End of the Year Party!

On Friday, May 23rd (the last day of school), we had our End of the Year Party! As usual, we had tons of food. We had smoked weenies/ sausages, chips, dip, cookies, ice cream, and drinks!! Our class, along with Ms. Summers (Eric's mom) enjoyed a wonderful End of the Year party as well as our last day together!! Thanks to all who made the party possible!

Below is a picture of our class (minus Ms. Malcom, who was taking the picture) at the End of the Year party!

Eric and Ms. Summers pose for a picture as they enjoy their party food! Ms. Summers has been a god-sent to our class this year!! She was always there when we needed her and she came to visit our class every afternoon! Eric is very lucky to have such a wonderful mom!

You can tell by the look on her face that Lucy was sad that her friend, Lexi, was not going to be in her class next year. Lexi is going to middle school! Lucy and Lexi have been great friends this year! I know that they will miss each other a lot!

Towards the end of the party, Lexi mom and dad joined us! Nelson, Lexi's dad, has been our room-daddy for the past two years!! Ms. Hairston, Lexi's mom, has joined us on many of our field trips, parties, etc. Both of them have been wonderful and have taken the time to get to know each student in our class. Izaiah definitately enjoyed their company on the last day of school!

Before everyone left for the day, our class, Ms. Summers, Ms. Hairston, and Nelson all gathered in a circle to sing our favorite songs from the last two years! We also all gave our End of the Year "speeches". It was a moment that I will cherish forever!

The theme of our End of the Year party was Karoke. Ms. Malcom brought her Karoke machine to school and we all took turns "singing our hearts out" in the microphone. Below is a video of Izaiah enjoying the Karoke machine! He is singing his favorite song, "One, Two, Three, Weee!". Izaiah was also very intrigued with the Karoke machine itself! This is so precious! I apologize that it is sideways! I tried all morning to turn the picture but I couldn't. Just bend your neck sideways and ENJOY!!! :-)

I had to add this video too! This is what happens when you leave Tradarius alone with a camera and Karoke machine!! This video is too cute!! He would be so embarrased if he knew that I included this video on the blog!

As you can see, we had a wonderful last day of school!!

5th Grade Graduation Ceremony!

Due to the fact that there are so many 5th graders, graduation ceremonies are divided into two days, with 1/2 of the 5th graders graduating on Thursday and the rest graduating on Friday.

On Thursday, May 22nd, the 5th graders in our class (Lexi, Tyrisha, Eric, and Tradarius) walked across the stage to receive their "Certificates of Completion" for successfully completing the 5th grade. This was a very emotional, yet proud, day for Ms. Malcom, Ms. Stowe, and Ms. Ford!

Below, Lexi receives her "Certificate of Completion" from Ms. Malcom and Ms. Dubois!

Lexi is very happy and poses for the camera as she exits the stage!

Tyrisha is all smiles after she receives her certificate for completing the 5th grade! She is so excited to be going to middle school next year!

Eric has just received his "Certificate of Completion" and exits the stage! In addition to his certificate, Eric received several other awards during the ceremony! Way to go Eric! Behind Eric, you can see Tradarius receiving his certificate from Ms. Malcom and Ms. Dubois!

Tradarius has a huge smile as he exits the stage after receiving his certificate!

Eric and Ms. Summers (his mom) pose for pictures after the graduation ceremony was over! Ms. Summers is so proud of all of Eric's accomplishments this year!

Two of the graduates! Lexi and Eric take a break after the graduation ceremony! They are wearing the graduation hats that Ms. Ford made for them! Thanks Ms. Ford!
Eric poses for a picture with his teachers! We are so proud of him!

I can't believe that this day has come! I am so proud of all of our graduates: Lexi, Tyrisha, Eric, and Tradarius!! They have worked so hard all year long and accomplished so many of their goals!! They are a great group of students and I will miss them so much next year! Good luck in middle school!

5th Grade Dance!

