Fifth Grade

Collin has enjoyed a month full of fun activities to celebrate the end of his time at North Elementary.  

There was the tile dedication:

Each fifth grade student makes a tile in art class, and the tiles are placed in the main hallway of the school.  This is Collin's tile:

Here is the wall where his tile is located:

This is Tyler's tile, and we look at it every time we walk in or out of the school:

                                      

I think it's awesome that the students remain part of the school after they have moved on.

Collin also enjoyed a roller skating field trip (I wasn't able to chaperone because it was the same day as Reagan's third grade performance), a slide show, the 5th grade Strings Tour, Step Up Day,

Step Up Day is a day when all of the fifth graders visit the middle school.  The North students wore these tee shirts:

and the Fifth Grade Awards Ceremony.  

The string orchestra played at the awards ceremony.

Collin received a completion certificate, a strings participation certificate, and an award in art.  Here he is receiving his completion certificate from the principal and his teacher.

The fifth graders also sang a few songs.  It was a very nice ceremony.

The final event was a luau that was held at the middle school for all of the fifth graders from the three elementary schools.

The apple stacking game proved to be very difficult; the kids had to stack four apples in one minute. There were a few other games too.  I worked the game table where each student had one minute to place a Nilla wafer cookie on his forehead and move it into his mouth without using his hands. Collin was able to do this in less than fifteen seconds!  I had fun working that table because the kids were so funny.

It's nice to see the students celebrated before they move on to the middle school.  Collin enjoyed all of the festivities.

Collin's Concerts

On December 17th, Collin had four strings concerts in one day!  All of the fifth grade strings members traveled to the three elementary schools in town and played a concert at each school.  We attended the concert at North where the fourth grade musicians also played.

Later that evening, there was a fourth concert at the Silver City Galleria.  The concert at the mall featured fifth and sixth grade strings members.  It was very nice.

Here is a short video clip from the mall concert:

Random Photos

Collin learned about the phases of the moon recently, and the students created the ever popular Oreo cookie moons.  We did this at home a year or so ago.

Speaking of Collin, he is doing so well with the violin now.  I have noticed a lot of progress in the last two weeks.  Here is a video of him playing Bile 'em Cabbage Down.  

Kate still enjoys giving check ups.  Look at the "bandage" on Boo's leg.  Boo must have been tired, or extra patient at that moment.

Kelly was groomed by a mobile groomer this week.  It was so nice to have the groomer come to us, and she did a beautiful job.

Kate and I had fun with chalk recently.

I drew roads for Kate to drive her matchbox cars along.

We also used the chalk to turn Kate into butterflies.

Tom ran in a 5k last weekend.  We cheered him on as he ran!  It's so nice that the town races all go by Grandma's house; we have a great spot to cheer on all of the runners.

This is what Collin did while waiting to see Dad run.

The school year is winding down.  Five weeks to go.  Right now five weeks sounds like a lot, but we have a lot of busy weekends and end of school events coming up, so I'm sure it will fly by.

Collin's First Strings Concert

Collin played in his first strings concert today.

The fourth graders played four songs, and then we heard a few selections from the fifth graders.  It's amazing how much the fourth graders have learned in just a few months.  I was very impressed with the fifth graders too, and hope that Collin enjoys violin enough to be one of the fifth graders playing next year.

Here is a short video of the first song the fourth graders played:

The Violinist

Beginning in fourth grade, students in our town can learn to play a string instrument through the school music department.  I mentioned this to Collin a year or more ago and he said he had no interest, that he just wanted to play the piano.  And then there was a demonstration for the fourth graders a week or so ago, and Collin came home all gung ho (I wonder if the phrase "gung ho" is politically correct?) to play the violin!  The price of the lessons (they are free, unless you consider our tax dollars) can't be beat, and while we have to rent the violin, it is a rent to own program, so as long as he sticks with it, we win!

The lessons should be starting soon, and Collin is looking forward to it!  He will continue playing the piano too, and he promises that he will practice both instruments daily without argument!  I would insert a smiley face here if I was a smiley face kind of person.