5th Grade Inventor Project

The 5th Graders for a science project had to pick an item, find out who invented the item, research the inventor,  write a paper, and then give a presentation to the class, parents, and other students at school.  They hosted an open house one afternoon for the parents and other students to attend.

The 5th Grade students were paired up for the project.  Ashlin's partner was Channatee and they chose to research contact lenses.  Adolf Fick was the inventor of contact lenses.  They found all sorts of research and even had to cut some out of their research paper.  The girls did an excellent job when presenting it to the public.  One person had to dress up like the inventor and that was Channatee.

This tri-fold display gave me fits because the girls kept spelling the word contact wrong (3 times in fact) and I refused to go buy another board.  I kept telling Ashlin that the display board needed to be clean and professional looking.  A definite learning experience on display boards and presentations. 

Take care,
Michelle

Valentines at School

 Ashlin informed me two nights before her Valentine party at school that she needed to decorate a valentine box because her class was having a party.  Thanks to Pinterest, we came up with this Olaf valentine box made out of a Kleenex box.

 Saylor won 1st place with her hot air balloon.

 Zuleica won 2nd place with her Minion.

 And Gavin won 3rd place with his Army tank.

I briefly stopped by Justin's party to snap a quick photo.  The kids have so much fun passing out their valentines, eating snacks, and playing games.

Take care,
Michelle

Celebrating a Golden Birthday

Erica celebrated her Golden Birthday!  She turned 13 on the 13th!  Yes, we have another teenager in the house.

 Erica spent the day with her teammates playing in the YMCA's basketball tournament.  She provided breakfast snacks for the team after the first game of cutie oranges, granola bars and powerades.

 A photo of the three neighbor girls watching from the bench.

 After playing two games, it was lunch time and part of the team decided that a birthday luncheon at Valentino's was in order.

The girls ended the day playing in the championship game against Crofton.  They took home second place medals.  Erica did have cupcakes to share, but Justin dropped the whole container spilling 21 cupcakes all over the bleachers.  Not a happy moment!

Later that evening she had a friend come over and spend the night.  She picked an Oreo ice cream cake for her birthday.

I can't believe how fast Erica is growing up (not only in height, but also in years).

Take care,
Michelle

Youth Bronco Wrestling Tournament

Sunday morning we were up before the sun to make weigh-in at the Youth Bronco Wrestling Tournament in Stanton.  Justin had to be weighed in by 8:30 and start wrestling at 9:30.

 Justin weighed in light again at 52.1 lbs.  First up, was a wrestler from Bloomfield.  Justin handled him in a 6-0 decision. 

 Next up was a wrestler from Elkhorn Valley.  At the start of the match, they hit heads during a takedown which resulted in tears and made Justin mad.  Then he really went after this wrestler, but Justin lost in a 6-8 decision.

 Last up was a wrestler from Pender.  This was another close and hard fought match with Justin winning 7-4.  Justin didn't realize until the ref raised his arm that he had won the match.

 Justin's bracket ended with a three-way tie for 1st because Justin had beat the kid from Pender, the kid from Pender beat the wrestler from Elkhorn Valley and the kid from Elkhorn Valley beat Justin and all three had defeated the wrestler from Bloomfield.  Therefore, they had to look at pins - and no one had a pin.  Then they moved on to number of takedowns - Pender wrestler-7, Justin-6 and Elkhorn Valley wrestler-4.  Therefore 1st went to Pender, 2nd to Justin and 3rd to Elkhorn Valley.

Justin had a very emotional day on the mat.  He had tears when he won and when he lost.  He didn't sleep well the night before because of nightmares, his stomach was upset, he gets himself worked up when he watches the other kids in his bracket wrestle, etc.  Justin and Dad had to take a walk outside before his last match to calm him down and to re-focus.  Justin's coaches do a great job with directions during the match, learning after a match, pep talks before a match, etc.  Justin looks up to Coach Classen, Coach Daniel, Coach Fisher and Coach Konicek.  They do a great job with these young wrestlers!

Take care,
Michelle

Grandparent's Day

Last week was Catholic Schools Week at school.  Many of the planned activities had to be cancelled or postponed due to the "Kayla Blizzard" that hit the Midwest.  Grandparents Day was supposed to be held on Tuesday, but it got moved to Friday.  I helped in the kitchen at school for a day and a half making sack lunches to feed everyone.  We made a total of 832 sack lunches and had only 40 sandwiches left.  The grandparents ate lunch with their grandchildren, joined in a sing-a-long and then went to an all school Mass to end the day.  Somewhere in that crowd of people are Justin and Ashlin with Grandpa and Grandma Leader and Grandpa and Grandma Korth!!!  It was a GREAT turnout! 

Take care,
Michelle Leader

Fat Tuesday

The Jr/Sr High Students were all called into the gym today at 3:00 thinking they were "in trouble" only to receive a "Fat Tuesday" surprise of candy and root beer floats!

 

Cara and Erica both thought that the students were in trouble for something today when all the students got called to they gym. 

What a great surprise for the students!!!

Take care,
Michelle

January Bake Sales

Justin decided to join K-Kids this year at school.  K-Kids is the grade school level of Kiwanis on the adult level.  It is a service organization.

Justin's poster for the bake sale on the front door at school.

Every Friday during the month of January, K-Kids has a bake sale to raise money.  The money raised helps pay for the schooling for a little girl in Africa.  They have supported the education of this little girl for the last three years.

Every week Justin would have to take baked items to sell for 50 cents after school.  He took chocolate chip cookie bars and brownies.  The first week he got mad at me because the whole pan of bars went to the bake sale and none for him to eat at home.

Every week there was a mob of kids trying to get an item (pop, juice box, cookies, donuts, bars, puppy chow, chex mix, candy, etc).  After bake sales for four weeks, the group made a total of $669 to send to Africa.  These little sales are a huge success!

Take care,
Michelle