Final Fourth Grade Feats
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 10:09PM Today. Today was a wonderful day, now that it's over. Today was Christian's final day of school.
Final day of waking up before the crack of 8am.
Final day of driving back and forth between our house and the school four times before 3:30pm because I forgot his lunch/his red shirt/his reading log/a flower for the teacher's birthday.
Final day of realizing I did not sign his planner. Again.
Final day of asking him if he's done his homework yet. Now? Did you start it? Is it finished? YET?!
Final day of laying out his uniform and hoping that one of the outer layers that he likes to wear is clean. -ish.
At the end-of-year conference with his teacher, she told me that she didn't really have much to say because Christian is a great student, really smart, so capable...she asked if I had any concerns or anything that I wanted to talk about. The first thing I said was that we (Christian and I) had already talked about fifth grade and procrastination, with the intention of working on that. Next year.
Because honestly? This year that ship has sailed, and we not only missed the boat, we weren't even close to setting foot on it since we were running so late to get to the dock.
And I'm only being partially figurative here.
His last three projects were a book report, a 3-D animal to go along with a report he researched and prepared during school hours, and a presentation on two Native American Texan tribes.
His book report assignment was to create a new, and large, book jacket for the story he had read. This was a fun assignment, except for doing it the night before it was due. I skimmed the book as we were working on the various elements of the report (write a blurb, write a summary, include a review, write an author biography, draw an original cover design) so that I could be helpful to him as he sorted out his ideas and decided what was important to include (and in the case of the blurb, what was important to leave out). That was a late night. I also woke him up early (6:45) to finish what he wasn't able to before 11:30pm. Anytime before 7am (okay, 10am) around here isn't all that pretty. I recall that being a long day.
And I would like to say that after that we learned our lesson as the year neared its end, with two projects to go. Yet...I cannot say that with any integrity whatsoever. The 3-D animal was next: a lynx. I was all set to help him make one out of clay, which is what he told me he planned to do (clay was the same medium he used to make his animal last year). When I brought up the idea that he ought to get started on his animal (for the seventieth time), and that I would get the clay, he informed me that he was not able to use clay after all since that was what he used last year. I was so glad to get this info two days before the project was due. One day before may have done me in...but we had an entire extra day! (Look at me, looking at the silver lining!) Instead of causing a ruckus, I took a deep breath and headed to Walmart with Christian so he could help me pick out the materials he would use to create his big-headed cat.
Styrofoam and fuzzy yarn saved the day.
Our ultimate undertaking (as in last) was the Native American tribes project. He handled the written portion of the assignment quickly and quite well. Once that was done, we turned to the more difficult task: a model of the dwelling of each tribe. One would be a pueblo and the other was a kind of hut. He had the option to draw one and to make a 3-D of one, or to do a 3-D of both.
He wanted to do a 3-D of both. Of course. Figuring out the pueblo was not hard. We gathered several boxes in graduating sizes and he painted them; then they were stacked. (I cut the windows out. Box-cutters + 10-year-old boys is something I'm not ready for yet. And still...I managed to cut my own thumb...on the box. I know, I have a very special skill set.)
Mike actually prepared a better paint mixture (with real paint, not just the kids' tempera that I have for their artsy stuff) and Christian did the top smaller boxes in that paint, which was a lighter color. We were all pleased with how it turned out.
The hut, however, presented some problems. Our materials consisted of the following: real sticks from outside, poster board, glue, pieces of felt, cut up hoodies, and twine. We fooled with it until late into the night, and it still looked like a drunk teepee; finally Christian had to go to bed. Mike then took the hut to task, gave it a good talking to, and used hangers to cajole it into submission. Gorilla tape also ensured a hut that kept its shape. (I'm pretty sure the actual Native Americans did not have Gorilla tape, but to be fair, we didn't have willow trees, only oak; they're nowhere near as bendy. We have to call it even, I think.) In the end it looked impressive. This was definitely a family effort.
This last week consisted of a Memorial Day holiday, one full day of school (or at least one day of being at school for seven hours), and two mornings. Field Day was canceled because the weather yesterday saturated the park ground across the street, so one of the parents of a student offered to have a pool party and lunch at his house. (What a treat! This was actually the second day in a row the class got to do this at a friend's house!)
And now, after a school year that seems like it just started yesterday, and at the same time like it would never come to an end, we are done with fourth grade. Christian is a fifth-grader.
Reader Comments (1)
Oh, the joys of school! We're in the process of registering JJ for kindergarten and getting all of that lined out. It feels like it's dragging on forever, and I just want it to start already! I have a feeling I'll be eating those words very soon!