Report cards

Both girls brought home wonderful report cards yesterday. They are hard workers and naturally we're very proud of them. Today we had parent teacher conferences. It's always interesting to hear the teachers' thoughts about kids though.

So here's a game. Which of my children did the teacher say:
"has a great attitude"
"wants to make everyone happy even at her own expense"
"is a great role model to other kids in class"
"shows more maturity than most"
"is always on task"
"relates unusually well to adults"
"can be counted on to work with anyone without complaint"
"is well-liked by every child in the class"

Back to School

For the past few years now we know that September brings a new start to the school year for us. Brenna is off to Gr. 5 this year and is very excited to have a well-loved teacher as well as 2 new girls in her class. Molly is off to Gr. 2 and if they don't start cursive within the first few days, she's going to rise up and revolt! Forget that she will have 3 great teachers we all love (Brenna had the same 3 teachers when she was in that class) and has all the excitement of First Communion and such. She just wants to learn cursive!!

Another special tradition for us is our first day of school pictures wit hthe girls' best friends. Conveniently these girls are also sisters and they even celebrate their birthdays just weeks from each other. They are great kids and I couldn't ask for better friends for us - because Dean and I enjoy hanging out with their parents too!

Another bonus for us is that both girls will have Fr. Ivany for Religion once a week. He's an awesome addition to our parish and my girls adore him. Here he was playing Sorry with them on a day just before school started when they had to come in with me while I worked.

He also informed me that Molly cheats! :)

Last Day of School

It's always hard to say goodbye to another year at school and this year is no different. Both girls

have had great experiences and have loved their teachers.

Thank you Mrs. Hellender and Sr. Ritamary (who was Brenna's Gr. 1 teacher too) for all you've done to ensure my gals love going to school each day!

Sun Smart

I had to include this because it cracked me up! Brenna's last science project was "potluck" meaning they could do any topic they wanted and any type of physical project (experiment, model, poster, etc) as long as they had an oral presentation to go along with it. Brenna chose the topic "How sunscreen protects us" - probably because we had been at the pool that afternoon! She sculpted these two people to demonstrate the right vs. wrong ideas in sun safety and did a great oral report on the types of UV rays and all of the scientific specifics. She really had fun with it and I think it came out so cute!

Music, Music, Music

Because there is nothing cuter than a bunch of first graders!

Egg Drop

A few weeks ago Brenna's class did the age-old egg drop as a science project. They had to design a "spaceship no larger than a bookbag" to protect their egg from a fall out the Gr. 4 window onto the back parking lot. Here is "Egg Force One." Mind you this was due the day we returned from Spring Break so she whipped this styrofoam-lined-with-bubble-wrap contraption up when we came in from Boston Sunday afternoon. (And she incorporated Uncle George's idea of weighting the bottom to ensure it wouldn't flip when falling.) She did one experimental drop out her bedroom window which was successful. Luckily her real drop at school was too! It was a fun project and once again I love being at school to catch these things on camera.

Pajama Day

Thursday was Pajama Day at the girls' school. Any excuse to be out of uniform is a good one for them, but Pajama Day is extra special. Both girls did a little advertising for me by wearing the new flannel pants that we will be selling as our "spirit item" at our Auction in 2 weeks. All of the us who are chairing the event had our kids wear them as a way of building some excitement.



And speaking of excitement, part of every fun spirit day at school is the school activity that the Student Council runs. On Sports Day it was an obstacle course, Mismatch Day was a dance contest and Pajama Day is ALWAYS an event called Messy Room.


Our school kids are placed on the Red or White team when they start at the school. They stay on that team all the way through the 10 years and we use them as ways of breaking the kids up easily for things like Field Day or whatever. Anyway, for Messy Room, it's the Reds vs. the Whites from each class in a pillow fight. We string up a big net across the gym and put 30 pillows on each side. The Principal pulls a grade out of a hat and that class splits Red vs. White and has 2 minutes to toss all their pillows over while keeping the other team's pillows out. It's alsolutely hilarious! (and I can't believe I didn't being my camera!) The funny part is mixed in with dozens of plain pillows are some novelty ones so we'd catch glimpses of a huge Spongebob going over the net or a big stuffed skunk and flamingo flying through the air! The kids have a ball and my little Reds were happy to come away as the winning team this time.


(The brunette in the middle is Molly's best buddy who is the little sister of Brenna's best buddy. And it's not the way they're standing - She's truly very tall!)

100 Days

In our school, grades 1 and 2 celebrate the 100th day of school together. They parade through the building singing special songs while all of the other classes and teachers line the hallways and cheer for them. After the parade, they go to the school hall together and have a bunch of activities at various stations. It's always a fun day!

