Thankful

This sweet girl made my day. Sweet Makenzie, I am so thankful for you and am so glad that I get to be your teacher! I love you! 

The Grinch

Every Year, our sweet librarian at school acts out a Christmas story. This year she did How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We always get to wear our pajamas to school. Some of the fourth grade teachers wore Grinch pajamas and got to pose with the Grinch herself! :) Davis and Kamie Bowersock also joined my class to hear the story. They were so cute! :) 

Band Concert

Braden is playing the French Horn this year in beginning band. He is pretty good....in fact, during tryouts he scored a perfect 10 and his band director was pretty excited about the sounds he could make. 

 Here he is giving us a Christmas concert in the living room

Here is he is at the start of his first band concert. 

We are proud of you, Braden! We can't wait to watch you march at the football games when you get to Klein High School! 

Flashback

Just a cute picture of Nolan's first day of school. Not sure what happened to Logan and Braden's first day pictures, but if I find them, I will post them. :) These are Nolan's great teachers, Mrs. Fitzpatrick and Mrs. Tiller. He is having a great year so far...continuing to make all A's on his report card and reading like a champ! 

Character Dress Up Day

Every Year, our school has a Character Dress Up Day where the kids dress up as their favorite storybook character OR according to the theme of our school. This year, our school them is all about the fine arts and the library theme is "Royal Readers" so Steve's fourth grade team all decided to dress up as the rock band, Queen. They were hilarious and definitely had a good time! 

Last Day of School

Gotta take the last day of school pictures. I have also included the first day of school pictures again so that you could see how much they have grown! :) Didn't get a picture of Logan on the last day!

First Day of School....August 2011

Braden: First Day of School................Last Day of School

I do think he grew a little bit....

Nolan: First Day of School................Last Day of School 

hard to see how tall he got, but you can definitely see that he is losing his sweet baby face....with Mrs. Parson's on the first day of school and Mrs. Pruski on the last day! They job shared so it was hard to get both of them in a picture together....he had Mrs. Parsons for Reading and Language Arts in the morning and Mrs. Pruski for Math, Science, and Social Studies in the afternoon. 

Nolan and his sweet friend, Emma, on the last day of school. Nolan and Emma had Mrs. Lane together last year and Mrs. Parsons/Pruski together this year. We are hoping to be in second grade with Emma too, but you just never know....

Braden with many of his girlfriends on the last day of school...they dressed him up in a poodle skirt and a bow. I think he makes a pretty convincing girl. :) These girls LOVE Braden!!

Sock Hop

Another fun event for the 5th graders is the sock hop on the last day of school....the kids dress up in precious costumes....think Grease....girls are wearing adorable poodle skirts and the boys are dressed like Danny! So fun to watch them have such a great time! 

 It was definitely a Kennedy vs. Braden dance off in the chicken dance....they were very into it and both did a really great job! 

Earthworms Make America Great

Each year, I put on a play with my class and Mrs. Pruski's first grade class. It was a special year because Nolan was in Mrs. Pruski's class so he got to be in the play. It was a precious play about how Earthworms Make America Great. The kids learned all sorts of fun songs all about earthworms. We all had a great time! Nolan is still singing the songs from the play..... 

5th Grade Appreciation

5th graders get so many special things throughout the year, but probably the favorite thing is 5th grade appreciation! It is a whole day of nothing but fun! There are games, crafts, blow up waterslides, and food....nothing but fun. This year, we brought in a very special guest speaker, one of my best friends, Laura Wilkinson, who also happens to be an Olympic gold medalist in platform diving from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She gave such a great message about not letting anything get in the way of your dreams and that sometimes the hardest part of your dream is deciding to jump. It was so great to share her with the 5th graders. Each kid got to touch her special medal....so neat! We also brought in another special guest, Kacey Adams, who is a contortionist. She is also near and dear to my heart since I taught her in fourth grade and am very good friends with her family. It is amazing the things that girl could do with her body! Braden and his friends enjoyed WII dance and spent most of the day there. 

 Mrs. Balke and Mrs. Heider, Braden's teachers

 The Balke/Heider community

 Braden and his posse "getting down"

 Me with Laura and her daughter, Arella

Kacey Adams