Look Who Got The Game Ball

Aubrey begged Coach Colette to let her play short stop Thursday night. Colette told her she could, but Aubs had to make sure she'd be tough and let nothing get past her.

So when a hard grounder was hit to her, she ran up on the ball, snagged it in her glove, kept her head on straight, and threw it directly and accurately to first base.

The runner managed to beat the ball to the bag, but I was up and cheering like crazy watching that kind of cool on the field from my kid.

Coach Colette obviously felt the same way, too, signing the ball with "Great Snag, Aubrey!"

Aubrey went to sleep that night so happy, which was especially nice because she'd been really sad to leave Box R on our visit Thursday. She'd wanted to skip her game, but understood her team was counting on her to play that night. So proud of her that day for many reasons.

Last Day of School

Aubrey made this card for her teacher, Inge.
Inge's very stylish and pretty.

Dane made this card for his teacher.
Debi's very natural and outdoorsy -- and loves birds.

Throughout the year, I continually evaluate whether I think Dane and Aubrey are being pushed hard enough in school. I often wonder whether they're up to speed with what children their ages in other schools or states are learning -- in terms of spelling, math, and science.

But one thing I always notice is that they love their teachers, they love their peers, and they love going to Walker. For that reason, I'll continue to gauge their academic skills, and supplement a lot from home, but I'll keep sending them into that happy, healthy learning environment -- and remind myself that a child's developmental growth isn't only measured by academics.

Bye-bye, 2nd and 3rd grades! Hello 3rd and 4th!

A boy, a book, a bag

PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF
A 3rd GRADE PRESENTATION BY DANE REYNOLDS

Dane had a month to choose and read an Adventure or Mystery novel, write up a Summary/Setting/Character/Opinion report, and put together a bag of representative items. He spent the last four days dialing in the report and bag - and here's what he finally came up with for his project.

Click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuK09mfng28 to see it.

Update: Dane presented this to his class today and totally rocked it. He blew his teacher away and earned an A+!

The Historical Figure / Puppet Project

Check out what these amazing kids did. Students from the two classes of 3rd graders chose a famous person to write and present a report on. Students were instructed to also make a puppet -- but they were given free rein as to how to design or create their puppet.

Look at the stuff they came up with! Click on the different photos to see the puppets, and possibly the reports, better.

We've got the likes of George Washington, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Rosa Parks (made by my niece Indi!), Neil Armstrong, John Muir, Pocahontas, Amelia Erhart, The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, MLK Jr...

Recognize George Washington there, created by Super Dane? For his presentation, he gave a basic timeline of the General's life, then he specifically spoke about Washington's risky plan to cross the Delaware with 2000 downtrodden soldiers on Christmas night, in order to surprise the Hessian soldiers -- making the first American attack yet in the war, the first American win, and the additional amazing outcome of no American injuries or deaths. It was a major turning point in the fight for independence.

Dane, of course, said it in his own brilliant words.

I was preparing for Aubrey's after-school get-together for Part 1 of her birthday partying, so I missed the event (after staying home all day with her and her 24-hour flu bug the day before). He said it went well, though -- he said he took time to read his notes before he spoke, and thinks he could have done better with eye contact, but did a solid job.