end of school

The kids' last day of school was on May 31st.  It's sometimes a pain to go back after Memorial Day, but not really because the last week is just fun.  We had been counting down since Spring Break and it's always hard to believe when another year has gone by.

Brynn, 1st grade.  Brynn did well in Kindergarten but she didn't leave being as strong of a reader as I would have liked her to be.  Maybe it was Brynn but she definitely didn't have the kind of teacher that my other two did at Rees Elementary.  To be honest, I was really worried about her reading last summer.  She was guessing at the most basic of words that I thought she should have known easily.  It was a chore to sit down and read with her and it tried my patience every, single time.  She was assigned to Mrs. Hayter at the new school.  I didn't know anything about her other than that she was a veteran 1st grade teacher-she has been teaching for something like 30 years.  Brynn's class was large for a 1st grade class but it wasn't big enough to split it.  Brynn adjusted well to being at school all day, she made friends in her class (although no one that she could call her true best friend), and she was a good student who stayed on task and paid attention.  Mrs. Hayter handled her large class exceptionally well and I was so pleased with her as a teacher.  I think she was just what Brynn was needing to help her along in her reading.  I really can't sing her praises enough and I am so happy at where Brynn is now in her reading.  Definitely ready to move on to 2nd grade (hard for me to believe!).

Brynn's favorite things about 1st grade were her teacher, friends, to write, and to learn.

Her favorite thing about Mrs. Hayter was that she was a nice teacher and if they got table points, she would let them get in the treasure box. She was nice.

Her best friends were Ellie, Taylor, Shaylee, Corbin.

1st day

last day

Mrs. Hayter and Brynn

Stockton, 3rd grade.  Stockton, I think, is pretty much the perfect student.  Every teacher he has had has loved him.  He is just a good boy and a quick learner so he's easy to have in class.  He loves math especially and he had no trouble with multiplication facts.  I don't think I quizzed him once on his times tables but he passed them all off the first time he tried.  He has very good penmanship.  He is an easy boy to get along with and towards the end of the year he had mixed feelings about school being over because he really did enjoy going to school each day.  He had Mrs. Davis (who Molly had last year) and she just loved him and and we have been lucky to have her twice because both kids did so well under her and loved her.  She is very supportive of both Stockton and Molly and always made sure she was around to listen to whatever Molly's newest story was.  She was careful to make sure Molly's writing talent never outshone Stockton's talents and was very complimentary towards both of them.

Stockton's favorite things about 3rd grade were the baby chicks, field day, art lessons, and going to specialists.

His favorite thing about Mrs. Davis was her art lessons.

His best friends were Vince, Sam (at the beginning), Akuso, and Paneti.

1st day

last day

Mrs. Davis and Stockton

Molly, 5th grade.  Molly's year was definitely full of ups and downs.  She had Mrs. Vanhouten and she was a plus for Molly.  She was so encouraging of Molly and her writing and was constantly having her read her stories to the class.  She would take them home so her mom could read them (they would always come back with thoughtful messages from Mrs. Vanhouten's mom) and would give her ideas on how they could get published.  She was so awesome to not limit Molly and tell her that she could do anything.  I felt like she understood the 10-11 year old age group and did a fantastic job. (I have recently heard that she was not so encouraging to other kids in the class-not sure why Molly got special treatment but when I asked Molly about it, she said she definitely was not a consistent disciplinarian. So, while we liked her overall, other kids/fammilies did not.)

Molly really blossomed in 5th grade.  She still does not love math and struggled through some of the concepts but ended up with a decent grade at the end of the year.  Under Mrs. Vanhouten's tutelage and encouragement, she discovered even more her love for writing.  She did all of her book reports and major projects entirely on her own and scored well on each one of them.

Molly had a lot of friends in her class and she was excited at the beginning of the year to have Sloane and Pallas from our ward in her class.  She had a great first half of the year but right around January things took a turn.  I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of it because I like to keep this space as positive as I can, but she had a couple of girls bully her the rest of the year.  This caused her some anxiety and distress but, overall, she handled it maturely and I was proud of her.  It was hard to send her off to school knowing it wasn't ideal but we tried to offer all the support and love we could and I tried to make our home a safe place for her.  She still had a lot of friends and is a popular girl and when the bullying got bad, she would escape the girls and go play with the boys. (To be clear, it wasn't all the girls-only the two, but they would often hang out with the larger group of girls.) At one point she found a nasty note in her desk and we had to get the principal involved and that was not a particularly fun time for her.  I think she is relieved to be done with elementary and is hoping that she won't have to deal with those two girls when she goes to middle school this fall.  We have talked about the lessons she has learned over the last few months...turning her problems over to the Lord, prayer, the power of priesthood blessings, empathy for others who might go through the same thing, how your words and actions can affect a person, and kindness.

Molly's favorite things about 5th grade were writing books and stories and inventing characters.

Molly's favorite thing about Mrs. Vanhouten was that she was really encouraging and helpful.

Molly's best friends were Sloane, Jackie, Pallas, and Jake.

first day

last day

Mrs. Vanhouten and Molly

This is the last year that these three will be together.

first day

last day

And the last year this group will be together at the bus stop.

Brynn, Corbin Anderson, Molly, Stockton, Easton Anderson

And the last time ever that Molly and Brynn will go to school together.  That made them both a little sad that morning.