7 Years Ago

Then:


Now:

Happy Birthday Amy!

School's Out for Summer!

The school year is longer here in the UK than in America and we've finally made it to the end!  It has been another pleasant and eventful year for both girls.  Here is a brief end-of-the-year report as well as a highlight of some of our summer holiday activities so far.

Amy received the following end-of-year report from her teacher, Miss Wade:

"Amy is a conscientious and kind member of the class who enjoys good relationships with her peers. She is helpful and carries out classroom jobs willingly. She works hard, has made good progress and is working at a high level across all areas. Homework is always handed in on time; she has made some wonderful posters and leaflets and often does extra homework without being asked because she is interested in the topic (which is lovely to see!) As well as working very well in Literacy, Numeracy and Science, Amy has many other strengths, such as being able to express her views thoughtfully - both written and verbal - and is very creative, making a lovely dinosaur puppet for art. She performs well in gym and dances and sings very well. She performed her parts well in the Christmas Nativity. Amy has been a pleasure to teach and this excellent report is thoroughly deserved!"

Amy & her teacher, Miss Wade.

Year 2 (aka 2nd grade) is an especially important year in the UK since children take their first series of nationalized tests during this year.  It is also the end of "infants school" - more commonly referred to as "Key Stage 1" in the National Education Curriculum.  Amy did very well on her tests this year, scoring a Level 3 in all areas.  According to the Assessment Results information we received: "Level 2 is the nationally expected level of achievement for children at the end of key stage 1.  A level 3 or above represents achievement above the nationally expected standard for most seven year olds. Children in Year 2 are expected to achieve a level 2 and children in Year 6 are expected to achieve a level 4.  The 'normal' progression is one level every two years." 

Amy will be 7 years old in a couple of weeks and we are very pleased with her Level 3 results!

While Pre-School is definitely not as academic as "big school," Emily has had an eventful year as well.  Last week she 'graduated' from her preschool class and will begin Reception (kindergarten) this fall at the ripe old age of 4.  (Kids start school a year earlier here than in the USA).  The theme for this pre-school party was "Princes and Princesses" and I was asked to make a special cake for the occasion:

Emily finishing pre-school has been both exciting and sad.  I will miss my little buddy when she is in school all day, every day...

In the meantime, we are enjoying what little bit of summer holiday we've got.  On our first day off school we rode our bikes to a little area just north of our village called "Nine Bridges."  It's a cute little pond area with plenty of pretty trees and trails for exploring.

We like to do pond-dipping" here - an activity that involves catching pond wildlife with a net and studying them in a bucket, then setting them free.  We have discovered tiny fish, frogs, leeches and some other mysterious creatures.

We had an added adventure to our pond-dipping/picnic this time when a large thundercould moved in and threatened angrily.  It was a brisk 2-mile bike ride home and fortunately we got inside before the rains came!

We have also enjoyed seeing Toy Story 3 in the cinema (which only opened here in the UK last Friday), and playing with friends in our neighbourhood.  On the agenda for next week: tennis camp, library events, and a variety of home-based activities.

Keep Moving

With the school year winding to a close, we are busy attending the grand finale of all events related to the school year.

One such event is the annual Primary School's Sports Day.  Amy ran the Shuttle Race and the Flat Race (pictured 3rd from the right in the distance).

While she didn't place in either of her events, her House - St. Patrick's - earned the most overall House Points for the day.  Amy was a cheerful participant and had a fun time.

Amy with her Year 2 class.

Another big event for both girls was their annual dance recital.  Emily has continued with both ballet and tap this year.

(Emily = 4th from the left)

Emily was a tin soldier for her tap routine.  She earned a bronze medal and a certificate for both her performances (though she says the medals look more 'golden' than bronze!)

Amy has been doing tap dance as well and performed a lovely group dance with her class.  They were really well-rehearsed and gave a superb show.  

 

Amy was also awarded a bronze medal for her performance.

Amy's 7th Birthday/Pyjama Party

What is the only thing wilder than 15 seven year-old girls? Fifteen seven year-old girls and one four year-old. We planned Amy's birthday party for a Friday night and allowed her to invite all the girls in her class, expecting that a lot of families would have other things going on. Only 2 did- leaving us with 15 plus Emily. It was the girliest two hours of my life.

Being a pyjama party meant- doing hair, nails, pillow talk...all that stuff. The food was good- pizza, popcorn, cheese puffs, chocolate dipped strawberry marshmallows and candy bars. That part of pyjama parties is just up my alley.

The girls were all well behaved, and luckily the moms were not around to stare wide-eyed at the moments that bordered on unremitted chaos. They had fun, and so did we. The chronicles of the two hour saga are below.

