The Kid's Been Busy

On Monday night, Delia and I went to the New WVU Erickson Alumni center to attend the Celebration of Young Writers. WVU held the ceremony for all the kids in the county who placed in the Young Writer's Competition and their teachers. Delia's story "Mystery Demolition" won 3rd place in the 3rd - 4th grade category. West Virginia author, Cheryl Ware, gave a presentation that wove together pieces of every child's story. When Delia heard her words being read aloud, she was just tickled pink. I tried to get a picture of her walking up to the podium to accept her certificate and WVU swag bag, but of course they didn't turn out. I did make her stand with her classroom teacher and her TAG teacher who both came to the shindig to support her! It was pretty awesome. Keith and I are SO PROUD of her, and most importantly I can tell that she is proud of herself.


Last week was the Social Studies/Science Fair at Mountainview. You all know how much I LOVE being packed in the cafeteria like fish in a barrel with the parents of my child's peers. The school did things a little differently this year and herded all the parents into the library for cookies and soda while the judges went around and judged the projects (incidentally, nobody ever told us who won!). Delia researched aluminum in antiperspirants, hand lettered her presentation board and used her very favorite craft item - STYROFOAM - to illustrate how sweat couldn't escape through your skin like it should when your pores are clogged with aluminum. Even though at least one parent kindly pointed out that studies have PROVEN that it is NOT DANGEROUS (ahem, whatevs...), Delia was still convinced by her research to avoid it. Yay for Science Fair!



Our bud Naomi did her project on her cat, Sharkey, who turned out to be a Korat. Naomi (with help from her Mom) sewed a stuffed Sharkey replica and labeled the breed's iconic features with bright green ribbon tags, and her display board was covered in grey faux suede. Very tactile.
The kids are taking West-Test this week, and even though I told her several times that she doesn't really have to study for them, Delia decided to bring home all of her textbooks to study. I don't know how much reviewing she's getting done while she watches Neds Survival Guide on the Netflix... School is almost out for the summer!

Back to School!

First day of Fourth Grade.

Fine Arts Night

I said, "Stand next to your art so I can take your picture." and here she is, my cooperative daughter. That's her mask, "the one that everyone thinks looks like a bear," she said. It has yarn accents. Good use of yarn, I thought.
Trevor was much more enthusiastic about being photographed. His Mom said that his mask looked just like him, and we all cracked up. You can't see it in this picture, but Trev has a huge red, yellow and black ruffled nose ring protruding from under his giant purple schnoz. (just kidding)
I tried to find Naomi's mask, the names were written on the inside so I was peeking under each one, but Delia admonished me "God Mom, quit touching the masks!" Her mortification amused me slightly, but really, I guess you would get kicked out of a museum for touching the art, so I quit. We will just have to guess which one belongs to Naomi, but I am betting it is sinister and comical at the same time.

And that was it. Every kid in Mountainview evidently made a made a mask for Fine Arts Night. They were crazy fun.

Many other kids were getting ready for a band concert, but I served my time earlier this week in that cafeteria. So we all got the heck out of there, stopped at the Dairy Mart for Good Humor treats, and headed home. Thanks to Angie for carpooling so Keith didn't have to be late for work again.
Here is what I started on Fine Arts Night. I think it will be a hat. Maybe. It is actually a sock pattern writ large. We shall see...

Social Studies Fair

We arrived at Mountainview at 3:45 as prescribed, with project in tow, into a veritable sea of chaos. So we set up next to Trevor, but were later instructed to move over to the third grade table.
Trevor, looking right dapper in his black suit. Dr John Dee would surely have been proud.

Naomi had an earthy environmental themed project that was delightfully garlanded.

It was a long afternoon. Crowded, noisy, chaotic - but there was a table full of cookies and soda. I don't know when they'll announce the winners, but it was an honor just to be there.

Back to School Night

We got a card in the mail a few weeks ago letting us know when to show up to meet Delia's third grade teacher, who was listed on the card as To Be Announced. So, we went to the school tonight and met Mrs Bowman. She seemed nice, but also a little frazzled and admittedly, very tired. She told us they hired her Three Days Ago, and she'd been working around the clock to get things ready for school.

One of the changes she told us about was in the math curriculum. Evidently there will be no Advanced Math available to third graders this year, because only 2 kids in last year's third grade scored high on the assessment test. They're refocusing the curriculum on Basic Skills and Drills, to counter this Trend. This was sad news for me, as one of my daughter's complaints about the second grade was incredible boredom, going over the same stuff again and again that she already knew. I asked the teacher if she had any kind of game plan to keep kids interested, and she assured me she had a plan. I don't reckon that she has a very detailed plan yet, having had only three days to assemble a classroom (there weren't even desks and chairs in the room when she moved in!), and I can hardly blame her.

One thing I would like to know is, why did they only just hire her three days ago? Who is in charge of running this school? They got a new principal over the summer, and so maybe that transition had something to do with it. How could they not know how many kids they'd have in the third grade? Did 20 9 year olds move into the district in the last two weeks? My daughter's classroom has text books and workbooks, but no computers, and only the enrichment materials that the teacher brought with her. I have high hopes for this school year, Mrs. Bowman seems to be energetic and enthusiastic. And maybe she talked more about the Curriculum than the other teachers I've met because she just got a hold of it three days ago and it is very fresh in her mind, but the more I hear about the Curriculum, the less I like the idea of a bunch of bureaucrats and statistics jockeys telling my kid's teacher what she has to teach.

Well, mostly I'm pissed that they took away Advanced Math. Delia loved math before she went to second grade and became Bored with it. She already uses algebra ideas in her day to day problem solving. I just don't want her to get burned out on addition drills and decide that math class is lame. So, we'll just keep doing what we do at home and hope that the new teacher can engage her in the classroom.

After the meeting we came home and celebrated the new school year with Not Dogs and lemon gelato. Yay for Back to School!