It's the Last Week

It's my kid's last week of school. Both my flesh and blood kids, and my students.

Isaak's finishing up 2nd grade. 

He still seems so little to me. He has a high pitched voice, small facial features (except for his eyes), and still loves to play hard. He wears holes in his jeans, and his hands are always messy. "Go wash your hands!" is a regular thing we say in our house to Isaak. It's hard to believe he turns 8 later this week, and will soon be called a 3rd grader! He is tall! He's fitting right into Mica's hand me down jeans - size 10. He has picked up on reading in 2nd grade. He does like to write stories. I keep telling him that he needs to read more and more to get better with writing.

Mica's finishing up 4th grade. 

He's goofy around home, but mature at school. He started safety patrol training a few weeks ago. This week he's full time with safety patrol. He had a field trip last week where he got to go an hour away to the state capitol. We've taken the boys there before. :) With us he didn't get to go on a charter bus. He was super excited to have a bathroom on a bus. That seemed to be the highlight. He's so ready for 5th grade. I sometimes thought 4th grade bored him. His teacher did her best to challenge him though.

The State Capitol Visit in 2013

This week: 

The boys have Field Day, Isaak's class is going to walk up to a park in the neighborhood to eat lunch, and play, and Mica's class is going to our local Joslyn Art Museum. Isaak's birthday is on Thursday. They no longer have food treats, so we got dollar books to hand out to his class.

Joslyn Art Museum in 2013

I'm trying to wrap up grading this week. 

Thankfully most stuff was due last week. I have a computer test that randomizes the questions, and grades for me. I have a lot of students behind. I'm hoping they get caught up this week!

Mica's 4th Grade Conferences

We had some time to spare between the boy's conferences. Isaak's teacher said, "We didn't plan that very well." I said, "We purposely did that because last year we thought we spaced them out, and they overlapped. The boys played Minecraft in the hallway on their Kindles.

There was a Scholastic Book Fair going on, but I didn't want Mica and I touching books to possibly get others infected with Strep Throat. I let them get a quick look, and wrote down names of books they liked to check out at our library. We have so many books, we really don't need any more.

Dr Seuss My Many Colored Days at School

They wanted to wear as many colors as they could. Mica said, "YES I can finally dress how I want!" Picking out clothes isn't his strong suit.

Mica's conferences were second.

He's doing well in everything. I guess a lot of kids are struggling with math in his class. That's Mica's hardest subject, but he still does well with it. 

One thing I like about Mica's teacher is that she lays it all out there. I do to. 

I said, "Ok so you and I know Mica's doing well in school. The things that I want him to work on (he needs to do this) is asking more questions for help, pushing himself to move above and beyond with extra things like school clubs." 

His teacher agrees. I told her I knew nothing about:

• Trying out for a string instrument
• A reading competition for challenged students
• A robotics club
• The spelling bee

He thought as soon as he got into Student Council that, that's the only extra thing he needed to do. The lemur science thing that he did was a perk in his mind. 

It highly annoys Mica's teacher that he is too proud to ask for help. I mentioned that he's a bit cocky. She doesn't think so. She thinks that Mica doesn't want to ask for help because there are a lot of other kids in the classroom that need a lot more help than he does. She thinks he sees it as steeling from the kids that need assistance. Which that's a better way to look at than my way. 

She does ask him to help others when he's done with his work. She said, "If that's a problem than I'll lay off." I said, "Absolutely not. He needs to help others. Please do use him." 

Really a lot of what I talked to Mica's teacher about is on him. He has to ask questions, and apply for extras outside the typical classroom! I just want him to push himself. He tends to be comfortable where he's at. I told Mica school is a lot like Spider-Man: With great power comes great responsibility!

He did sign up for the Chess Club yesterday. - Yay

We did visit the girl that works with the boys in regards to challenging them. They got put into that program when they were fairly young, and we try to visit that teacher every conference. Since Mica was right there I laid it all on the table. Everything I discussed with his teacher was brought up to this girl. Mica looked embarrassed. I said, "Mica I'm not disappointed in your grades. You are getting all A's. I just want you to push yourself to do other things." His gifted teacher agreed with me. She said, "The books for the reading competition have been in the library all year." Mica said, "I couldn't find them." I said, "It comes back to the fact that you don't ask for help. The librarian would have helped you. I would have checked them out for you, had you provided me with a list." Now all of Mica's teachers know that yes school comes easy to Mica, but that he needs to push himself up a notch. 

