candy bouquet

laura sent me a picture of her adorable teacher gifts so i just had to post them. too adorable!

a lot to "say"

though he is often quiet, owen is a very prolific writer. he loves to write and will just keep on writing. his words will fill every corner of a page.

parsing

as a 4th grader, wyatt will no longer be taught in a montessori curriculum. one of favorite pieces of work was parsing, which is labeling all parts of speech in a written piece. i love the representation of nouns being black triangles representing an object (such as Egyptian pyramids) and verbs being red circles showing action such as a ball would. A green crescent acts as a prepositional bridge connecting parts. it just all makes sense. 2- and 3-year olds are given lessons with actual objects(a red ball, etc.) and then the older students transfer their knowledge to abstract lessons. just one of the MANY things i love about montessori teachings!

gracias

i am sure i will be needing to do MANY of these posts in the near future. but this week, here are my big GRACIAS shout outs for the people surrounding us that are helping us through our "troubled times!"

1. of course to my sister for listening to my long stories of kitchen turmoil, but also for homemade dinners last week and last night---taco tuesday! ole!

2. chris-for helping todd late nights moving and never complaining--always ready to lend a hand or a truck!

3. eric--for all your guidance, man hours, and the many nails we will owe you

4. kim for giving up eric to us

5. and a thousand thank you's to my parents for all the support...searching online for good deals, making phone calls, lending hands, trucks, and shoulders to cry on, and for everything else in between!

6. to debbie, michael, musarrat, and laura for offering anything we need! friends and family are the best!

7. to todd for doing all the hard work! xoxo

luau

wyatt's 3rd grade moving up party was packed full of dancing, limbo, and of course some swimming. no bathing suits, no problem. the boys were swimming fully dressed!

"We are graduating."

each month, one student's artwork is featured in the newsletter for owen's class. this month it was owen and his friend jaxon's artwork. owen wrote the sentence and the left one is him!

moving up

the sidewalk that connects lower elementary to upper elementary served as wyatt's moving up ceremony for graduating 3rd grade. he is SO excited. him and his friends were running around the playground after yelling "4th grade, 4th grade, 4th grade!" so cute!