Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Last Day of Kindergarten

Prince of Peace 2008/09

Butterfly Class

Friday was Jakob's last day of Kindergarten and there was much fun to be had. Our first event of the day was Butterfly Chapel. This was the only time the Butterfly Class (Kindergartners) were in Chapel by themselves. It was a wonderful beginning to a day of celebration. Lots of singing and remembering. Pastor John delivered a moving speech to the parents once the children were gone of his children's last day of Kindergarten and the steps that follow. He spoke of learning in small steps to let go because someday soon your children will truly leave the nest and start a journey of their own. His daughter is getting married this summer. It brought tears to many just thinking that scenario was even possible for our 6 year-olds.


A few of Jakob's teachers.

Next was a picnic. Even though the weather was beautiful we had our lunch inside. It had been raining a lot and the ground was saturated. After the picnic we headed out to play on the playground and say our goodbyes. It was a great ending and a promise of new beginnings and continued friendships. We will miss our Butterfly Friends and the wonderful cocoon we were able to grow in within this school. Thank you Prince of Peace and thank you Michele for introducing us to this wonderful group of educators.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Author & Artist Day

Instead of a Kindergarten graduation Prince of Peace hosts an Author and Artist Day where the students display their art and "published" book. We were asked to arrive @ 10:30 to view the Art Museum. As we entered the hall for the Kindergarten room we were greeted with alphabet animals done in the style of author/illustrator Eric Carle. The children did one letter on their own and collaborated with another student on a second letter.

Jakob created the horse.



Jakob collaborated with Julia to make the rabbit.


The next display was a black and white construction paper creation. The students were asked to make a building with blocks and then recreate that building with black construction paper shapes on a white background. Jakob couldn't remember which one was his, so no picture. Following an introduction and short story we made our way into the room across the hall which had been set up as an art museum. We first had riddles to solve with a clay creation display. Each child had sculpted and painted a likeness of themselves and then had been asked three clues about themselves. The parents were asked to read the clues and guess which student it was. Amazing creations.

The Art Museum.

Jakob is in the second row with the brown hair. His clues were: My favorite food is bread sticks. I like recycling trucks. I like learning to read and write.

There were several other displays:


This is done on canvas with brush strokes. Jakob painted a bald eagle sitting on a branch. We saw this on one of our trips to Mercer Lake.




This is symmetrical art. Jakob's is the pink and yellow one on the lower left corner.


The entire class worked on this for Thanksgiving. They created the Last Supper.







The children created angels using the technique of batik. This requires them to use wax on different areas throughout the dying process. It is done on fabric.

After seeing all the wonderful art displays we headed back to the classroom to read Jakob's book, "My dog BJ" Unfortunately I did not take pictures of this book and I will do so and post them as soon as school is done. This book was a labor of love for Jakob. He talked about making a sloppy copy and a final draft. He kept us updated on the number of pages and his decision to include end pages.


Lastly, we were blessed with a slide show of a day in Kindergarten. The pictures were set to music and broken down into different activities the children did each day. The mothers were crying and the children were thrilled to see themselves. We will truly miss this class and this school. We have had an amazing opportunity to witness the work of the Lord in our child's life through this school and through Jakob's teachers. It will be very hard to top our first year of school. What a perfect beginning to a lifetime of learning.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Happy Birthday G.B.



George's dad celebrated his 70th birthday June 6th. Luckily we were able to join in the festivities. We had to do some creative logistics to accomplish it, but we did it. On Saturday, just after Jakob's last basketball class, we left Virginia. Several hours prior to our departure George left Germany bound for Newark. We all arrived at the NJ Hanssons within an hour of each other with very little hassle. We love when that happens. We enjoyed visiting and celebrating G.B.'s birthday. There was great food, ice cream cake and family and friends on Sunday to make it a special weekend for everyone.


Happy 70th year!!!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Gardening

Cucumbers
Our 1 Bean
Peas
Radishes
Lettuce
This spring George and Jakob planted a vegetable garden. Jakob checks his garden almost everyday. He waters it when he thinks it needs it. He can't believe how tall things are growing. This weekend we decided to harvest a radish and some lettuce. Jakob wouldn't taste either one, but was so proud to have grown them.

Our Salad