Teacher Thank You's

This is what the kids gave their teachers as end of the year thank yous.  Alex gave his preschool teachers homemade brownies and Mom wrote down special things he loved about his teachers on a card.  I have posted the inspiration as well as a link to the file on my TinyStitches blog. Some where I have pictures of the kids with their teachers, but I'm not finding them at the moment.  As soon as i do, I'll post them. 

5th Grade Recognition

In a few short days, Rebecca will complete the 5th grade and at the end of the summer, move on to middle school.  She is super excited about this new phase.  Sunday was 5th grade recognition and we all attended an earlier Sacrament meeting so we could all be in attendance.  It was really fun to see how all the kids have grown over the years.  After passing out all the traditional awards, they showed a short PowerPoint with pictures of the kids through the years.  Rebecca got awards for reading and participating in Math and Chess Club and was recognized for having been at the school since Kindergarten.  

Tuesday is their last day and Rebecca is very excited about the 5th and 6th grade Fun Day the PTA has planned!  They are going to a movie at the theater, and then a catered lunch at a local park thanks to the PTA.  She is so excited to do this with her friends.  They have been planning out snacks for days, even calling the theater to find out how much the candy costs so she knows how much money to take with her.  She had a great time with her friends.  And the rain that was in the forecast held off until the very end of the picnic. 

{now starts the parental rant ... feel free to skip}

The movie started out as a major issue, but was thankfully resolved - not as perfectly as I would have liked, but resolved. 

Earlier in the month we got a letter outlining the last day of school activities for 5th graders who had exhibited appropriate behavior (staying out of the principals office, no missing assignments) - a movie at the local theater in the morning and then lunch at a park.  

The movie they picked for the 5th and 6th graders (and interestingly enough, the 9th graders at the Jr High too) is the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie ... PG-13.  When Becca's teacher asked if anyone in the classroom thought their parents would have a problem with the PG-13 rating, Rebecca and possibly one other child raised their hand.  I was livid to say the least that the teachers even considered this.  Parents of 6th graders during the last couple of years have raised eyebrows and in some cases voiced serious concerns about their child seeing a PG-13 movie in 6th grade.

The district doesn't organize this activity, one of the teachers sets it up with the local theater, but I've got to tell you I'm still stunned that for years a PG-13 movie has been acceptable.  In every other instance I can think of, the school has taken a ultra conservative approach to what the offer their students.  We have fall, winter and spring parties now because of religious differences, we can't take cupcakes or cookies for birthdays because kids get too much sugar [at home] and need to have healthy snacks, and I can't take a salad from Wendy's into the school lunch room, because fast food isn't allowed there ... but we can show 10-12 year olds a PG-13 movie. 

I called a friend whose daughter is good friends with Rebecca and has similar values and asked if she was planning to say anything or just keep her daughter home.  Then I emailed the 5th grade teachers asking to discuss the movie selection.  When I got there, the principal had already put a call into the movie theater to see if they could offer a PG movie alternative.  In the end, Becca and a very small number of other kids watched Rio and had a grand time.  I was pleasantry surprised that kids were torn between seeing Rio and Pirates; in the end most saw Pirates.  I really wish the outcome had been different. For it to have been a true win for me, I would have had to intercept it earlier, before the announcement, and pushed for the entire group to see Rio.  Thankfully, Rebecca was happy and excited to see a cool movie with friends and was a really good sport about the whole situation.  

As I left the principals office (never really giving my full concern or argument) I said, "And this won't be an issue next year will it? 'Cause I have more 5th graders come up the ranks and you'll have more families taking this position next year and the year after that too."  Apparently he'd really rather not do the movie activity at all and would rather do an educational camp type activity instead.  We'll see. 

But I'm adding Fun Day to my now-that-I-get-to-do-it-again-with-my-2nd-child list, cause I'd really rather not ride that roller coaster again.  

I'm also going to offer to help organize Emily's 5th grade recognition.  I really expected more out of this recognition.  They did all the usual stuff ... had the kids who'd been at the school since kindergarten stand, those with perfect attendance (2), those who'd done the reading program, participated in StuCo and other groups and clubs, but after awhile it got old seeing the same handful of kids getting awards.  Shallow I know, but they are asking parents and kids to spend an hour on a busy Sunday afternoon, make it worth their time.  

Every child should be recognized for some kind of achievement.  85-90% of the kids and their parents were there to simply get recognized for being in 5th grade.  It was frustrating to see such a small percentage of the 5th grade getting recognized when there were so many great kids who have accomplished and achieved great things this year.  I hope that next year we can have teachers and students handout awards of character, achievement and overcoming obstacles to the majority of the 5th graders.  There's got to be a way to recognize each 5th grader for more than being a warm body in a chair.  

Yet another item to add to my now-that-I-get-to-do-it-again-with-my-##-child list.

End of the Season

Today marked the end of the Spring Soccer season.  Each of the kids gave their coaches this little thank you.  I'm totally doing this again, and again, and again.  Simple, thoughtful, and not such that you can do it and still contribute to the gift card for the coach or whatever one of the other mom's wants to organize.  

 

Emily and Sam worked really hard this season and are starting to take their interest in the game more seriously.  Both are still working on their endurance, ball skills, and being more aggressive on the field.  Sam's team had a little tournament this week.  They played Wednesday and Friday evenings and then Saturday morning.  They did well, but lost Saturday's game to a team they beat easily earlier in the season.  When we learned that it was that teams first win, we all felt much better about the loss and were able to shift our focus to celebrating their victory. 

Sam did some goalie training this season to better understand the position and hopefully help the team out.  While it was a good learning experience for him, there were two other boys on the team (one being the coaches son) who were also interested in being goalie.  While he held his own in the box during the game, we've talked about how it's important to recognize our strengths and weaknesses when we're on a team and recognize when someone else plays a position better than we do and graciously bow out for the good of the team.  The jury is still out on whether or not Sam or either of the other boys has the talent to be goalie.  We'll see what happens in the seasons to come.