The Nitty Gritty

Hi Family! We are officially on our summer break! Yahoo! Van had beach day on Tuesday. He wore a swimming suit to school and had fun playing water games. On Wednesday, his last day of school, it was PJs and Pizza day so he wore his jammies to school and kept reminding us, "Mom, Dad, DON'T pack my lunch. It's pizza day!" We picked up some Capri Suns and cookies to share with his classmates for the pizza party. I also wrote a heartfelt thank you note to each of the teachers expressing my gratitude that my son could be in good hands while I was teaching school during the day.  I see how much Heavenly Father has blessed our family the past three years, and McClintock Preschool has been a huge blessing.  William and I had a busy last week of school. Monday, our class read Hi Fly Guy and the kids got in groups and acted it out. Tuesday, we had the staff vs. fifth grade kickball game. The teachers won again. The librarian from our public library came and explained the...

 Wow! We are wrapping up the end of the school year! This Thursday is the last day! YES! We've been doing end of the year projects at school, going to end of the year parties, and thinking about all the fun we are going to have this summer. Friday was Van's preschool graduation. Finally, after 3 years, he is moving up to Kindergarten! He looked so big and cute at the ceremony. They had him wearing a cap and gown. The kids sang songs, accepted their diplomas, and then we watched a slideshow. My favorite picture was the one of Van sitting with the principal of McClintock High School. They share the same birthday. He is retiring this year. After the program, we went back to the preschool for cake and punch. Ms. Smith told me, "Of all the kids leaving, I'm going to miss Van the most." I figure once in a while we'll have to go back and say hello. I for one am going to miss seeing his teachers a few times a week. We've become close and they've done su...

My mom with her twin daughters!

Happy Mother's Day to all our wonderful mothers! This was a pretty good week.  My class finished all of their testing and did an outstanding job. I try really hard not to stress about testing, but when there is so much talk about test scores, it's hard to not stress about it. In the end my students "rocked the test" as we like to say at Carminati. Thank goodness. I haven't told William yet, but he actually scored the highest in our class on the math test.  He'll find out at the awards ceremony. I volunteered to be in charge of Teacher Appreciation Week this year. Some of you might remember how annoyed I was last year that no one put together some kind of note or treat for the teachers. I don't know, I guess teaching in Utah with those wonderful PTA members really spoiled me. They always went all out to show us their gratitude. So, as a parent of my school, I put together a letter to the student body and asked them to bring a flower to their teachers...

Hi Family! May is here! Guess what's in May? THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL--May 19th! We can't wait! Isaac's last day was Friday. He taught his final day of Digital Hybrid class and completed his final student teacher observation. Woo hoo! If we could describe this past week in one word, it would be TIRING. Tuesday felt like a Friday, and well, when that happens, the rest of the week drags on and on and on. We hardly ever watch TV in the evenings, but this week, that's what we did after school. We'd watch Mr. Rogers or whatever else we felt like watching. We didn't have the energy for anything else. Van came down with the stomach flu on Thursday. He was up every hour during the night moaning for water and a cool cloth for his fever. It felt like having a newborn baby. Isaac and I were both exhausted Friday. Since Van was sick and Isaac had to teach his class on Friday morning, Susan James taught my class for the first hour of school. She is the special educa...