Fourth Grade Parties and Last Day

Lauren and Grace both crushed their AR goals this year, and easily gained entry to the second semester AR popsicle party at a nearby park. A change of playground scenery was just the trick for this group of girls who have been playing together all... year... long.

Next, the fourth grade classes had an EOY bash at school to celebrate completion of another year. They were served fruit in waffle ice cream bowls, topped with whipped topping and chocolate syrup. (My hands were claw-like after slicing up all that fruit!) I wish I had taken a "before" photo because it was really pretty, but as the empty bowls in these photos indicate, it was also delicious because it was quickly devoured.  

Afterward, everyone went to the gym for a game of Human Hungry Hippo, which our girls LOVED.  

Some live footage:  

Human Hungry Hungry Hippo from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.

Human Hungry Hungry Hippo II from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.


We laughed and laughed.  

The duo had so much fun during their fourth grade year that they decided to continue going all the way through to the end. Unfortunately, Lauren woke up not feeling well on the very last day. Although she did not have a fever, she had a bad headache (allergies), and she took some medicine and went back to bed. She was pretty upset to miss out her last day of fun with her teacher and friends so we decided to pick Grace up at 2:30 so that she could see her friends and have a final goodbye.  

Also, George broke the rules a little and totally joined in the classroom fun. As he said, "I'm a Bulldog now; I have to check everything out." So I kind of looked the other way when he followed Lauren down the hall.  

Our girls LOVE these ladies and have had the best year ever.  

Fourth Grade Field Trip: State Capitol

Last week Skip and I joined the girls on their fourth grade class field trip to our state's capitol. We arrived at school at 5:45am, boarded a chartered bus and traveled two hours to the capitol. Lauren napped, Skip worked, Gracie watched a movie, and I listened to an audiobook (IYI: Bossypants).  

After a brief stop at the train station/welcome center, our group took the capitol tour. We saw the old state senate room and the rep room, and we saw new Governor Ivey's office.  Gov Ivey has the distinction of being the second woman to hold the office.  

After a quick walk around all of the governmental buildings, we took a tour of Old Town, where we saw a one room schoolhouse. This was fascinating because the duo's elementary school began as a one room schoolhouse 103 years ago. Their "teacher" was formal and strict and had everyone standing at attention. Afterward, Lauren said, "I liked him. He was very organized."

We also saw the church, a residence, a store and a physician's office.

We went to the planetarium and had a picnic catered by CFA.  Afterward, we went back to the Archives for another tour. 

Finally, we went to the Rosa Parks Museum which was a favorite of the day. Lauren and Grace love the Rosa Parks story and her simple act of defiance that brought about so much change.  

After all that walking about, we had another snack and boarded the bus for home. We arrived back at school at about 6:30pm, and the duo were really tired. George had a baseball game at 7:30pm so we went straight to the park for a game and to reunite with our William George.  

Science Olympiad 2016-2017

 The duo had a fun opportunity this year to be on their school's Science Olympiad team. They practiced twice per week, studied, and Gracie had a couple of hands on, building-type things to work on and complete at home. At the end of January, the team was prepared to compete in a county-wide gathering of schools.

Our school was the smallest school on the roster, and it was the coach's first year to coach an SO team. Because of those factors and it being the duo's first year as well, we had some realistic expectations about the outcome. Grace's activities involved estimating the weight of various objects, building a suspension bridge and building a pasta transporter (a vehicle on wheels that can carry cargo - made entirely of pasta). There were a lot of variables with her categories, but she walked away with a 5th place ribbon for the pasta transporter.  Lauren's events were science decades (1950's), spelling and       , earning her a silver medal and two bronze medals. Their school finished 5th overall. They were so excited!

Also, fun fact about Skip: he gets super excited, too. I have had several people tell me that they were really enjoying Skip and his excitement during the awards ceremony. Maybe it was the first pump and the "YEAH!" he exclaimed with each win?

Naturally, William George had to join in the celebration with one of his medals. Although he really was awesome about spending an entire day in a high school gym - on a Saturday!

At the end of February, the team met up again for the state event. Competition was much more fierce this time, but the duo performed their best against some of the toughest schools (public and private) in the state.  

In the end, they personally did not medal this time, but they did their best and had a great day with friends.  

And George bravely spent another Saturday in a high school gym. 

Finally, they had an event at school in March where the team demonstrated the egg drop event (an egg is dropped from about 8-9 feet). The SO team broke up into groups of two and built a casing for the egg to prevent breakage, with mixed results (again, there are a lot of variables). Grace and her partner nailed it, while Lauren and her partner had one tiny crack. Gracie also demo'd her pasta transporter for the school. Because it was the third time down a steep incline, the wheels were a little shaky, but it took proudly took a final run. 

As the above smiles indicate, Grace and Lauren enjoyed their SO experience... science is fun! 

Fine Arts Night 2017

Lauren prefers uniform crayon strokes

A few weeks ago, Lauren and Grace's school held its annual Fine Arts Night where students display their artwork, and there were also choral and drama presentations as well. Both girls completed a really cool street scene, but their teacher put a spin on things by not labeling artwork. This is a great idea because it encourages parents to really slow down and figure out which piece if his/her child's (versus going straight to their name). Picking out your child's favorite colors and drawing styles is an interesting and more personal approach.  

Gracie likes bold colors which means she picks vibrant colors 

The fourth grade classes had a special unit wherein they read Hatchet and put together their own plane crash scenario. They identified a flight pattern and a site for the crash, and they spent a good bit of time figuring out survival strategies and using science to solve many of their "deserted island" challenges.  

The girls loved showing their artwork and had a wonderful night.