I wanted to post a couple of my favorite memories from the school year before I forgot or they got lost in the shuffle of summer photos.
Rebekah had one of the nicest teachers this year, and she just loved every single thing about Kindergarten! Right after Mother's Day, her teacher planned a Muffins for Moms day, which I had heard about other schools doing something similar, but none of our girls had ever had one before, so it was a new experience for us. It was a super special day.
Rebekah was so excited about Muffins for Moms, and leading up to the day, talked about it constantly. When all the moms arrived, each of the kids led their moms to their seat and showed them around the room. She was really proud to show me everything, and she seemed so much more independent than she does at home.
The kids sang a few songs as an entire group, then as smaller groups they each had a special song that they had picked out to perform. Rebekah's special song that she chose was singing the ABCs while they signed the letters. She's signing here with her left hand, showing a little bit of her left dominance. She writes and does most artistic things with her right hand, but tends to eat, cut with scissors, and play sports as a lefty. Just a fun, little known fact about her :-).
Her improvement with handwriting throughout this school year just amazes me. She was so proud to show me her journal. This page is from their rainforest unit. Using the words that I do know as context clues, I believe her writing here translates to: "The rainforest is near the equator. It is always hot and rains everyday."
Another thing about Rebekah's teacher that I appreciated so much was how often she integrated art lessons. And not just little projects, but actually teaching the kids about the artists themselves and what influenced their work. At the time of Muffins for Moms, they were learning about Monet, and we got to create our own Monet inspired artwork together.
Our water lilies.
It was such a sweet afternoon and kind of unique since I had never been offered the opportunity to do this with the older girls. By the time your 3rd in line, it's not too often that you get to experience something for the first time, so it was cool that she had a little something that was all her own.
Alyssa had a great first year in middle school. Going in, we didn't know what to expect from middle school, except that it would be different, and it was! But it was different in a {mostly} good way. She enjoyed the new freedom that came with not having to walk around school as an entire class everytime she left the classroom, and I think she learned a lot of responsibilty that came with that independence.
In the Spring, Alyssa was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Here she is at the induction ceremony pictured with two of her BFFs and her principal. She also served as a peer mediator (which I find amusing because everything is so cut and dry with Alyssa. Behavior is either in accordance to the rules or it's not, and she sees very little middle ground so I can only imagine how some of her mediations unfolded. The good, and what I am sure was often rather blunt advice she offered to her peers in conflict, oh to be a fly on the wall in that room.) and she was also given a President's Award for Educational Excellence that is signed by President Obama.
Alyssa once said this funny thing about President Obama; it was a couple of years ago and as we were driving one afternoon, out of nowhere and with a great deal of seriousness she said, "You know, I don't think President Barack Obama even knows I exist." Since not many of us are well acquainted with the President it struck me as cute that she would take offense to his lack of interest in getting to know her. The signature on her certificate was simply an electronic one, which Alyssa herself pointed out to me, but she said it in a way that she envisioned him sitting as his desk pouring over the names on each certificate. Such a sweetheart!
