Last week, Luke and I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge together, along with 59 other 2nd graders from his school, some of their parents and their teachers. The kids had worked all year on the Golden Gate Heart Walk during PE. They logged the miles they walked, with a goal in mind. Walking the bridge was the culmination of their hard work. There was magic in the air. Really. Here's the thing. It was 90 degrees--on the Golden Gate Bridge--in San Francisco. That NEVER happens!!! Kids were walking in tank tops and shorts. We were hot. That is about as atypical a day as any of us had experienced in the Bay Area.
Even though it meant we had to arrange a special babysitter for Emma, and Troy had to miss a few hours of work in the afternoon, I really wanted to go on this field trip with Luke. I am so glad I did. It was an incredible experience to walk the Golden Gate Bridge with my 8 year old son. As I walked, I thought, "Wow, I'm an adult doing this for the 1st time, some people will never do this in a lifetime, and here's my son doing this at age 8." Incredible.
Now we are all caught up in the end of the year madness. There's school plays, talent shows, Fine Arts Day, Field Trips and the Big Daddy of them all the OPEN HOUSE and Ice Cream Social. That was Wednesday night. On Tuesday, I was at the school for 2.5 hours putting up bulletin boards, decorating the classroom and simply helping our teacher get ready. That was a drop in the bucket for the number of hours she prepared and the various other parents who also helped. Even Troy came in and helped hang some gallery panels (see photo) that displayed some of the outstanding art projects the kids did this year. Luke was very proud to escort us around his classroom and show off a little. We now have the end of the year picnic next week, followed by a few stray days in early June, and 2nd Grade is complete. I committed to making a "Memory Book" as a class gift for the teacher, so I have some work to do. The students did half the work themselves, though. They wrote out their "favorite second grade memory," and now I'm going to add their photos. I adored Luke's teacher this year, so I'm happy to do this and know I'll enjoy the project. It gives me a chance to use some of those photos I've been taking all year!
Our school had a fantastic year, due in no small part to our new principal. We are quite possibly the envy of the other schools in our district, because we got the cool new guy this year. He's in his 30's, not burned out, full of energy and enthusiasm, the Dad of young kids himself. He introduced inventive new programs, like a monthly award ceremony where students are recognized in several areas for their positive achievements. He shakes their hand and gives them a certificate and there's a lot of pride in that accomplishment for the student. You can see it on their faces. He added "Monday Morning Meetings," where the whole school (all 18 classrooms & the teachers/a total of 400 students) gathers on the blacktop to kick off the week with announcements, recognition of achievements and the school pledge. He invited parents to attend these meetings and it is fabulous to see this type of community building in a public school. He initiated an enrichment program during school hours, taught by the teachers. Both teachers and students (temporarily) got to leave behind standards, assessments, testing, & the failure of NCLB, and do something they were passionate about, like photography, cooking, yoga, gardening, rocketry, etc. These types of multi-sensory learning experiences are so vital to higher learning and just plain fun. And he even plays Ball Wall with the kids. I like the guy!
