Category: Uncategorized (Page 9 of 40)

The school’s talent night was held last Thursday night, and all the kids from Kindergarten through 8th grad participated, either as a class, or on their own. As always, it was a truly inspiring and somewhat mind-blowing showcase of creative talent. There were songs sung, comedy routines performed, and even a Indian classical dance number. The students acted as emcees, giving cute commentary after each act.

Kalama kicked off the evening with a Spring-themed performance, in which the kidlets snuck onto stage and disguised themselves as seeds in the “ground” while us audience members closed our eyes.  Then they emerged from the earth as they sang their song. I wasn’t well-positioned to see much but here is a tiny snippet that at least shows their flower costumes, which they worked hard on in art class. Next up it’s D’s close friend Lily singing Puff the Magic Dragon.

The Loowit (1st and 2nd grade) kids did an incredible version of The Jackson 5 song, “ABC,” but I didn’t record it. It involved all kinds of STOMP-like choreography and was quite complex!

Some of the most powerful performances were at the piano. This year someone stuck a GoPro camera in front of the piano, so you could see the faces of the players. When projected on the wall, along with the lollipop forest backdrop, it was very surreal.

That last image if of Jamison (6), D’s classmate, who played a beautiful song, and then was joined by his brother Oliver (3) on harmonica. The two did a little blues-infused jam!

Grandma Beverly stunned us (and everyone who sees us in public) when she delivered us this handmade, tricked out police officer “costume” (work of art).

You may recall D had asked Santa for a police officer costume made out of wool (best for our weather). Well Santa was likely out of wool in the proper police officer blue, so he just didn’t deliver.  But Grandma did!

And did she ever! Not only did she make a very detailed uniform, complete with official Camas Police patches and brass name tag and amulets, she also included sunglasses, a shoulder radio, receiver radios, a badge, a notebook, a stainless steel ticket writing case with a pad of personalized citations inside, a speed gun, binoculars, (real) handcuffs (real), several hats, a rain cover for the hat, police-blue t-shirts (with name), proper patent leather shoes, cozy sweaters (2) with name, a flashlight, a carry-all canvas tactical bag (with name), and even an “emergency” donut.

Grandma, we are simply in awe.

Thank you so much! Know that as I type this D is getting into the outfit now. We have gone out in public several times and are stopped every where we go with people wanting to know where we got such a complete and official-looking kit! The world is eager to reproduce your genius. Please put it on pintrest!

We’ve recently said “goodbye” to some beloved books and treasures, that we have outgrown…

The school puts on an art show every year, and this year I was pleased to help Jane of Art bring it all together. The exhibit featured work from every child Kindergarten and up, representing several mediums, including ceramics. We also had an interactive exhibit, at which visitors could participate in making a modeling clay version of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Here is just a fraction of the work on display!

Here are the different types of homes D made during his 2nd trimester at school, for the “Home” thematic.

D’s beloved teacher Katherine is using the FAST technique to teach reading and writing. As you remember, from the very first day of Kindergarten, the kidlets have been writing in class each day. Sometimes this takes the form of notes sent home to “Momy.”

Mommy! We are finishing our beautiful pictures.

Dear Mommy, I am finishing my talent (show) flower.

I love that his writing is being truly done by himself, sounding out the words.

Thanks to this constant practice, D will now sit and write something out, trying to spell it all on his own. This is a major shift, as in the past he would ask how to spell things. I so enjoy listening to him work out the letters; in this video he’s making a list of birthday gift wishes:

1. Argentina soccer jersey, not (player) Messi (already bought!)
2. Motorcycle helmet
3. Motorcycle ride-on (battery powered)

We got D signed up for t-ball a bit late, since we were wrapping up Taekwondo. He missed a few practices, but it didn’t matter. He got assigned to the “Giants” team…

At the first practice he attended, the coaches were relieved that at least one kid–our D!–could hold their mitt up to catch, could hit, and knew the basic rules! Most of the other kids were wandering around in a daze, had no concept of running to base, and had maybe never even thrown a ball. One coach called D a “ringer” since the very first time he watched him hit a ball, he, well hit it! And he could see D knew how to do follow through. (Yes, we’d been playing the backyard for a couple summers, off and on, with D’s t and wooden bat).

Really, the reason he’s good at the game is because he wants to be there (and many kids on the team are not even 5, and clearly didn’t choose the sport).

Here are a few snips from the very first practice, and then the very first game (he’s formidable as number 13!).

