a slower cartoon like Cailou).   She wanted to test the same cartoon on grade-school kids and decided to expand upon it a bit.

She gathered 10 of her closest friends (or whatever neighbor kids were available) and sat them down to read for a solid 30 minutes.

 It was so awesome watching them all reading quietly together - I even grabbed my book to join them.

Then she had each of them do a word search for 3 minutes to determine how many words they could find.

 Next, we went outside to play for 30 minutes - they played soccer, rode bikes, played volleyball.

 I actually had a hard time getting them to come back inside for another word search.....

 After the second word search, they had to watch 30 solid minutes of SpongeBob Squarepants.

And one last word search.....

 Science experiment over, they all ran back outside to play for a few hours!!

So, what 30 minute activity do you think allowed them to concentrate better??

No brainer - hands-down, it was playing outside!  And it was a BIG difference!!  Reading & watching tv was about the same amount of words (2-3 words) versus playing outside (5-7 words).  Pretty cool huh?

Why does she think this happened?  In her own words...

We found when playing outside for 30 minutes, test subjects did better on a word search than reading for 30 minutes or watching TV for 30 minutes.  This is possible because when you are exercising your body is producing more BDNF which helps your brain think faster (more neurons).  Also, when exercising, your body produces neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) which helps your body relax, calm down and focus.

Regular Ms. Wizard!!

 And how'd she do???

Proud of that girl - now get outside and play!!!

It's the First Day of School!!!!!

Whoo-Hoo!!  As much as I enjoyed my summer with my babes, I was thrilled to see School starting up again. Thrilled to have routine back.  Thrilled to have one-on-one time with Bubba.  Thrilled to have a quiet house.

Wait.

Does that make me a bad mom?

Many moms were saying yesterday how much they missed their kids when they went back to school.  Try as I might, I just couldn't find that feeling anywhere.  

Miss their constant bickering & fighting with one another?  Miss their enormous appetites for junk food? Miss their zoning in front of the tv, ignoring my requests to turn it off?  

Nope.

They were ready to get back to school - they both had an AWESOME day, chattering about thier friends, the rules of P.E., their teacher's expectations ("can you believe I might have 2 nights of homework?"  gasp!!).

We had an awesome summer filled with travel, family, and fun.  But this family is ready for routine.  And the school year provides us with learning, schedules, better habits, and so on. 

So, the 2 olders are back at school.

Amen.

The First Day of the Last Year

Today was our last "official" day of summer.  And as I lay in bed thinking about that, a horrible thought struck me.

 Tomorrow marks the first day of Sissy's last year of Elementary School. Yeah, I'm a sap. I know.

Just look at this precious baby girl starting her first day of kinder 5 short years ago.  She was so excited.  So happy to be starting school.  SO ready to pose for the camera and tell me she was going to "school"!

 Kinder was an awesome year - she was in a tiny class of 12 kiddos in a small private school. They were a sweet little class that got a long so well.

And she was such a big, independent girl.  All ready for what the world would bring her.  She made sweet friends that year.  And strengthened her love of reading.  

I look at these pictures now and all I can think of is how sweet, confident, and loving she was then...and still is today.  She may have her head crammed full of a lot more things.....geometry, scientific methods, states & capitals, student council, and more....but she has not lost that sweet disposition and helpful attitude.

Sis, get the most that you can out of this last year of Elementary!

Have an awesome 5th grade year!

I love you to pieces.

At the Car Wash....

Remember Field Day as a kid?  It's that time of year when summer is right around the corner, so the teachers let you run around crazy outside all day and call it "field day".  Ours involved relay & potato sac races, and ribbons and competition.  And we loved it - we looked forward to it each year.  Remember that?

My kiddos love their field day too.  And as time has gone past, elementary kids have all sorts of fun field day activities.  Like picking up marbles with their toes.  Or the Car Wash:

 When it's the first week of May and already in the 90's, the Car Wash ROCKS!

 Poor Bubba didn't know what to think of the crazy kids at the car wash....

 On to more "civilized" field day activities.  Like throwing a chicken with a frying pan?

 Finally Sis's class came out and was ready to get dirty......

 With a good old-fashioned game of tug-o-war:

 Did you win?  With a face like this....what do you think?

It didn't matter - they got out of the classroom and were exhausted when they came home form school that day! Score! 

I heart field day.