Memories of School Turn to Ashes

This Saturday, Landon Hardy and I decided to burn all memories of school. We took all of our notes, graded papers, and anything else we could find, threw it in our fire pit( a raised one in out sand area), and lit it on fire. This was about 11:00 am. We got about half way through when we decided to save the rest for that night. We thought it would be more fun in the dark; we were right. Later that night, we got everyone out there (all the Hardy's and Cluff's.) This time Landon brought his house (an art project: a miniature house on a 12" by 12" board made of Popsicle sticks) and we started with that. He had filled all of the rooms with 4th of July sparklers, and I added crumpled worksheets. This time we had a large, steady fire, constantly fed by more and more crumpled school work. Justin and Reagan were "firefighters." Every time the wind blew out a hot ember or a small flame, they smothered it with sand. All of the older kids and adults talked. We told about our school year, and talked about next year. The younger kids jumped on the trampoline. We all had a great time burning away all memories of school. I must say, we were tempted to sing Kum-Ba-Ya, but we decided against it. We have decided to make this a tradition, and I must say, I am really looking forward to doing it again next year.

           Here are some pictures of the day fire. The fire at night was 1000 times better, but I couldn't find my camera, so here are some of the wimpy day fire. 

Before we started burning and adding more papers.

Landon's science composition book burning. Our science teachers sent ours straight to the 8th grade teachers so we wouldn't be tempted to accidentally "lose" it during the summer. I'm pretty sure Landon was supposed to keep his to, but he says that if it turns out he was supposed to, he would blame his teacher.

Have a great summer!

Ryan's Preschool Program

Ryan finished his first year of preschool this year. He goes to an incredibly small preschool, which means a short end-of-the-year program (yeah!) The whole program was under 40 minutes (a possible record.) He really got into the singing and dancing. I really enjoyed watching him. The videos are below this. Ryan is the short blond boy between the two tall girls on the right.

Wide Mouth Bullfrog

Tootie-Ta

Buddy Field Day

 Buddy Field Day is basically a bunch of different games and races that students get to participate in. Every student has a buddy and they go to the different stations with their buddy. As a middle school student, I no longer get to do Buddy Field Day. This year however, I got to help run Buddy Field Day at Bennett Elementary (my old school, and the one Tyson and Justin now attend.) I am a member of NJHS (National Junior Honor Society.) NJHS members got to go help out at Buddy Field Day for summer credit hours. Each NJHS member has to do fifteen hours of service every semester, but you can earn ten of those hours (five for each semester) during the summer. This was an opportunity to get those summer credit hours. In the morning, I worked the bubble station for the Kinder-Second graders. As you can imagine, this was not the most popular station, so there was plenty of free time. A girl from school named Annie Kane was working it with me, and I had Ryan and Abigail while my mom was helping out in Justin's class, so we had fun blowing bubbles and playing with Ryan and Abigail. We then had and okay lunch of pizza. After lunch, I went to Justin's class room and hung out there until the afternoon shift began. In the afternoon, I worked the Carpet Pull station. I worked it alone, but Annie was working a station right next to me, and I had Ryan with me. The carpet pull is where both buddies have a small rug that they sit on. They each hold on to a rope (attached to tether ball poles) and they then use the rope to pull themselves to the pole. The first one to touch their pole wins. This station was a lot more popular than the bubbles, so there wasn't as much free time, but while the classes were switching zones, Annie and I had time for a few races. I won every carpet pull race, but their was another race where you had to sit on towels with your feet and your hands flat on the towel and inch yourself toward the finish line that she beat me at. I had a fun time at Buddy Field Day, and I tackled six of my summer credit hours!

Busy Last Weeks of School

There are only two more weeks of school left! I am super excited. I can't wait for summer, not because I don't like school, but I am definitely ready for a break. Normally, the last two weeks of school are all fun and games, you don't really do anything that really makes you think. I get the joy and privilege of spending my last weeks of school taking end-of-year exams and doing a presentation in GT, fun huh? I have to take a math exam that helps determine what math class you get into next year (normal, pre-AP, or Algebra 1.) I get to turn in a report, cause and effect statement, interview,visual, and give an oral report on Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and the general end of Segregation for GT. There are a few more exams I have to take, but I can't think of what classes they are in. I also need to finish a mosaic project in art that I have only done two rows of so far. My teachers are determined to keep me busy right up until May 27th. Well, I guess it will make summer vacation all the more welcome.