I am lucky because...

I am lucky because...

• I have a good family
• I love myself
• I have friends

In summer I will pick flowers for you

Novak wanted to write me a note today after school.

Nate, in one million words or less

I was asked to write this for Nate's sixth grade teachers. I asked Nate, and he was okay with me putting it on here also. 

Nate, in one million words or less…

 

Hello!

As I sit here with a blank sheet of paper ahead of me, I find it hard to determine where to start to describe my son, Nate.

Nate has always been one of the happiest kids I have ever met. He loves to have fun and enjoys friendly banter.  This started as early as Kindergarten, where he enjoyed “arguing” with Mrs. Chaney over which team is better, Hawkeyes or Illini.  Nate is a friend to everyone and is generally non-confrontational.

He enjoys playing soccer and has really loved playing on his travel soccer team for the last two years.  Some of his best friendships have been forged in this team. Nate is a thinker, and on the soccer field he is always analyzing the game.  Sometimes he even thinks a bit too much about the game – he is less likely to react instinctively and more likely to wait a half second to plan his moves.

Since a young age, Nate has enjoyed building and creating, especially with Legos.  He has a huge collection of Lego models, mostly Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.  Last year Nate was part of the 5th grade FLL robotics team and he loved the whole experience.  He has said that he would love to be an architect when he grows up, but more recently has been expressing an interest in engineering.  Last summer he went to a week-long engineering day camp at St. Ambrose that involved “race car” design.  He really enjoyed that as well; he was very proud of the race car he built and tested.  

Nate is an avid reader.  Like his mother, he devours books.  Sometimes I find that he is reading multiple books at the same time – not literally (that would be really hard!) but he will switch between books and have several “in process.”  It’s almost like he can’t read them fast enough, when he has so much he wants to read.  It’s been so much fun lately as he is interested in and starting to read books that I have read and loved.  He loves fantasy (Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, etc), and now is really excited to read The Hunger Games, Divergent, and the Maze Runner.  I am always excited when a teacher has been able to turn him on to a new series or author.

Nate does best when he clearly understands the plan – he constantly is asking us “what are we doing next?”  He needs to be “in the know,” and asks a lot of questions if he doesn’t feel he knows enough about what is going on.  This can be frustrating for a “let’s go with the flow” parent like me, who doesn’t want to plan every minute of my day in advance…:)

A few other things about Nate:  He loves food, and likes to think of ideas for recipes.  He has studied comic book superheroes and often amazes me with his knowledge of obscure Marvel or DC characters.  (Seriously...ask him sometime!).  Like his mother, he can be stubborn and sometimes enjoys arguing a point just for the sake of the debate.  (This may or may not drive his father crazy…)   He works hard and always does his best.  He has a good sense of right and wrong and always tries to do what he feels is the right thing.  

Back to school (and routine!)

I sent off these three handsome guys to school today...

Kindergarten

Fourth grade

(Note: Nile just finished two weeks of a rapid palate expander - so his front teeth are widely spaced. It's temporary, they will all shift around to fill in the gap over the next few months. Can you believe that 14 days ago the front teeth were touching/overlapping?)

Sixth grade

Back to School night

Look who is a kindergartner!

He has been waiting for this day for several years. 

The icing on this cake?  He is sitting right next to his best preschool friend Lyla. 

I feel like a warning to Mrs. Chaney may be in order. 😳

Science Unit Picture

This was from earlier in the school year. 

Spike!

Nile wanted to spike his hair today. 

I love that he did this himself and that he gave me permission to post it. 

First day of school

Okay, so it was almost two weeks ago. I'm late on blogging. 

At least they were all smiling this year. 

Nate, 5th grade

A friend took this on the playground at school. 

He's growing up too fast. 

Oh, how I love this child. 

3D earth

Nate has his first true science project complete!  He had to make a 3D model of the layers of the earth. 

He did all the work - with only limited guidance from me. (Mostly PowerPoint and printing help.). 

I'm pretty proud of how hard he worked on this. I think you can tell by the photos that he is too. 

The cards are a "key" with information about each layer of the earth. 

Lunch Helper

This year at school, Nate has volunteered to be a "lunch helper." The lunch helpers help serve food, help the younger kids with their lunches, and clean up the tables after groups come through.

So far he loves it - and it's left me wondering why he doesn't love to do these things at home. :)

Titanic research

Today Nate came home with a project to research a passenger on the Titanic, Arthur Larned Ryerson. He has to research the passenger, write up what he learned, then give an oral presentation about his passenger. 

He has been doing research on this all afternoon/night - we had to force him to go outside to play before dinner!  And look where he went right back to after we finished dinner?  

And yes, in case you are very observant, he is documenting what he learned using PowerPoint. He wants to print off the slides to make the poster he will use in his presentation. 

I'm kind of speechless. 

Pot of gold

I found this in Nile's folder today. :)

The circus is in town!

Today at school the circus came to town. Tom sent me these pictures during the day. I can't wait to hear more about it when they get home!

Tom and Nate (I almost didn't recognize Nate here)

Nile as a lion...

Nahant Marsh

Enjoy this video that Nate created in class after their field trip to Nahant Marsh.

Cursive trials

Nile wrote his name in cursive today...almost. I thought it was pretty impressive...

What really makes me smile is knowing that Nate has been trying to show him how to write in cursive. :)

The banana...

Nate attempted to take a banana to school today for his "mid morning snack."

Obviously he hasn't done this before.

I don't know if we'll do it again.

If you ever need to know how to wash a backpack and browse bag...call me.

Not special. ;)

"Daddy is a little specialer than you because he is a principal and you're not. He's in charge of a whole school and you're not in charge of anything. Like a place." - Nile.

Subtraction Math Star!

Nate has been hard at work on his time tests all semester. He's struggled with the time tests, not because the math is hard, but because he was finding it hard to work quickly.

For the time tests, the students are given a set amount of time to solve 100 math facts. They have 3 minutes to solve 100 addition facts, and 5 minutes for 100 subtraction facts.

A few months ago, I told him I knew he could do it by Christmas. And sure enough, yesterday he came home a subtraction "Math Star!" He was so proud of himself, and I am so proud of him.

Now to work on addition!

Nile Voted!

Today Southwest School had an election. (I'm really posting this to show you the voter registration card...what a typically Nile-like picture!)