Open House

This past week we had open house at the girls school.  For those of you that don't have children in elementary school or it has been a long time, let me give you a brief description about what open house is and is not.  It is not a time to discuss in-depth issues with the teacher about your child.  It is a time to look at your child's classroom and usually some work that they have done.

Lucy's teacher made a check list of all the things she wanted Lucy to show me.  Lucy had to carry around the clipboard and check list and check the items off after she had explained them to me.  She showed me various art projects they had done...

She showed me the flags, the calendar they go over every day, the computers, her seat and the work that she has to finish each morning before the day starts, the textbooks they use in class...

...and many other things.  This was a great idea her teacher had.  The teacher just stood there and welcomed the parents while the children took great pride in showing off the work and  classroom.  Lucy had a lot of fun walking me around her classroom showing me everything.  I quick snapped a picture of her and her teacher (Mrs. Ro, who has been teaching in this school for over 15 years) before we headed out to Taylor's classroom.

Now, by the time you get to 5th grade things are much different.  There was no cute little clipboard and classroom tour.  And by the time you are in 5th grade you are too cool to get your picture taken at your desk or with your teacher.  :)
Taylor's teacher is also an awesome teacher.  Her name is Ms. Anthony and she won teacher of the year last year.  She is already working very hard to prepare her students for jr. high.  One of Taylor's first projects was to write a paper about a civilization that she had made up.  The civilization had to have a plant that had a special power.  The plant's power had to fit within Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  (Is this confusing you all yet?...Yes, it was incredibly confusing to me as well at first.  Thankfully, the paper was based off of a book they had read in class and her teacher had given very detailed instructions of what she was looking for.)  Taylor decided her plant was going to have the ability to make people fly.  This was the first paper Taylor had ever written and while there was a very steep learning curve for her she did a great job on it. (It ended up being almost 4 pages single spaced!)
The second part of the project was she had to build a replica of the plant. She wasn't into getting her picture taken in her classroom, but she did want a picture of her plant.  She was very proud of it.

It was a great open house for both girls.  Before school starts each year, we begin to pray for each of their teachers.  God has blessed our prayers above and beyond what we could have imagined.  We are so very thankful for His provision to us each school year.