fifth grade graduation

My kids go to a unique school. Like I've mentioned before, a good portion of the kids are from foreign countries. In fifth grade (on the brink of the hormonal roller coaster that will happen in 6th) , it's hard being a different race or religion or speaking a different language than everyone else. But at this school everyone is different. And bullying is taken care of quickly. Which means nearly all of the kids feel safe and happy there.

The school makes graduation from elementary school into middle school a big event. The kids were asked to dress nicely, and they marched into the auditorium to Pachelbel's Cannon, then had sweet little speeches from several kids (who talked about how much they loved the school and their differences). One of the girls who spoke apparently didn't speak any English at the beginning of the school year. Nine months later, she was fluent enough to give a touching talk in front of a large auditorium full of people. Afterwards there was a reception with refreshments in the cafeteria afterwards. For a fifth grade graduation, it was a nice event.

Here's Ethan with his teacher, Mr. T, who was a positive, fun teacher this year. I couldn't get any decent pictures, and the colors were really bad, so Ethan gets black and white pics.

  Here he is with his "presidential award" for being an excellent student. I think this award was partly for good grades, but especially for good citizenship. It was nice of Mr. T to consider Ethan for this award.

And, you know, in case you don't get awards from President Obama on a daily basis, here's his signature...or possibly a stamp of his signature? Does the president really sign these things anymore?

  Ethan was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd at the reception, and so we didn't get pictures of his other friends. But we did get one with his pal Malakai, the only other Mormon in his grade.

 And of course, a crazy one with Mr. T

After the reception, they said we could take our 5th graders home. Before dropping Chris off at work, we stopped to celebrate at Arby's. Even as a baby, Ethan gets "in the zone" when he drinks anything. So we (lightheartedly) warned him to never taste alcohol.

So here's a (kind of?) funny (embarassing?) story about Ethan's last week at school. This school has nice, hard bound yearbooks. We always just buy one to share among the three kids. This year I randomly bought the family yearbook through Ashley's class. Not Ethan's. No particular reason, it's just the way it happened. Last year it was Ethan's class. Next year it will probably be Josh's.

The other day, Ethan was sent to the Behavioral Resource Teacher (who disciplines naughty children) with a few other kids. After playing with their minds for a minute about being in big trouble, the BRT and Mr. T said that they wanted all 5th graders to have a yearbook. So the school bought one as a gift for Ethan and a few other deprived kids whose moms were too mean (or poor) to buy one for them.

That's me :)

He came home all excited with his very own year book. It was so sweet. And slightly embarrassing to be that mom. But sweet, nonetheless.

I love this school.