Special Guest

We had a special visitor at school today. The First Lady, Laura Bush, came to visit our classes as part of our Blue Ribbon celebration year. This is the last school visit she'll make as First Lady and she was wonderful. She's just as warm and gracious as she seems. The books on the cart are from her personal collection and she inscribed each of them for our school library.

looking at a picture of the Children's Choir from their trip to the White House a few weeks ago

some of the teachers

Molly is on the floor on the left side

Grades K-2 singing for Mrs. Bush

Our Principal and Archbishop (oh yeah! he came too!)

Security was amazing and the kids really enjoyed watching the Secret Service sweep the school yesterday and today - especially when they brought in the dogs! I was able to get a special security tag to be allowed to take photos (our custodian had a tag too to be allowed to access places in the building. He and I had fun teasing the rest of the faculty about our super-secret positions!)

Mrs. Bush first addressed Grades 8 in the School Hall (my pictures from that are still at school) and then went up to the Music Room where the little ones sang to her. She was so wonderful with them and was the one who suggested a group photo with the teachers and kids.

It was a wonderful experience that I sure hope they'll remember.

What an opportunity for our school!

Blue Ribbon!!!!

It was announced today that our school has been awarded a national Dept. of Education Blue Ribbon!!

There are about 30,000 non-public schools in the US and no more than 50 awards are given each year (they also recognize 200 of the 95,000 public schools). A school must have test scores in the top 10% of the country and meet a number of other criteria just to be invited to apply and then within that, a school can only be invited to apply once every 5 years.

We were told just 5 days ago (the third day of school - like we weren't already swamped!) that we are among the 2008 winners. Six public schools and 2 non-public schools in Maryland are being honored and we are the only one from both our county (public or non-public) as well as the Archdiocese of Washington so it's a great award. So today we had a huge announcement celebration.

All of the kids had to come in at 7:15am because the Archbishop was only available at 7:30am. Naturally we couldn't tell the parents or kids why so speculation has been running wild all weekend. (Some kids were saying the Jonas Brothers were coming so there may have been some letdown!)

We decked the school out with blue and white balloons and had blue hairbows for all the girls. The kids got blueberry muffins for breakfast, a special pizza lunch and then blue cupcakes at the end of the day. Laura Bush sent a congratulatory letter and will visit sometime later in the year (we weren't given enough notice to get the necessary clearance for her to be there today) and we'll be getting new banners with the Blue Ribbon logo.

So yesterday was a frantic day (and I had the stomach flu - came home and got sick as a dog but was better this morning) but it was so well worth it!

Brenna sings with the Children's Choir

Molly in her class procession

School Days, School Days

Today was the big day! my 2 little darlings headed back to school - Brenna to Gr. 4 and Molly to Gr. 1. They were excited and came home wearing the same smiles they went out in the morning with.

We'll see how long those smiles last!

Bring On Summer!

Today was the bittersweet end to a wonderful school year. We had 3 new teachers join the staff in September and amazingly my girls had all of them. In a small school where some teachers have been there for 25+ years, it can be unnerving to have "new" teachers.

Not these ladies!


Brenna's class is 29 very energetic kids known to be rather boisterous. Well, this lead teacher may be young but she really connected with that group and they all had a fabulous year. She's confident and fun and Brenna really came into her own with such guidance.


Molly's adorable teachers just captured my heart. I really enjoyed getting to know them outside of being a classroom parent. Her lead teacher is so dynamic and dedicated that it's impossible not to love her. There were many tears today both from her, the kids and the parents! She has a particular soft spot for Molly (she even came to her dance recital!) which makes me love her even more. She wouldn't take her sunglasses off for this photo because her eyes were so red from crying at dismissal! Of course her first class in a new school will always be special, but she is just so funny about her "beauties" that we just have to laugh. We weren't out of school but 3 hours when I had a text message from her saying we needed to have a playdate next week because she misses Molly and her 2 best buddies already. Her favorite phrase to Molly (and me when I do things in the office!) is "I love you the MOSTEST!" which frankly describes how we feel about her!


Molly's teacher aide is equally sweet. They work so well as a team and I'm so happy that I will still be just as involved with them next year as part of the faculty. It was very hard to say goodbye.

The nice thing about our school is that goodbyes really aren't necessary. We will still see them all the time next year. But it won't be the same so we had to thank them today for making our 2007-2008 year so incredibly wonderful.

Beauties

Molly's wonderful teacher refers to the kids in her class as "beauties." You can hear her all the time in the hallway saying things like "Let's go beauties - walk on the right" or "Beauties, what are you doing?" It's become such a tagline that the principal now says it too and we've all taken to calling the two kindergarten teachers "the Beauty Queens."

The class had a picnic this week and the teachers gave out these shirts with a class photo on the front and signed by the beauties on the backs with multicolored pens.

Adorable!

Poets Among Us

Brenna's class held a Poetry Recital last week. Each child memorized a poem and presented it to their parents and the students in Gr. 1, 2 and 4. They were awesome! I give them all so much credit for preparing so well. Not one of them even seemed nervous and there were about 150 people there. They all knew their parts perfectly and performed with emotion and humor. Brenna's poem was "If I Were in Charge of the World" by Judith Viorst.