Hair braiding was Lana's task from the second the first girl arrived until the last one left. They all wanted french braids- which took forever. Luckily she'd already planned everything so well I just had to corral the girls from one spot to another.

Nail painting was a popular activity. I was enlisted to paint no fewer than 25 fingers throughout the evening. I joked that I should quit my job and start a beauty salon. Instead of laughing, they asked what my job is now. After wrinkling their noses at the fact that accountants do a lot of 'maths', they agreed I should go into the 'nail varnishing business'. Who knows...aren't we all supposed to change careers 8 times during our working lives?

Lana sewed their names on white pillowcases and then the girls were free to draw pictures or use stencils to decorate them. It was a big hit.

Perspective is everything. One girl proclaimed that our garden (back yard) which probably measures only 20ft by 100ft is "way better than the school yard." That's right, School - with your endless field of grass, log trail playground, raised vegetable gardens and decorative willow arches- my yard is better. (I think the chocolate dipped marshmallows with sprinkles may have helped our position somewhat).

The only group game was Pass the Pillow. They passed the pillow round the room until the music stopped. Whoever was holding it pulled a slip of paper from the pillow and if they successfully completed the task (hop like a frog, growl like a bear, etc.) they got a small prize. Put mildly- it was an energetic experience.

The cake was very good and the rendition of Happy Birthday incredibly high pitched and rousing. By this point with all their hair braided the same I wouldn't have known which one was Amy had she not been seated conveniently in front of the cake.

The collective fruits of the evening's activities: 'plaited hair', 'varnished nails', and decorated pillow cases. Of course while everyone had a good time, Amy smiled the biggest when she finally saw the extent of her pile of loot. One benefit of having 14 other girls show up.

Dinosaur Dig

Yesterday I enjoyed another school assembly in which Amy's Year 2 class presented the various topics they have been studying this term. Amy's group told us about their topic on Dinosaurs and their Archaeology Day when they came to school dressed as archaeologists and went hunting for dino eggs in the garden. They pretended the "Mummy" (mother) dinosaurs were watching so they had to be very sneaky when collecting the eggs. Once they had each found an egg, they took it back to their "laboratory" (classroom) and carefully cracked open the hard shells. Then, each child used reference books from the library to research the particular dinosaur they had found and write up a fact sheet about it.Also, as part of Archaeology Day, the children got to dig in sand tables and collect pieces of broken pottery, then try to assemble them like a 3-D puzzle. The children reported that it was very challenging but fun.

You may notice many silly hats in the audience. This is because it was also "Hats for Haiti" day. The children each donated some pocket money in order to wear a hat to school. The goal was to raise at least 200 GBP in order to purchase a Play Kit to send to children that are coping with the post-earthquake crisis in Haiti. As an added reward, the head teacher offered an extended playtime - 30 minutes instead of 15 - if the children met their goal.In actuality, the school raised double their goal amount! So the children were very excited to be able to send two play kits to Haiti (though they were disappointed Mr. Green didn't give them a double-double amount of playtime...)

The final part of the assembly involved a quiz about dinosaurs that the children had created on their own. I must admit, some of the questions were quite tricky!

And finally, what fun would primary school be without a good tune to wrap things up?

Of course Amy loved the dinosaur/archaeology topic. She has been fascinated with dinosaurs since she was about 2 years old. As for other topics they are currently focusing on:

"Literacy": they are working on improving their writing of paragraphs and stories, including lots of adjectives and connectors. Stories need a beginning, middle and end and are most interesting when they present a problem or conflict that has an eventual resolution.

"Maths": multiplication tables, and how to write number sentences to fit natural "arrays" we discover in real life

Science and History, of course, has been focusing on the dinosaurs/archaeology.

RE (Religious Education): Christianity (they just finished a lengthy study of Judaism).

We are really pleased with the progress that these little ones are making and very happy that Amy enjoys her school and has fabulous teachers/staff that provide plenty of great opportunities for learning and growth. It's always fun to see what the kids have been up to at school...

Poor Amy

The school nurse called me last week to inform me of 'an incident.'  Several playground witnesses confirmed: Amy collided with another child (who happens to have a very hard head) during an intense round of "stuck-in-the-mud." Amy is now sporting a big, swollen purple eye...  Poor Amy!

Toothless Wonder

Here's little Amy - age 13 months - sporting her first tooth.  Yes, you read that right.  She was, in fact, over a year old before she grew any teeth.  And for a long while, she only had just one.  Thankfully, she now has a full set of healthy beautiful teeth... Almost.

