First Day of School! September 1, 2009 YEA!!!

Walking up Browning Ave....our daily 1/4 mile trek!

Waiting for the bell to ring

Jocelyn in cute ribbons and bows to celebrate 3rd grade

Mark is a big 5th grader! He's sitting with Hamilton Sparks, Daniel Horton, Rachel Silverman and Justin Geurts

Blake and Caden Salkeld in 1st/2nd grade GATE class - these two boys have the energy of 20! Boyd and I bet that partnership would last just 2 days, and sure enough! in two days they were separated! By Thursday Blake was seated next to the teacher and Caden was positioned between two 2nd grade girls!

Jocelyn in 3rd/4th grade GATE class at her new desk table. James Henderson and Jessica Duong are at her table.

Last Day of School for Blake, Jocelyn and Mark

Blake is in the far right of his class group sitting on their kindergarten squares for the last day of school. Blake at his desk working on his Uncle Sam project to celebrate 4th of July!

Mark earned an outstanding mathematician and reading counts award from his 4th grade teacher, Karen Heilig. I took a wide picture to show how bare her classroom was. The desks are pushed up against the wall because she was put on the lay-off list due to the state-wide budget cuts to education. Hopefully, she'll be able to return to a full-time teaching position in the Fall, but in the meantime, she had to pack up and move out all her books and teaching supplies. What an emotional rollercoaster these teachers have gone through this past year. Mr. Lowe, Mrs. Natalie DeClark and Karen Heilig are the three teachers tapped for lay-offs from TMA, and all three are outstanding GATE teachers for 3rd, 4th and 5th grades.

Mark and Jocelyn with their beloved 2nd grade GATE teacher Ms. Dawn Bleskey. She is one of the best teachers at TMA and a terrific mother and friend.

What better way to celebrate the end of school than frozen yogurt at Golden Spoon at the Orchard Hills center. We feel like this yogurt shop is our Home-Away-from-Home with how often our kids frequent it, especially after hikes, athletic practices and bike rides.

Yea! Summer can now begin!!!

Mark's 4th Grade Class Party

Mark's 4th grade class had a fun final party on Wednesday, June 17th while Jocelyn's class had their scavenger hunt party. Here the 4th graders are lining up for a summer dress-up relay. They had to dress in summer clothes, complete with sunscreen, and then bounce a ball through cones, swing a tennis racket and return to the start all while carrying a big block of ice. They loved the challenge! Mark, Noah, Adam Mings, Jessica Schultz, Hamilton Sparks all on the same team.

Mark's turn to run the relay! He did a good job dribbling the ball (but I think Brent could have done even better!) See the block of ice in his left hand - he only dropped it once!

Next the 4th graders played ice broom hockey. A lot of kitchen brooms were mangled in the process, but the kids had a great time. Thank heavens it was finally sunny! We've had nothing but dreary, cold clouds since June 1st. Finally, summer is here!

Mark won the watermelon eating contest. He inhaled his slice! Mason Reynoso is to his left and Tyler Onderdonk is to his right. These boys could EAT!! Happy summer kids! Next year you are all 5th graders!

Brent's Notorious at TMA!

Brent loves shooting basketballs on the kindergarten playground. Here he is reacting after his mini-basketball scored a basket! He cheers for himself every time he gets the ball in the basket. He and Blake can shoot baskets by the hour! They both practice basketball during Mark & Jocelyn's swim team practices, and those practices can go 2 hours or longer! Brent is a natural athlete and can throw and catch any ball. Brent and Mark with Nivec Kanzler. Brent loved Nivec because he was so kind to him and loved to play with him. Nivec and his brothers will be home-schooled next year by their talented mother Sasheen. Sasheen and I were room parents last year in Mark & Nivec's 3rd/4th grade class with Mrs. Friedman. I discovered Sasheen's many talents - incredible cook, talented artists, very creative, and a terrific teacher and mother. The Kanzlers came to Jocelyn's baptism in December and have been very kind to our family. They adopted Mark's lizard last June and have taken good care of her in their yard in Anaheim.
Brent with his all-time favorite 5th grader Ryan Dang. Ryan is a terrific artist and drew incredible scenes of dinosaurs and volcanoes. Plus, he always plays ball with Brent and lets Brent tease him. He is a terrific young man. He'll be a great leader in this world. He has a terrific heart!
Rachel Silverman and Mark giving their favorite kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Joanne Hayden, a much deserved hug. They both miss kindergarten!
Blake and Mark also giving Mrs. Hayden a big hug!

4th Grade Egg Drop

The 4th graders competed in the annual Egg Drop competition. They could build their Egg Shuttle using only 20 straws and 1" wide masking tape. Mark's egg broke, and so did Noah Gordon's, but the kids had a lot of fun making their contraptions.
Gianluca Allesina, Andrew Sanchez, Mark and Noah Gordon show off their egg contraptions!
Rachel Silverman and Hamilton Sparks with their eggs. Rachel's egg was indestructible with all the protective spears she placed around it. Way to go Rachel!!
Blake in front of his kindergarten backpack. This is his last week as a Kindergartener! He is so excited to start 1st grade!

Mark's Hero - Grandpa Woodward!

Tonight we went to TMA's open house. We viewed each of the children's classrooms and their work for the year. Jocelyn was very excited to show us the book of poetry she wrote. She dedicated the book "To my three brothers for not letting me have a sister!" Her first poem was about Brent and how she and Brent were "magnets" for each other. Jocelyn also made three varieties of Irish scones to put at her Ireland display - traditional raisin, sugary blueberry, and chocolate chip (trust a child to insist you have to have a chocolate variety!). The scones were gone before the open house closed, so Jocelyn was happy they were such a big hit with the visitors to the classroom. Blake threw us a curve ball by listing his "Who am I?" favorite color as "ORANGE" not "RED". We could not understand that one! He is a total RED personality and has been since he was a baby. Mark's classroom was full of great projects they have been creating all year, including the Rancho de Francisco project he made with Christopher Vaglienty, the soda bottle ecosystem he is building with Katie Fairbanks and Elliott Stahr, the Steve Jobs "Great Californian" report he did this past month, and his "My Hero" project - John Woodward (his grandfather). He wrote a beautiful tribute to his Grandpa Woodward about how his Grandpa "stops danger from happening", writes great chemistry lessons, and teaches Mark all about chemistry and cool explosions. Mark wrote that he hopes his Grandpa lives to be 100 so he can continue to teach Mark all he knows about chemistry. Attached are a few photos from Mark's classroom including the "John Woodward" Hero writing (notice the bald-head and the laptop computer in Grandpa's hand.)

This is Mark in his 4th grade classroom.

These are the photos of Mark's hero "John Woodward" his grandfather!

Mark and his 4th grade teacher Mrs. Karen Heilig.

Mark wrote the California letter "S" for Silicon Valley. He drew the schematics of a hard drive motherboard!

Blake in his kindergarten room underneath his flower paragraph.

Jocelyn with her 2nd grade teacher Ms. Dawn Bleskey. They are standing in front of Jocelyn's Ireland project.