Tony's Owl

Tony's 2nd grade handwork class owl project--and the results of the 2008 LA County fair!

Just another day (or 2) at the beach....

Well, I seem to be a week behind these day. April 11 was the 2nd Annual OCS Beach Clean-A-Thon. As a Kindergartener, E-man got to go on his first field trip and first school bus ride, as well as his first clean-a-thon. I got to ride on the bus with the second graders (E-man was way less scared of his first school bus ride than T-bone for his second!), and Pete met us at the beach with his camera.

Getting instruction and splitting into groups (needless to say, T-bone's group filled their pail first, and filled it twice--with just 2 kids!)

Sharing beach rocks with his teachers:
E-man takes a leap!
T-bone enjoys his well-deserved snack:
Our efforts at getting sponsorship, though, showed us how horrible the economy truly is. It's been so much harder getting sponsorships this year. Though we aren't particularly pushy (I think). Between how much harder fundraising is getting, how much the Governator keeps cutting school funding, and the obsession with memorizing standardized test information, I don't see how public schools are going to teach kids any form of problem-solving skills whatsoever. That will make for a great country in 25 years.

Anyway.

It was such a beautiful day on Friday that we went back to the beach Saturday just to play (and it was so clean!). It was 90 degrees and we were there for 5 hours. Yes, five. For the first time ever both boys had tons of fun running in and away from the waves. With some digging and snacking thrown in, of course. Good thing I packed some food!

Gnome is Home!

T-bone finished his gnome today in handwork class! He is sooooo proud of himself, with reason. It looks fantastic! I love his color choices. He has been anticipating this day for weeks. And so have I, since he has been expecting to finish for each of the last 4 handwork classes.

The gnome is the big second grade handwork project--they started back in September with the body. They picked colors, knit and purled, changed colors, stuffed, and sewed. 

He knits better than I do! He really is going to have to teach me.