On Monday, May 19th (after school), our fifth graders (Eric, Lexi, Tradarius, and Tyrisha) as well as Ms. Malcom, Ms. Stowe, and Ms. Summers (Eric's mom) all attended the 5th grade dance that took place in the gym!! We had a blast and danced for 2 hours straight! Below are some pictures from the dance!

Before the dance, we had a pizza party! Yum!

Our Wallflowers! Just kidding! Ms. Stowe and Tradarius wait for the dance to begin!

Ms. Summers, Eric, Lexi, and Tradarius dance a group dance to one of the slow songs that were played!

Eric was asked to dance by one of the 5th grade girls at the dance. He complied but didn't put too much effort into the dance!! Ha! Ha!

Lexi was one of the MANY girls that Tradarius asked to dance! Come to find out, he is quite the ladies man and went around to almost every girl in the gym and asked them to dance with him! Every girl that he asked said "Yes!". Luckily, Lexi got the first dance! Ms. Malcom got the second! :-)
The dance could not end without Lexi and Eric dancing together! Hopefully, Lucy will not see this picture. Lucy was too young to attend the dance. However, she told Lexi that she could NOT dance with Eric! Uh-Oh!

We had a great time at the 5th grade dance and were so happy that we got to spend this time together!

Special Olympics Track & Field

As promised, Special Olympics Track & Field was rescheduled for Monday, May 19th. It was cancelled earlier, in March, due to cold, rainy weather.

We had a great time at the track & field events this year.

Below, is a picture of our class as we sat in the stands of the stadium waiting for the rest of the schools to arrive!

Ms. Smith, Kayla's sister, joined us for the Special Olympics events. Kayla was so excited that she was able to attend! They had a great time and, like any older sister, Ms. Smith cheered Kayla on as she competed in her events!

Ms. Stowe, Tyrisha, Izaiah, and Tradarius pose for a picture as they wait!

Tyrisha was so excited to begin her race. We signed her up for the 100-meter dash this year because she is just full of energy! She ran the entire way as fast as she could. She smiled and yelled "Woo-hoo!" the entire way! Too cute!

We signed Tradarius up for the standing long-jump because he is so good at this skill!

Tradarius was awarded 2nd place for the standing long jump!! Yay Tradarius! His competition was Ernest, one of his friends from Ms. Henderson's class.

Lucy and Eric pose for a picture! Many members of Lucy's family came to cheer her on as she ran the 50-meter dash and competed in the softball throw. When her aunt left, Lucy had a difficult time. However, her good buddy, Eric, was there to cheer her up!

Thanks to all that made Special Olympics a success, either by your presence or support!! Way to Go to our athletes!! You did an excellent job and gave each skill your best! We are so proud of you!

Field Day!

Today (Friday) was field day for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Since the 1st and 2nd grade field day was cancelled yesterday, due to rainy weather, we allowed Lucy and Kayla (our younger students) to participate in field day as well. We had such a great time and I wanted to share some pictures of this fun-filled day with you!

One of the games/ races involved bouncing on a large ball a short distance, around a cone, and back. Tyrisha was actually very good at this game and enjoyed it very much!

Another game consisted of using a golf club to putt a ball into a ring! Lexi was so dedicated to completing this task! Her dedication payed off and she was able to complete it!

The potato sack race was so much fun! Kayla was a little weary about getting into the sack at first. She said that she "wasn't a potato". However, we talked her into participating and she loved it!

The three-legged race was my favorite. Tradarius and Kayla were partners, Lexi and Tyrisha were partners, and Ms. Malcom and Izaiah were partners! This game/ race was so much fun!!!

Oh boy! It was hilarious trying to get Izaiah to walk on these cups! With practice and a little assistance from Ms. Malcom and Tradarius, he had so much fun! He liked this game so much that it took some coercing to get him to move on to the next activity!

This is such a great picture! Kayla was very good at the ring toss game. As you can see, she rang the cone!

