grade 2.7

Last week proved to be an exciting one, even without Thanksgiving and a real Black Friday and putting up the Christmas tree.

I participated in the first-ever teddy bear dress up contest at school on Thursday. On the morning of the contest, I decided we should leave for school unreasonably early so we could get a prime parking spot and visit my favorite cafe for a cinnamon roll and hot chocolate. I also caught up on the curling news. I have decided that curling looks like an interesting sport (sweeping rocks along ice with a broom! so much fun!) and I will try it once I am old enough.

I had dressed my fluffy white bear in my Seattle Sounders uniform and cleats. My bear was the first to arrive, and he was followed by hundreds of bears. He was seated next to a bear dressed as Russell Wilson - complete with a helmet and football and that reminds me that I left my NFL football in Texas. At the very end of the day, the six winners were announced and I won third place! Congratulations to me and my bear!

We also picked up my glowing report card at the end of the day. I continue to be a superstar at reading and math and French. Despite very limited exposure to French before this school year, I have picked up this new language incredibly quickly. I can count to 20 and my vocabulary is expanding by the day. My written work in my cahier is neat and accurate. I know weather, seasons, household objects, and colors.
I mean colours.
I mean les couleurs.

On Friday, my mom had a conference with my teachers. More and more awesome things were said about me. I have been assessed as reading at a grade 2.7 level. I am working on multiplication. I have a memory like a trap. I am excelling at science and social studies and pretty much everything.

So long, farewell (graduation stories)

It was either a lifetime ago or maybe just yesterday, I graduated from the primary program at my Montessori school in Austin. The celebration and ceremonies lasted throughout the week. 

Early in the week, our class presented our cultural challenge. I recited Hickory Dickory Dock. There was a magic show, some jokes, more jokes, dancing, a cello performance, and the traditional singing of So Long, Farewell to bid us graduates goodbye. I was paired with my dearest friend for our departure. Someone please pass a box of kleenex around to the parents. The children love this farewell song, until it sinks in that it means we will never be together like this again. 

Now that I have moved on, we don't really need to talk about how not smoothly graduation week went. Despite the 23 years of tradition, plans were changed. Parents were uninvited. Then re-invited. Then days changed. times changed. (so not Montessori)

The week was darkened by the fact that 38.8% of my peers who were eligible to graduate were retained even though they had each completed three years of a Montessori program. Some children didn't even know they'd be staying behind in primary until the rest of us starting preparing for graduation celebrations. It was sad, confusing, and unfair - to the students and the parents.

At our graduation ceremony, each graduate was introduced. Our guide said three words about us - beginning with the first letter of our first name. 

ambidextrous. affectionate. analytical. 

I received my roses, my diploma, and the coveted key to the universe. 

And some ice cream. 

On the last day of school, I was the first to arrive. just like on the first day of school. just like most days. (Yes, I wore the same shirt two days in a row. It was done in the name of school pride.)  

On the last day, the primary students were included in the school-wide Gates of Life graduation after being told we wouldn't be. Many students who have graduated from the school over the past 23 years attend to form the gates through which the new graduates run. I plan to return to Austin to help my friends graduate from upper elementary in grade 6. Is that really only five years from now?

After Gates of Life, we enjoyed a picnic on our beautiful playground. That playground is the best part of the school, of any school anywhere: twelve acres of largely undeveloped land and endless opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Sure, we found some black widows and there were scorpions and snakes (just like home!) but those become excellent lessons.  

I left the picnic to spend my last time in the primary classroom and commit everything to memory. the reading shelf. the science shelf. my water cup. the cozy reading corner. the geometric solids.  

So long, farewell, auch wiedersehen, good night.
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.

butterfly

This fat little baby, who isn't so little or fat anymore, started back in swimming lessons today.

Earlier in the week, we went to the pool for a swim assessment. (What's the point? I am awesome.) The assessment showed that I have sloppy freestyle form. but so fast. Fantastic with breaststroke and backstroke.

Where I really shine is butterfly.
I should also remind my readers that I just turned six.

I am signed up in a class that should have a total of four children but I am the only one enrolled - or maybe the children are just too lazy to get to the pool early in the morning. So I got a private lesson! A whole session of intensive butterfly instruction!

Hey, Bruce Robertson, with my Canadian citizenship paperwork in hand, I am coming after your record as Canada's best butterfly guy ever.

ladybird

This really is the best (only tolerable) time of year in Texas when the wildflowers are in full bloom and we can stay outside playing soccer late into the evening without catching on fire.

I am not even going to try to describe what it is like to drive up MoPac and see the median overflowing with bluebonnets. 

Not last week but the week before, I went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. twice! 

My mom had an afternoon conference at my school - the last one with me as a primary student. So we thought three hours in the garden, en route to school, would give us plenty of time. (Wrong, I would've stayed all day.) It was my first time visiting since the Luci and Ian Family Garden opened. And the best feature is the exercise equipment right there in the meadow. They have exercise bikes and ellipticals and what else? bench press. It was the best thing we'd ever seen and we had to wonder why we didn't know about that and why we don't have a annual membership and go there every single day. 

Disclaimer: in the photo above, I am not sour. It was just really bright.

I have also been keeping close track of what is growing in my own yard. (see below)

Last year, the Easter bunny brought me a pack of wildflower seeds to cover 100 square feet of ground. I scattered them immediately throughout the front yard. I did get two bluebonnets and a million flowers that I cannot identify.