If I were in charge of the world

I'd cancel oatmeal,

Monday mornings,

Allergy shots,

and also Sara Steinberg.

If I were in charge of the world

There'd be brighter nights lights,

Healthier hamsters, and

Basketball baskets forty eight inches lower.

If I were in charge of the world

You wouldn't have lonely.

You wouldn't have clean.

You wouldn't have bedtimes.

Or "Don't punch your sister."

(You wouldn't even have sisters!)

If I were in charge of the world

A chocolate sundae with whipped cream and nuts

would be a vegetable

All 007 movies would be G,

And a person who sometimes forgot to brush,

And sometimes forgot to flush,

Would still be allowed to be

In charge of the world.

My Valentines Wearing *gasp* Jeans!!

You have to understand that when you wear a uniform to school every day, having a chance to wear something else is a big treat. But even on out-of-uniform days the kids are not allowed to wear jeans.

Well today was not only Valentines Day with all the parties and treats, it was also the much hyped "Denim Day" at school. The Student Council had signs up all week announcing "Thursday is Denim Day! Wear the Forbidden Fabric!!" It was a riot how excited they were and they even got all of the faculty in on it.

At the end of the day they also announced that Brenna's class had collected the most Box Tops for the contest the grades were having. Gr. 3's prize would be a Dress Up Day sometime later in the month. That was big news too - even if they won't be able to wear jeans!

Phew- Friday!

It's been a long but fun week at school. Actually today was a planned half day that was modified futher by a 2 hour delayed opening due to icy conditions in the morning. Frankly we all needed the short day! The girls are tired but happy after a raucous Student Appreciation Day. Students dressed in sport attire and the Student Council organized an obstacle course in the gym that each class participated in.

The kids were divided into red and white teams (our school colors) and had a ball competing.

Then even with today's short day we still had closing Mass and then Brenna's scout troop was off to Dominos for a pizza-making field trip, I had a faculty luncheon and Molly had lunch with Grandma. After all that we quickly changed clothes and headed back to school for a special basketball game (A team of DC priests and seminarians vs. a team of our school's dads and a few 8th graders) We won!! Molly kept yelling to our team "Hey guys! Get your head in the game!" High School Musical junkie she is. Then it was off to the Parish Hall for pizza and ice cream. It was a long day and although we really enjoyed it, we're ready for the weekend!

Penguins - Take 2

Molly's class is knee deep in a unit on penguins. She's become a mini-expert on things like brood hoods, rookeries, creches, and all species of these little black and white creatures! Today they were having a penguin party to celebrate their class' adoption of a real penguin. (Of course the near hysteria that news brought on was completely dashed when they discovered that their new pet would not be coming to live in the classroom! Mind you the poor thing is about to be named Barbie, Hannah Montana or R2D2 so perhaps the little thing wouldn't exactly enjoy it's time with these darling 5 year olds anyway!) Anyway, I was drafted to make penguin cupcakes that we made last year for Molly's birthday. So after a quick trip to the grocery store, I made the girls my kitchen helpers and we whipped up the perfect treat for the Kindergarten darlings . . .

The Golden Pen

Only Brenna can make anything a milestone! At her school the 3rd graders can start using pen for their school work this semester but only after the teacher personally gives them the okay. Her teacher decided to make it and earned privilege and will award 5 pens per week to students who prove themselves worthy by doing neat work. I don't know how my eraser queen did it but she managed to snag one of the coveted pens ery first week and is now on cloud nine.

She's also been asking if earning her pen merits a dinner at McDonald's as a reward. At this rate she'll want a car if she makes Honor Roll next year!

Christmas on the Frontier

Yesterday was a half day at school and the last day before Christmas vacation. The place was a madhouse! Kindergarten had parents in helping with a gingerbread cookie party. Grade 2 had parents in for a nativity play. Grades 3 through 5 and about 50 of their parents had taken over the lunchroom for Pioneer Day (why that particular day was chosen is beyond me but it was a awesome event with tons of food and activities all morning long). Grade 8 was having a pizza party and Grades 6 and 7 were exchanging Secret Santas. And of course every class also had a Christmas party and kids were wandering everywhere delivering teacher and staff gifts. But it was a good, fun kind of mayhem and everyone was enjoying the day.

Who Need Matching?

Today was "Mismatch Day" at school. The kids were allowed to be out of uniform in whatever mismatched way they could imagine. Some wore pajamas and dressy clothes together. Some wore clothes from two different seasons together. Some mixed opposite patterns and colors. Some wore their clothes completelyb inside out. And when they all came marching in at 8am, some teachers wore sunglasses!

It was a fun day (they had a great magic show in the morning and then a school-wide dance party with freeze dance competitions in the afternoon.

You can see one of our priests there in the back in a purple and white Cat In the Hat hat. He's a big favorite of the the kids' and served as the Announcer for the event.