2nd grade wrap up

With June, comes the end of the school year. And boy are we ready for summer around here!! Regan has worked her tail off in 2nd grade, and earned herself some fun this summer. We are beyond proud of her accomplishments, and will take this post to brag a little about our sweet 8 year old. 

Who by the way, has grown taller by the minute lately! Here she is back in September...

During the "awards" rally, we were able to really see all that she has accomplished this year; and boy are we impressed! 

She improved her MAP testing scores to some pretty high ranks (numbers that mean nothing to most of us). 

She ran the mile in 10:23 minutes and earned National Fitness overall in phy ed class

Her art teacher entered a piece of her artwork to the Bloomington Art Show

Her music teacher invited her to try out for the Angelica Choir (we're still waiting to hear if she made it)

Her amazing homeroom teacher sent home a hand-written letter to each student at the end of the year, and reading it made me tear up. He talked about how she is a sponge in class and how he could always count on her to partner up with any student: the ones who caught on, or the ones who needed help. She took his letter to heart too, and it is now pinned in her bulletin board in her room. Talk about making an impression on a young child. 

I'm telling you, this girl loves to read. So yesterday, after the last bell rang for the school year, it was no surprise that she hopped in the pool with a book. And read. And read. And read. 

Today I pulled out a sheet she was sent home with yesterday (3rd grade high frequency words) just to see what we should work on for the summer.

She breezed through that sucker no problem, reminding me that she does in fact, LOVE to read! 

Here's a little interview we had:
Favorite color: Neon pink
Favorite singer: Taylor Swift
What do you want to be when you grow up: Art teacher
Favorite restaurant: Rain Forest Cafe
Favorite food: Buttered noodles
Favorite sport you play/ed this year: Ice skating
Favorite thing to do with Sidney: Play Barbies
Favorite thing to do with Lincoln: Play with his toys
Summer goals: "to eat as much candy as possible", on a more serious note "read everyday"

She suckered me into buying her a donut as we celebrate the end of 2nd grade.
Congratulations kiddo, we are so proud of you! 

Year-end celebrations

Regan is wrapping up her time in second grade. We are so thankful for her wonderful teachers this year, she has grown exponentially. It truly is amazing. As we wrap up the year, I was able to get myself into her class and help out with the final party. 

My "station" was the teacher gift. Thank goodness we have an amazing group of moms who organize all these parties so I just have to show up and follow instructions for the activity. 

Each student wrote out a statement of thanks for their teacher. 

And then added some fun finger stamps. Regan's teacher happens to love tennis so she included a bunch of thumb print tennis balls on her note of thanks. 

And what is second grade without a BFF!? These two have their girl-drama/challenges, but at the end of the day, they are always good friends. 

I think all these kids adore that teacher in the middle. He may appear young, but his ability to teach is amazing!

 I snuck away from my craft station to watch Regan in a game of "walk while hoola hooping" relay. Yea that seems like an impossible task!

And we rounded out the morning with a picnic on the lawn, complete with dad!

We love you Regan!

Happy end of second grade!

Olympic Day

Regan's school does something called "Olympic Day" towards the end of the school year. Think Track and Field day in an organized chaos type of way. 

Normally I have volunteered for this event, along with many other events throughout the year. However, this year I didn't get to spend as much time volunteering in the classroom, but choose to help out 'behind the scenes' in all the ways I could (folding, donating, etc).
During Olympic Day, Sidney, Lincoln and I ventured to the school with some classroom food items for another upcoming 'fun day' that is being planned. After a quick drop off of the items, we headed outside to snap a few pictures of the kiddos. 

(It was too bright for Lincoln who hid Sidney with his big hat) 

I like that this day is spent outside all but a 1.5 hour lunch break/cool off period. The kids run relays, kick soccer balls, play tug of war (girls won in Regan's class!) and get extended time on the play ground. 

It's a lot of chaos, a lot of time spent chatting with BFF's and a lot of memories being made. And they come home smelling like fresh air, with sunkissed cheeks and weary muscles.

Regan Grade 2 Music Program

Regan had her 2nd grade music program this week titled "To Grandma's House" after the popular book Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. What a sweet program it was and our little star had a speaking part, a singing solo as well as an instrument part. She was so excited in this weeks leading up to it, coming home to tell us all about music class and the extra practices. 

I'm telling ya, this girl has absolutely no problems being on stage. She is proud and fearless; hopefully those traits will take her far in life. Click HERE for a video of her singing (and a super silly song about 'grandpa's whiskers). 

While Sidney listened to each of the songs, pointing out all of Regan's friends on stage, this sweet guy slept in my lap the entire time. 

It was a great program and we are so proud of Regan!