Yesterday, Amy lost her first baby tooth (at 4 o'clock in the morning).  Despite the early-rise, we are glad she didn't swallow the tooth.  Last night, the Tooth Fairy worked her magic and Amy woke up this morning £1 richer. 

Career Day

The last day of school before half-term break was "Career Day." The children were invited to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up. Amy wants to be a librarian someday. She chose her outfit all on her own and Mom made her a Peterborough Public Library name tag. Dad contributed the frames from his old glasses.This event served as a fundraiser for the school as well. The children were asked to pay 50p in order to come in non-uniform clothes.

Sneak Peek at Year 2

School assemblies have a different meaning in the UK than they do in America. Here, it is a presentation that each class (grade) puts on to demonstrate the topics and skills they have been mastering during the recent term. It is a fabulous opportunity for both parents and students. The children get to participate in public speaking and showcase their accomplishments; the parents get regular insights into the progress their children are making at school. It is a brilliant idea and hopefully something that could eventually catch on in the USA.

Today was the Year 2 fall term assembly and Amy presented a short write-up about her experience opening the new school library with the Headmaster, Mr. Green:

Amy is currently interested in becoming a librarian when she grows up and was chosen to be the class librarian at school. She is responsible for re-shelving books in the correct place and making sure everything is neat and tidy. In the video posted above, she briefly described the colour-coding system they use. Some mornings, Amy also gets to work at the circulation computer, scanning the barcodes on books that children have borrowed the previous day.

Next, we have the class dance - one that they created themselves (with some help from the P.E. teacher). They even chose the music themselves.

Near the end, we were treated to a little demonstration of a "maths" game that they like to do. As you will see in the video clip below, there is a number drawn inside an 'egg.' Team leaders choose children to come up and create mathematical equations that equal to that number. In this case, the number was 20.

If a child creates an equation using addition, it = 1 point; subraction = 2 points and muliplication = 3 points. If the opposing team uses the same equation, they cancel out (like in the game Boggle) and no points are awarded. The teacher plays music for 1 minute whilst the children come up with equations, then they cancel out the duplicate equations and tally up the total points.

Amy's team won in this demonstration and although her equation was quite simple mathematically (20 x 1 = 20), it was quite clever and wasn't duplicated, so she earned 3 points for her team.

The previous video clip is interesting for another reason - I wonder if a similar population of American school children could all sing the lyrics to "Mamma Mia" with as much accuracy and enthusiasm as these kids do! (ABBA is still very popular in the UK!)

And finally, a little clip of Amy and her classmates singing the 'closing song' for the assembly with the rest of the school. Not only do I love the abundance of singing that these kids do at school, I also love that accent! They sound just like the children that sing at the end of "Thomas the Train" videos.

Amy's Accomplishments

At this week's 'celebration assembly' at school, Amy was awarded a medal for her participation in football (soccer). She was the only girl on the team, which got to be a little bit too much 'rough and tumble' at times, but she stuck with it and is glad that she did. (I didn't realize that soccer is very much a boys-only sport in the UK - especially since so many girls play back in the States!)

Also this week, Amy wrote a talk - all on her own - for Primary at church. The topic was "Prophets help strengthen my family" and she outlined her main ideas and even included a scriptural example.

Our Little Aimster

Born: 5 August, 2003

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6 Happy Birthday!

Birthday Party

With school getting out in a few weeks, we decided to have Amy's birthday party early this year so that her classmates could all attend. We went together with our friends, the R. family (fellow expats from Morton, IL) and hired out Activity World - a HUGE indoor playground. Amy and the R.'s son, Tyler, are both in the same class at school so it worked out very well. We split the cost of Activity World, Laurie made the cute invitations and I created the little cake boxes with hair bows for the girls and GoGos for the boys.

Smile!

This past week we made our first visit to a local dentist in the neighbouring village of Newborough. We heeded the advice of both the locals and our fellow ex-pats and went to a private dental practice (not part of the National Health System). Having never experienced the NHS dental system, it is hard to compare services, but overall it was metiochre compared to what we're used to in the States - though nothing scary happened. Allow me to elaborate:

Children are offered free dental care though we experienced said "care" as a free ride on the chair, quick peek into their mouths and a complimentary "seems like they do a great job brushing" comment. No cleaning, no polishing, no x-rays, no scraping-of-the-calculus or even the traditional "lets count your teeth." Hmm... Lets just say there is probably good reason why, in general, Americans' teeth are superior in both health and beauty to the majority of the European population...

In the meantime you can rest assured that we are brushing like maniacs, faithfully flossing and dutifully performing our weekly fluoride rinsing!