So in May we attended james' cultural fair. It felt a little different this year. His classroom didn't seem to have a country that they studied. It was just a collection of their work from the year. No matter. It's always nice to see what James is up to at school!
The day's learning targets were still on the board.
I spy James!
And closer. He really has embraced that he's a beautiful brown, I guess! (I do stress that at home :)
His desk.
Oh my! He's messy!
Señora Middleton and James.
The parents were told to assemble in the gym for a short 2nd grade performance.
Singing!
And we followed the music to the cafeteria for snacks and to watch dancing!
James did not dance. You know I would have captured that if he had!
James had a note from his teacher sent home in mid February. I guess he got "in trouble" for improper use of electronics- meaning he was using his iPod at a restricted time. Not a big deal but we restricted his iPod use for the rest of the week. He was okay with this.
He decided to read books on the bus instead of play on his iPod. I really liked this idea.
The teacher note also mentioned some resistance to art work at school. It was a good opportunity to draw a picture together at home. James chose to draw a picture for his teacher about the bus.
We had signed up James for a Minecraft class in the spring. He was all about all things Minecraft so we thought it was a perfect fit. His interest started to wane but luckily he still wanted to attend, didn't mind it was tech-free and mainly dealt with Legos and crafts, and he ended up having lots of fun. Anytime we mentioned that he went to Minecraft camp to other friends, they were slightly jealous. We just happened to see it in the city newsletter!
It was a drop-your-child-off-and-come-back-later deal so I don't know exactly what they did for those few days. I saw art projects and then the last day's chaotic fun because I arrived early for pickup.
The kids were just finishing up their Lego torches.
And then the teacher turned out the lights for the full effect...and chaos.
Hey, this looks like a light saber!
Just lots of torches stumbling around in the dark..
And then they came together for a group torch. It was cute.
I found this idea online. Now, for the future, I must lower my expectations of the amount of fun time that is actually involved. A lot of time and energy goes into these ideas and then the amount of time actually "doing"? Not long!
So if you're familiar with Angry Birds you know that you need birds to catapult at the pigs.
Water balloon birds!
Next, we drew the bigs and assigned them scores. It was a hot day. Lots of work.
Our first idea was to use this net to catapult the birds. It didn't work well.
Plain old throwing worked better!
SPLAT!
It was a good idea with some flaws. The balloons didn't pop well. Most of them rolled into the grass and popped on contact with the grass spikes. Argh. Some frustration from James, and me!
James was happy to go inside and relax in the A/C.
In mid May we were treated to the Cultural Festival at Woodcrest. Last year James' class focused on Mexico and James recited a few lines about Mexico's art. This year we didn't know what to expect because we just received the time and date, no other details. We were lucky that we are on-time people because we realized that James was due in the gym at 6pm for his class' music performance.
A quick picture with his self-portrait.
Waiting for the adults and sound system to get ready...hanging out with friends Sam and Christopher.
The performance. James is in the bottom row, near the middle.
And some videos of the performances, if you're curious.
Back at the classroom, with Señora Sierra. She is wearing an Ecuador soccer jersey, since James’ class studied that country for the festival.
The classroom was transformed into Nigeria, Thailand, and Ecuador.
Frogs...
Monkeys...
A pit stop at James' desk. He was very eager to show us all of his class work and journals.
I LOVE his journal. I need to study this thing and learn all about my son. Here he started to map out his corazón, or his heart. Mom and Dad, of course, and then there are his Abuelas, the Vikings??, and then his Fish. He said he didn't have a chance to finish so of course I'm assuming he'd include his Grandpas, his Tías, and his Uncles...
Rainforest.
Lion puppets.
And a glance at his daily agenda.
Hanging art/work
And back in the school hallway, near the kindergarten area. Last year James' class concentrated just on Mexico.
So it was a fun night to explore the school and cultures! And see James in action- with friends and then singing.
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