Back to School Night and Feeling Better

Many of you have read my recent posts fretting about the school my kids go to. Overall it's a great public elementary school with top class staff. The principal is a great guy and really dedicated. Still, test scores went down this year and there are some people who are leaving for what seem like really weak reasons. All and all, I was a little worried. The I went to last night's Back to School Night and was totally blown away. The work the kids are doing in class was amazing and the teachers were so involved and so proud of the kids that I was amazed. It's not an easy time in public school and this school is doing a fabulous job!

This is AGB. He is in the 4th grade. What he is showing is a scrapbook the class made about the gold rush (remember we live in California). Each person had written a diary as if they were living in during the 49er gold rush and prospecting for gold in Sutters Fort. Then, they had each dressed in "prospector" type clothes and taken a picture for their class scrapbook with their "49er name". His was Beaver C. Morrison. He's also showing his wire sculpture and clay figure, both of which are baseball players.

Here is OPB. He is in first grade and showing me his work folder. The art in action program our district uses is amazing and they had such amazing things. He had written a book of "scary idioms" My favorite was "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't lead a bull to water".

This is CMB in the second grade. She is showing a piece of art in action drawn with chalk pastels that has her name hidden in the picture. Her class had also done a science project about the life of crawfish and snails. (we go to a math/science magnet school).

All and all, it was a great night. We also went to the science lab and the computer lab. All kids go to both labs at least once a week. We also visited the Reading Partners lab where kids who need a little extra reading help got twice a week instead of morning recess. AGB goes to reading partners and it has really helped him this year. I feel so much better!