As soon as elementary hit I hoped Mica wouldn't get bored in school. He seems to like it. He has an August birthday, and we sent him to school when he was 6. The right thing to do. BUT he does well with just about everything, and doesn't push himself out of his comfort zone. For once I'd like him to try something that's hard, and possibly fail. It's ok to fail if you try really hard at something. The fact that one can try again to get better and better is a great feeling when you've worked so hard at it. 

Girls, Girls, Girls

The title of this post made me think of the Mötley Crüe song, Girls, Girls, Girls.

 
Last week I asked Mica, "So who have you been playing with at school during recess time?" It's my way of asking how his day was without asking, How was your day? over and over like a broken record.

He said, "Well...actually I've been walking around with Sally." *Her name is not really Sally, but I'm calling her that for this post.

I said, "Mica you do know you're too young for a girlfriend."

He said, "I know, but I'm not too young for a crush."

This girl made the Student Council with him. -Sigh

We went to Target. I was looking for the toothpaste I wanted. Mica said, "Mom Sally and I have the same deodorant. Here it is."

I'm thinking, How does this kid know what kind of deodorant Sally wears? Oh ya they keep them in their lockers to put on before gym class.

Source

I said, "Mica maybe you should start hanging out with your boy friends more, and walk around the playground with Sally less. She may think you're creepy because you walk around with her a lot. Plus you don't want to loose the friends you have because all your attention is going towards Sally." 

Mica said, "Sally likes me to."

I said, "Your guy friends won't understand that."

In the car Mica said, "The girls at the school think I'm the cutest boy in the class."

I said, "Really! Don't let that get to your head Mica. There's plenty of good looking kids in your class."

Mica said, "I'm number 1 on Sally's list."

I said, "Things like that change. Character is not always about how you look. It's about how you act to."

He said, "I act fine Mom."

Oh my goodness we're in trouble. This boy is only in 4th grade! He could be in 5th grade age wise, but he's in 4th grade! How in the heck do I take this down a notch, or 5 notches? This kid doesn't need more confidence. He has plenty. I don't want him to be that guy like in Beauty and the Beast - Gaston. BTW I can't believe I'm referencing Disney. That's the first character that came to mind.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast

Except Mica would love if a girl read, and came up with ideas.
 
My goodness he's too young for girls! I guess I had a crush in 4th grade, but I never told anyone about it. Mica's told me, his friends, Grandma and Grandpa, and even the girl he likes. 

I remember my mom saying, "Some things I just don't want to know." I think I know what she meant now. 

School Started With Hot Flashes

Mica woke up with crazy hair yesterday! I asked him if he wanted to go to school like that for the first day? He said, "No!" We joke about how a peacock feather is growing out of his head.

 

Travis fixed Mica's hair.

Isaak was super excited to get new shoes. The boy mostly gets hand me downs from Mica. Now they have about the same size of feet. Isaak's feet grow faster than Mica's. I was just going to buy a pair of neural tennis shoes for Isaak, but he tried on the blue basket ball shoes, and was in love. He was bouncing around the mirror testing them out with a big smile on his face. In the end I bought 2 pair. Luckily they were both on sale, I had a $12 off card from Kohl's, they gave me 30% off since their register broke in the middle of a transaction, and I got $20 of Kohl's cash. Woo Hoo!

 

I came home from work and said, "How was your first day boys?" 

Mica said, "Well it was great. There's just a few little things...like my teacher gets headaches if the lights are on all the way, so they are lower lit. That will take some getting used to. My teacher has hot flashes, so she keeps it pretty cool in the room. I need to bring a sweater, or sweatshirt to school Mom." The hot flashes comment made me laugh. 

It reminds me of when I was teaching, and I was pregnant with Mica. Hormones were making me sweat like crazy. I hardly ever sweat any other given time. That first few weeks of being pregnant I just didn't know what to do. No matter what deodorant I used sweat was just pouring from me. Thank goodness that stopped!

As for the lights - that is a great reason why places need real sun lighting, or lights that mimic the sun. I know they make such a thing, but those kinds of lights are expensive. Do fluorescent lights bother you?

Isaak had a good day to. His only problem was getting though his lunch. He kept saying that lunch was cut short. I don't believe it. I think he talked too much! He's been extra chatty at breakfast at our house as well. 

I started teaching the new collage students yesterday. They seem nice. It's always super quiet the first few weeks.