Yep. You guessed it.
This year has been incredible. Aeryn looks so much bigger to me than she did in the fall. She's learned multiplication tables, improved her reading, and made a ton of friends. She was able to do some fantastic art projects this year and really loves when we go somewhere and she recognizes one of Monet's paintings. She had the best teacher (Mrs. Mary) and actually told me she didn't want to go to 4th grade next year, but stay in 3rd. The year has been that awesome.
This year I chose to keep her out of speech therapy. It was a nerve wracking decision because I wasn't sure she was ready to move on, but she is so social that I wanted to see if she would progress more quickly learning from her peers. Also, I didn't want her to be pulled out of class time and miss something else (like math) in the process. It seems to have been an OK decision. At the beginning of 2nd grade she was in the 3rd percentile (you read that right) for expressive language. She and her 2nd grade teacher did not fit each other well and she made little progress that entire year. Now, she's just barely behind her peers. It's such a huge improvement and I'm so grateful for it. Despite our efforts at home, there is something to be said for good teachers who really care about your kids! They make all the difference in the world.
Her class did the neatest end of year project. Each student read a different Magic Tree House book and then built a tree house that represented their story. Aeryn read "Mummies in the Morning."
She struggled a little with words like "sarcophagus" but read the whole book with minimal assistance. Her tree house was a blast to put together and took great self-control on my part to not make the whole thing for her. We had so much fun gathering sticks and building the tree house out of popsicle sticks. I was relegated to the role of hot-glue administrator.
She drew Jack and Annie, the Hieroglyphics from the Pyramid, cut out dozens of construction paper oak leaves, made a colorful rope ladder, and a popsicle stick mummy. When she came home from school today she'd forgotten to bring the project. We headed straight back to the school to get it because I love it so much I wasn't ready to part with it.
The year has not always been easy, but I'd say it's been well worth it. She is growing up before my very eyes and if I let myself admit it, I really do love it.
I hadn't really thought about the fact that Aeryn is about the same age as my youngest. From my point of view, however, my youngest always seems so . . . young . . . but that's probably because on the other end, I'm dealing with kids getting ready to head on to higher education.
ReplyDeleteVery cute tree house!