Tradarius was awesome at throwing the horseshoes! He rang 2 out of the 4 horseshoes on the pole!! Wonderful job!

Eric loved this game/ race. This game required him to balance a tennis ball on a racket as he raced a short distance, around a cone, and back!

As you can see from the pictures, Field Day was so much fun!

Who needs Hannah Montana when you have KAYLA?

Kayla sat down with Ms. Stowe's electric guitar the other day and TOTALLY surprised us with her beautiful singing abilities! I hope that you enjoy this performance. I think that it is just precious and says a lot about the improvement in Kayla's self-confidence!

Who needs Hannah Montana when you have KAYLA???

Look out Middle School, Here We Come!!!

We have been dreading this moment all year long, but it is almost time to say "goodbye" to our wonderful 5th graders (Eric, Lexi, Tyrisha, and Tradarius) and wish them the best of luck in middle school!

In preparation for this major milestone in the lives of our 5th graders, Eric, Lexi, Tyrisha, Tradarius, Ms. Stowe, and Ms. Malcom took a trip to Veterans Memorial Middle School (the middle school that they will all be attending next year).

We were all very nervous upon arriving at the middle school. However, once we walked in the classroom and saw a few familiar faces (Avia, Kyla, and Tamya- the triplets that were in our class last year), we felt much better. Although Ms. Armstrong (the teacher) was out sick, her assistants were extremely kind and welcoming.

All of our students gathered around in a circle with all of the middle school students. In this circle, each student told the other students a little about themselves and what they like to do. The middle school students even told us their favorite things about middle school as well as how the middle school is different from elementary school. They also answered any questions that we had about middle school. In addition, one of the middle school students recited "Green Eggs and Ham" and Tyrisha sang "Over the Rainbow" for the class. Both of these performances were a great treat!

Tyrisha was "in heaven" once she saw the triplets. She has missed them so much this year and anticipated seeing them at the middle school. She immediatley pulled her chair up next to Avia's desk and had a big smile on her face the remainder of the visit! I think that she will have a great time in middle school!

This is a picture of our 5th graders outside of the middle school!

I love this picture and had to share it. Look out Middle School, Here We Come!!!

Tears come to my eyes as I think about losing this group of wonderful 5th grade students. However, after our visit to the middle school, I feel confident that they will be very happy next year. I am sure that they will bring just as much joy to their middle school teachers' lives as they have to mine!

Teacher Appreciation Week!

Last week (May 5th-9th) was Teacher's Appreciation Week! This year has been such a great year for me! I have had wonderful students and wonderful parents! In such a short time, our students have learned so much and come so far! I am so very proud of them and so very proud to be their teacher!

On Tuesday, Lucy brought me flowers in celebration of Teacher's Appreciation Week. She was very proud and told me that she picked them out of her own yard!! This was such a sweet gesture and I really did appreciate them! They were so beautiful! Lucy also surprised me with various other gifts throughout the week! Thanks to Lucy and her family!

On Thursday, I had several meetings and was a little stressed out (although I tried not to let it show). Even so, Tradarius seemed to know that I needed a little "cheering up". While I was at my meetings, the whole class (led by Tradarius) went outside to pick me some flowers! Isn't this the cutest picture ever?

When I returned to the room, I was very surprised to see a vase filled with flowers that they had hand-picked for me!! A tear came to my eye as I pictured all of them outside trying to find the perfect flower for my beautiful bouquet! This sure did cheer me up!

On Friday, Ms. Summers (Eric's mom) showed up with cards, gifts, and balloons for all of us teachers. She also brought hot wings, fries, chips, cookies, and drinks for everyone to enjoy in celebration of Teacher's Appreciation Week! We are so thankful to Ms. Summers for d0ing this for us!! We are truly thankful to her and the time, support, and love that she gives to us and our students!

In the end, I must say that this was such a wonderful week! I want to thank all of you that made this week so special for us! We greatly appreciate all that you do as well!!