School’s Out

Yesterday was the last day for the 2022-23 school year. Now we have a 75 day summer break. In August we’ll have two in pre-k (at two different schools since Noah will still be in ECSE), one in kindergarten, one in first grade, one in second grade, one in third grade, and a sophomore and a senior in high school.

Fritz is all done his junior year. When he unloaded his backpack he saved a pile of stuff and said there was information about applying to college in there because that’s coming up quick. He took AP US History this year and while it was a lot of work he also learned a lot.

Adrian finished his freshman year. He loves DATA in spite of the long bus ride (his best friend is going to another magnet at the same school next year, though, so the bus ride will be a bonus. There were three or four fires set at their school the last few months so he did indeed learn what happens when there is arson. He said he won’t have holidays because he’ll be going to summer school for six weeks (taking art and PE so he can get all the appropriate credits to graduate because of iCSI).

Zeke completed second grade. I have no idea where he got play tennis for what he plans to do over the summer. He’ll be playing some other sports, but not tennis. He doesn’t know why he said that either.

Mayci finished first grade. Of course she said she wants to do her summer workbook this summer because she loves school and anything that looks like school. The year was a little rough due to having a completely inexperienced teacher, but we made it through! I just hope Anthony doesn’t get her next year.

Anthony finished kindergarten. It turns out the kid is crazy smart, incredibly ADHD, and a little bit lazy and stubborn (maybe more like a lot stubborn). If Nicholas doesn’t get the teacher Anthony (and Mayci) had for kindergarten I’m going to be sad because I absolutely love her. Then again, if he has the other kinder teacher we’ll have collected the whole set (when I said that once a principal said they should totally make teacher trading cards so you can collect them all).

Nicholas finished pre-k. By walker he means the way he gets home from school. I always love how little kids answer the what do you want to be when you grow up question. I’m sad that the teacher he (and Mayci and Anthony) had for pre-k is retiring this year so Joel won’t have her. The assistant principal said they hired an amazing replacement, though, and I’ll love her.

Noah has completed pre-k3. I love that he wants to be Noah when he grows up (and even very carefully spelled it out for me). He’s made amazing progress this progress this year and his teachers both said they hope to get him in their class again next year because they just love him. It’ll be nice when he’s in kindergarten and they all go to the same school and no longer have to get him on and off his bus and deal with a second elementary school, though!

And then there’s Joel who got to be the only one at home this whole school year. He got incredibly spoiled and has been my dad’s shadow (not sure who is going to miss the other more – probably my dad since Joel will be busy in school). I love that he said he wants to be a grown up when he grows up.

Pre-K Progress Reports

Nicholas and Noah got their final pre-k progress reports last week. They both are making progress on asking questions about new concepts and things they don’t understand. They have both mastered holding a writing tool with a functional grip, identifying their name in isolation, and taking to adults at school. Noah has also mastered drawing a person with a head, body, and limbs and Nicholas is making progress on that skill. They both engage in social play with the other children. (I have actually never seen evidence that Noah holds his writing tool correctly or can draw a person and he is only semi-verbal, but they always score him very high while Nicholas’ teacher is more realistic about what the kids can do.)

Some Costumes

I love when we are getting toward time for the dance showcase and costumes start coming home.

Mayci and Anthony are in a different ballet/jazz class than Nicholas, but they’ll dance together at the showcase. They will be dancing to What Else Can I Do? from Encanto.

These costumes are for their hip hop routine. They’ll be dancing to A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman.

This costume is for Mayci and Zeke’s ballet routine from their ballet/tap class. They’ll be dancing to Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.

One of these is for Zeke’s musical theater class and the other is for his acting class. He’s completely convinced that the black shirt is made from trash bags.

This Week’s Lunches and Snacks

Adrian and Noah took lunch every day this week. Mayci and Anthony did Monday through Wednesday and Nicholas did Tuesday and Wednesday. All seven of them took snack boxes Monday through Wednesday, Fritz and Adrian did every day, and Noah did Friday as well as Monday through Wednesday (he had a doctor’s appointment Thursday so wasn’t at school during snack time).

Cutting Meat

One of Nicholas’ favorite things to do is cut food into little cubes. He uses a butter knife and it’s impressive how well he cuts with such a not very sharp knife. He said they learned at school (using plastic knives). The other night we had flank steak for dinner and Nicky volunteered to cut the meat into small pieces for his siblings. He was quite focused and very proud of himself for the great job he did.

This Week’s Lunches and Snacks

This week Adrian, Nicholas, and Noah brought their lunches to school every day. Mayci had a field trip on Wednesday so she brought a completely disposable lunch that day. On Sunday Zeke asked if he could start bringing a snack box every day like Fritz, Adrian, and Noah and then Tuesday Anthony asked if he could, too, and then Mayci asked as well on Wednesday. So by the end of the week we had three lunches and six snack boxes going to school every day. This used up the fruit we had on hand faster than expected so Friday’s lunches and snacks had a very eclectic collection of fruits and vegetables.