(and yes D’s hit collided with the “catcher” offscreen who wasn’t ready…thus the sound of tears).

He has since had several games — in fact the season is nearly over!– and I must say all the kids have improved vastly. Coach Paul is basically the most patient man on the planet! Dashiell is usually “pitcher” in the 3rd (final) inning, high praise indeed.

He is truly a natural athlete, and is good at every (ball) sport he’s tried so far, I think because he has an innate aptitude but also because he got early success in gymnastics, and that gave him coordination, confidence and body smarts.

Dashiell played the part of the Stick Pig in the Three Piggy Opera; it was quite a show. Here is a link to the entire (although edited in places to condense: warning–this is a long video!) performance:

We also enjoyed visiting the Tahoma classroom to hear their China-focused presentation (and the blues-style “China Blues” song with music video which was a highlight, hopefully to be linked soon to this page!), and were amazed at the depth of work studied and presented, in multiple formats (music, art, performace) in Loowit (1st and 2nd grades). Here is the program for the day’s events:

The trimester ended at school just before spring break, marked by Culminating Event, in which the students from each classroom present the work done in that term to family and friends in an open-house type setting.

We have been at Gardner now for several of these events, since this is our 3rd year. The rough format of these events usually is that the guests arrive and get seated in the Great Room (gym), with coffee and breakfast snacks, and then the littles usually assemble on the stage and sing a song, accompanied by our head of school Mark, on guitar  (you may remember D singing “I Love the Mountains”).  Then Mark makes some announcements, and the group split up and visit presentations given in individual classrooms.

This is Mark’s last year at Gardner. This is a painful for us, for a couple reasons. One is that we have not known the school without him, and his personality (easy going but firm on things that matter, British humor, considerate, thoughtful, great teacher, international background, and he plays guitar!) is such a large part of the culture we value so much on campus. Another is that his daughter Lily and D are quite close, and have been together all 3 years. We hope to keep in touch but as we all know this can be challenging and may not happen. I know it’s time for Mark to make a change, and change is never easy for anyone involved (I’m also hearing echoes of Tahoman Kadyn’s–Dashiell’s buddy– speech given at this event, about the challenge of moving to high school), but I am hopeful that all will be well.

Still, it’s a bit heart-wrenching.

Earlier in the term, I had sensed that Mark was kind of done with Gardner, which I understood. As in all things, often once you’re on the other side of a difficult decision you’ve moved on, and are ready to get to the next thing. So I wasn’t expecting to see Mark with his guitar again, I wasn’t expecting that magic that happens when 20 kids sing together on a stage.

So I was quite surprised that what happened was even better. Mark said to us in the audience: this time, you’re going to sing. He taught us a little pop song (made much better by him and us I must say) and we did sing, and then the students joined in. I realize that as I write this it doesn’t sound that special, but there’s something about being in a room, with live music, that really joins you to that event and makes it memorable. Only Mark could pull that off, and I was so glad to get one last dose of it.

Here is a link to what I was able to record well of those few moments.

Mark, we’ll miss you, in so many ways.

Know that a piece of you will always be at Gardner, and you will always hold a special place in our hearts.

May you find peace and happiness in your new life on Vashon Island.

It’s been a long slog here of late. D had strep 3 times, for all of March, back to back (one while we were in Phoenix), then immediately on the tails of this came his 6-year molars, erupting with a force hitherto unknown in our already teething-challenged existence (the doctor was so alarmed by D’s state on Wednesday that he sent him for a chest x-ray and blood work! Strep? No. Pneumonia? No. Weird virus? No. Teeth! )

It’s not easy to take antibiotics for nearly 30 days in a row; the body revolts. We discovered this in a dramatic way when we made the mistake of dosing him (during the 2nd course) on an empty stomach, and after an evening of running around at a dinner party, at which hardly any food was consumed by Master D. Thus the term vominating was coined, by D himself.  While I got to work on clean up duty, I thought it might do D some good to take some cool fresh night air; as Jeff carried him downstairs, me trailing behind to fetch my supplies, D uttered, with a sigh of contemplation usually reserved for adults,

Well, this is what parents are for.

Indeed.

Parents, and Grandparents, are also for….

late-night medicine runs | urgent care transportation | empowering you to tie your own shoes | volunteering at your school | coaching tball | introducing you to new foods | showing you that you will not always be young | teaching you to use chopsticks | keeping you comfy when you are feverish | reading to you | taking you shopping for athletic gear | sewing you a personalized wool police costume | showing you the desert | loving every minute