Wrapping Up 1st and 3rd

School Moments

Lorelei's Ear Model
(From first semester, but I kept forgetting to take a pic.)

For this Oreo-lovin' kid, moon phases with Oreos was a big hit.

Math facts...I kinda thought this math kid wouldn't mind the timed tests, but turns out they stress him out.
This was a look of relief one morning that he finished 30 in 1 minute.

Lorelei has had several Science projects this year.
This Solar system mobile was a fun one.

Makin isn't in love with one series yet, now that he has listened/read Magic Tree House several times over.
Mrs. White came up with several different books for their group, and Flat Stanley was probably one of his favs.

One idea Makin gave me for his home days to be more fun - competitions...this is to earn extra tickets.
(One example...how many minutes you will jump on the trampoline...)
We didn't keep up with this as much as I would have liked, but our home days get so busy! Will hope to do better next year.

He took his cat research seriously.
He then built a habitat in a shoebox and made a cat out of clay.

Lorelei's Skin Model

Lorelei worked on researching and presenting about a famous inventor for history this year. I was thrilled to learn about George Washington Carver alongside her as she did some of her research online. When it came time to put together her board for the Inventors Fair her creative side came out. She was able to talk intelligently about her inventor while teaching the other students and parents all about him. She was thrilled she won second prize at the fair! :)

Teachers
I can't say it enough...GCA finds amazing teachers. We are so blessed and thankful for them.

Mrs. Rhine...she pushes her students to excel and I love that about her. I had a teacher at this age who set high expectations and took no excuses and I know he made all of us better students. 3rd grade is such a big year of maturing academically and she is a great fit for that age! I also loved that she gave us options for extra projects but didn't require all of them so that we could do what best fits our student. One sweet memory of her is when I happened to see her explaining an English lesson wearing a crown and talking in a fancy voice to help them remember what kind of sentences are imperative. (I think...she did lots of these little things for English.) Lorelei loved having her as her teacher this year.

Mrs. White...oh its hard to express how much we love her. She almost makes you want to have one more just so they can have her for a teacher. She has such a way with her students that they just love going to school and makes learning so fun. She makes you feel like your child is so important and special. Makin absolutely adored her and wants to take her to second grade. ;) He also commented that he learned a lot this year in first grade.

End-Of-School Photos and Celebration (Spoiler Alert...Stahl vacation post coming soon)
So, I'm pretty sure I'll never choose to take a vacation the last week of school again, BUT a friend had this great idea when I told her I was a bit disappointed that our usual end-of-school traditions wouldn't happen...So, last day of school pics are in the sand instead of written in chalk on the driveway, and we found a phenomenal ice cream place for our "last day" celebration.

Sooo yum.