Third Grade Craziness

This last week has been a little crazy for my third grader.  And, therefore, for his mom.

A week ago last Friday was his opportunity to do "Traveling Tales."  Each third grader is given the chance to write a story (fiction or non-fiction), illustrate it, and then read it to the entire third grade in the little auditorium in the library.  Because we weren't around for the beginning of the year, I didn't have a clue what this was, but apparently--as he told me the day of--I was invited.

Telima and kids had come over that afternoon, and Telima--six weeks after having baby S. (don't have a nickname for her yet.  Hmmmmm.  We have Kay, Jay, Bay, and...SJ?  We'll see)--anyway, Telima was taking a nap.  Mema was getting Jay, Kay and Lala from school, so I had Bay and six-week-old SJ, Hebs, Gee, and YumYum.  We trooped over to the school, made to to the library, listened to Zee's tale (about his family, so cute), and then trooped home.  It took all of twenty-five minutes, and the kids were marvelously well-behaved.  Whew.

Then on Tuesday of last week, it was Zee's turn to do his music class performance.  He had to create a coat of arms for himself, and then present the coat of arms and perform something for his class.  After gently navigating him away from playing the piano (he can only play "Hot Cross Buns", and was going to incorporate some random "the piano isn't working" skit that sounded kinda long and weird), we landed on playing "Hot Cross Buns", but on the recorder.  This was sufficiently different and just hard enough for him (practicing only for one day) to be a great solution.  He loved being able to play on the recorder, and felt rather proud of his efforts.

I wasn't able to make it to this performance, though, because I had my first Primary Presidency meeting at the same time.  I wasn't worried about that, though, because I knew that the next day, Wednesday, was...

...The Third Grade Field Trip!  And I was a chaperon.  We left bright and early on a bus, and drove up to Sandy to the Living Planet Aquarium.  Zee's partner was his good friend C, and we sat on the last seat of the bus and had a grand old time.

Our bus arrived about ten minutes before the other bus, and the kids were climbing the walls.  They were so hyper and excited...it was very crazy.  Zee's class is full of personality and a few troubles, but mostly sweet kids.

Literally climbing the walls

Once inside, we split off into our groups.  I only had Zee and C in my group, and they were both easy to manage.  The Aquarium was playing host to at least one (and possibly two) other school groups, so it was crowded.  Zee and C. would look at a display, briefly scan the information, and then run off to the next one, all practically before I even located the fish/reptile/mammal in question.

(I apparently am also a bit of an aquarium snob.  I've been to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA, and the Downtown Aquarium in Denver, and both were so amazing!  This aquarium, in an old supermarket building in Sandy, is...little.  Disappointing.  And a bit depressing.  I mean, the octopus was in a tank only half again as big as he was.  He looked sort of squashed in there.)

Anyway!  After we were done aquarium-ing, we went to a park, ate lunch, and then came home.  Whew.  What a day.

But wait!  The week wasn't over yet.  On Friday was the Third Grade Wax Museum.  The third graders had been researching and writing reports about historical figures for the last six weeks, and the culmination of the event was the Wax Museum.  Each student dressed up as his/her subject, made a posterboard with pertinent facts and pictures, and memorized a little speech about the subject.  Standing perfectly still (ha!), they waited in the gym until someone walked up to them and "pushed" the "talk" button.  The student would then give the little speech, pretending to be the subject, and then freeze again.

It was awesome!  Zee was Teddy Roosevelt, and his costume was my scout shirt (the right color), a mustache (made of cardstock), his Harry Potter glasses, and a firm, aggressive stance.  It was hilarious.

Teddy

There were numerous Abe Lincolns, several Helen Kellers, more Pocahontases than I would have expected, three Martin Luther King Jr., and a range of other figures from Cleopatra to the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate.

I'm sure the teachers were exhausted by the end of the Museum, but there was still more to do that day--the Multiplication Ice Cream Party.  I ran off to the store to get the ice cream, but luckily for me, I didn't have to stay and help with the actual party.  What a day!

And what a week!  Both Zee and I are happy it is over.