Emily has had two projects so far this year. One was in October and it was an "All About Me" project. They had to draw themselves on the front, put information to tell their classmates about themselves in the middle and then they could decorate the back cover. They had to present it to their classmates as well. This was Emily's project. She did very well on the poster and the presentation.
Front Cover:
Inside:
Back Cover:
The second project was this month. It was a nocturnal animal project. They had to pick a nocturnal animal, research it, create a model, and present it to a small group during a nocturnal animal lunch date with a teacher. Emily picked jaguars. She also, created a blue print for the model. That was completely her idea.
Her teachers loved her project and she did very well with her presentation!
One of the really cool things about Emily's school is that they have a performing arts focus. She is able to take art, music, dance and violin several times each week. They can choose violin or keyboard and Emily chose violin. She takes it along with about 15 other children, 30 minutes, twice a week. Tuesday night we were able to go to school for a small recital. This was the first time we had even seen her hold a violin. We was so proud of her!!! All the children did an amazing job. I expected to need ear plugs but they did really well especially for kindergarten and first grade children. I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time. I also had tears in my eyes the entire time! It was so beautiful to see these young children playing the violin. You could tell that Emily was one of the youngest in the class but I was so impressed at how well she did. Violin takes a lot of concentration and fine motor coordination.
Here is a really short video...
I have to say also that her violin teacher is so amazing!!! We are so thankful that Emily has this opportunity. I know that the arts are making a tremendous difference in Emily's overall development.
Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving Day!
Emily made turkey hand prints to use as place cards for our table. She put one on each chair. She also set the table all by herself. She was very proud!
Jeff was not feeling well on Thanksgiving so we didn't get any pictures with him but here is a picture with Grandpa.
This is our new Thanksgiving wall art. I love hand prints!
Here is our Thankful tree full of leaves. We are thankful!
Last week we went to a birthday party for one of Emily's friends were Merida, from the movie Brave, was the special guest. Emily has not seen the movie but she still had fun.
They got hair sparkles and tattoos. That's always fun!
It was a beautiful day so they spent a lot of time playing outside with Merida.
Emily went to a 5th birthday party for a friend last week and the theme of the party was fashion! They had a photographer in the bushes taking pictures of the models as they arrived. Then they had a dressing room set up with, wardrobe, make up, and nails.
Then once all the models were ready, they were each introduced and they walked the red carpet.
It was such a cute and fun party!
A few weeks ago Emily went on her first elementary school field trip. I went too. We went to a local garden/park to hike and look for signs of fall.
It was a beautiful day. We started the trip by dividing into small groups and having a scavenger hunt. Here they are getting instructions from one of the teachers.
This was my group.
After lunch we all went on a hike.
They fed the ducks.
I love fall and I love Emily's school and teachers! It was a fun trip.
Emily's school has multi-age classes. Her class is a K-1 combination class. She has met lots of sweet friends at school but her favorite school friends are brother(K) and sister(1). One Sunday afternoon in October we met at a local park for a play date. They had a blast.
Thanksgiving is not far away now. Monday we started our Thankful tree. We each write something we're thankful for on a leave each night and put it on our tree. We did this last year too and Emily loves it. This year she is able to write on the leaves herself and sometimes she figures out how to spell it all on her own. By the time Thanksgiving is here it will be full of leaves.
We've also been seeing a lot of turkeys around here. Emily is having fun this year making lots of "hand turkeys".
Emily was one during the last Presidential election. Now she is a big 5 year old girl and she is excited about this election. We've talked a lot about it and even prayed about it and Emily decided who she would cast her vote for in the kids voting online at school. I made sure she understood that she could vote anyway she wanted and she didn't have to vote like Mommy or like Daddy. She keeps asking anyone with a voting sticker who they voted for. If they say a different candidate than who she voted for she says very sweetly," Oh, we voted for _________." Yes, she did end up voting for who I voted for. Big surprise huh? We talked how nice it was that she was being kind and respectful when someone voted differently. She acted surprised that anyone would be rude and mean just because someone voted for another person or because the person they voted for didn't win. I told her it was okay to be excited for her vote but she must do it in a kind way, which she has! I told her how precious the right to vote is! We talked about how hard some people worked to have the right to vote. She is excited to find out who the winner is. She said, "Hopefully, all the grown-ups will remember to be kind." I love my girl!!!
Halloween was a teacher work day so Emily and I decided to go to the Farmers Market to see the "pumpkin house" and to eat a the Moose Cafe. We have done this every October since Emily was a baby.
Later that evening we went trick-or-treating with some neighborhood friends. Emily loves trick-or-treating. She runs to each door and tries to ring the door bell before anyone else. We keep trying to remind her to give someone else a turn but she gets so excited it's hard for her to remember sometimes. It was a cold day so we put lots of layers under Doc Mcstuffin's costume. Her she is with Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.
She was so excited about ALL her candy.
Somehow, Lambie came home with lollipop in her fleece.
It was a fun night!
