We have an awesome school. In case you weren’t aware, October is National Bully Awareness Month and our school is tackling that issue head on! Our school councelors have done an amazing job of exploring bullying prevention and the students, from pre-k up to 5th, are all familiar with the three signs of bullying and what to do about it. We have excellent examples of students standing up for one another in school, on the bus, and out of school. Ask any kid and they will tell you exactly what bullying is and how it can be stopped. Last year the 4th grade did a powerful song/dance about the “bully machine” and this year the councelors took it a step further and organized an entire day, Unity Day (inspired by Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center)

All week the students have been making signs and banners, pencil toppers, wrist bands, and more to prepare for the big day. The school got bright orange “Otters Don’t Bully” t-shirts and decked the halls in orange, the official color of bullying prevention.

The local news came to our 5th grade classroom on Monday to do a story on our Unity Day preparations. That was pretty of cool.

Last night the kids worked hard to decorate their bikes and scooters for the special themed Walk and Ride To School day. They do “walk and ride” every week, but today’s was extra special.

Eve’s sign for her scooter.

Lex’s signs. He even had a written plan as to where to put each sign on his bike.

We got the bike and scooter decorated last night, so they would be all set for this morning.

This morning we got dressed in our matching bright orange shirts. I didn’t buy Alan one. Not sure how well bright orange and “Otters Don’t Bully” would have gone over in the office. :) At school, however, we blended right in with the crowd!

We all wore matching bright orange shirts today. :)

I don’t have pictures from the day, unfortunately, but it was a ton of fun. We had record number of students, parents, and siblings on the bike path, sporting orange and carrying anti-bullying signs. I’m sure pictures will be posted soon on the school website. Several have been posted on the school’s Facebook page already. We had an assembly in the morning where they showed videos students had made, built a chain of bullying prevention messages, had a performance by the 4/5th grade chorus (with a special surprise from the teachers!) and even had a special guest, Charleigh Gere, a local middle school student who is making a stand. (Watch her amazing video here.)

Our Unity Day dance. Listen to the kids cheer when the second round of teachers comes in. Too funny!

Anyway, overall an amazing day. We have great school councelors and an awesome school community. So proud to be a part of it!!

Today was the first day of school. I wanted to be at school at 7:00am (I got there by 7:10 so there’s room for improvement tomorrow!) and Alan brought the kids in at 8:00am. I wasn’t confident in his ability to remember to take pictures, in part because he assured me he would not remember, so I had the kids dressed and ready for pictures at 6:50am. :) Don’t we look snazzy?!

First day back to school and we have smiles all around! The color coordination was pure coincidence.

Just the two of them… notice Lex is wearing the same shirt as last year? :)

I wish we had a really nice clean wall or hardwood door or something to take these pictures. They look a little trashy with our screen door and unswept porch, but it is what it is. It’s also been cool and rainy for the past two years when I’ve taken these pictures!

Lex.

Eve.

Everyone had a great day. The kids both came home happy and tired. Not too chatty, but I think that will come as they settle in. I enjoyed my class, and really enjoyed working with a teacher in the room. Sooo much easier than subbing!! Of course the real challenge comes when I have to write my own lesson plans. I’ll be there soon enough.

On the way home I suggested popcorn for snack (a favorite in our house) and Lex said, “Yeah! We can eat popcorn together and we can tell you about our day and you can tell us about your day.” Wasn’t that sweet. Of course once he got food and a book at the table he lost all interest in talking. Oh well. He ate three regular bowls of popcorn, a bowl of sugar snap peas, a tiny bowl of ice cream, plus another half of that blue bowl full of popcorn! Then an hour later he put away a big bowl of oatmeal (the usual way with almond butter, honey, and raisins) with a big glass of milk and a cookie. Hungry boy!

Lex was HUNGRY after school today!

Eve polished off her popcorn and ice cream, but didn’t have much else this evening. She caught a yucky cold on Friday and has been dealing with sniffles, low energy, scratchy voice, and loss of appetite ever since. She went to bed early tonight. I hope she can kick it soon. Of course, not without passing it to Lex who seems very sniffly tonight. Sigh.

Let’s see if we can pull this off again tomorrow! :)

Yesterday was the last day of school. We made cookies for them to bring to school for classmates and teachers. The kids both liked the butterfly idea I came up with, but disagreed on the message, so I ended up making two versions. I guess that’s fair enough. I vetoed their initial idea of making two entirely different treats. They don’t help me in the kitchen much anymore, so I end up doing most of the work and doubling that wasn’t fun for me, so we settled on butterflies and separate messages.

Bye bye butterfly…

… catch ya in the fall!

We also went to the store last weekend and they both picked out gifts for their teachers. Two books for Eve’s teacher for her classroom next year, and Lex picked out a great puzzle to help his teacher set up her new pre-K classroom next year! Both sweet and thoughtful gifts. Both wrapped and decorated very thoughtfully as well!

Lex puts so much effort into his work. The drawings on the top are a bunch of things they did in 2nd grade.

I guess I didn’t get a picture of Eve’s present, but here is a picture of her playing bride instead. That’s what she was doing while Lex finished his present.

Eve heading to her wedding, carrying her cake.

They went to school, everyone had fun and enjoyed the treats, and I now have 1st grader and a 3rd grader! Eve’s first grade teacher will be the same one Lex had. She is a great teacher and we are happy. Eve is excited to be “following Lex in school.” Lex did not get the teacher I was hoping for, but sadly his best friend did. I’m sure the teacher he got will be fine (I hope she can handle him well when necessary) but I would have preferred the other teacher and he would have been happier with his buddy. Sigh. You can’t always get what you want, right?

To make up for the class assignment disappointment (and just because) I took Lex to the skate park after school yesterday. He has been super eager to go and I kept telling him that we’ll go during summer vacation. He said, “It’s summer vacation now!” So we packed up his bike, called a few friends, and headed to the skate park.

Lex had a great time going up and down the ramps on his bike.

I really liked how the big guys and little kids worked around each other. I don’t know what the guys were thinking, but they were very nice and polite with the kids. After awhile we took the younger kids to the playground side, but Lex stayed and kept riding and it seemed like they were all taking turns and working around each other very well.

Eve still refuses to ride her bike, but she had fun with her friend’s little scooter.

Today is the first full day of vacation. It is overcast and 60°. The kids are thrilled to be home in PJs all day. The day, so far, has involved some experimenting with gravity, some scientific observations, some Dinosaur Train (while I took a shower), a game of Life, lunch, and quiet time. I do have to drag them out to the farm soon for our CSA pickup, but I may let them stay in their PJs for that trip. :)

This experiment didn’t work. A mini-Lego car with paper wings. Sadly the car just would not fly. :(

Junior scientists at work in the lab, making and documenting observations about their selected items.

Happy Summer vacation!