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Wow, this year really flew by. Before we knew it, we were at the end of First Grade. It is somewhat of a big deal, because Kindergarten and First Grade are called primary, and have their own playground. Starting from Second Grade, he will move to the big playground, with everyone from 2nd to 6th grade.

Serious school work finished at the end of May, and the last couple of weeks were filled with fun activities. MBMA Spirit week meant that every day kids were following a particular theme: opposite day, crazy hair days, twin day (dressing like a friend) and of course, wearing a MBMA shirt day.

They also had a couple of field trips. The fist one was in walking distance: the grandfather of one our the kids had a chicken coop, so all the kids went over to check out the chickens. They also got to visit the San Diego Botanical Garden, a beautiful place, just north of San Diego. It includes many different plant areas, sculptures and kids’ areas.

The kids played, discovered plants, treasure hunted…but mostly they goofed off.

After reading the famous story, Stone Soup, the class decided to make their own. According to wikipedia:

Stone Soup is an old folk story in which hungry strangers trick the local people of a town into sharing their food: a good confidence trick that benefits the group from combining their individual resources. The story is usually told as a lesson in cooperation, especially amid scarcity.

All the kids brought an ingredient, stone included, and they cooked the soup in the classroom, and shared it. Imagine Keegan’s joy in eating a soup containing peas, beans, onions and other stuff. He did try a bite, though. It is probably a coincidence, but check out the face in the photo.

End of school also means celebration. Room 12 won a Jamba Juice party (I don’t really remember why).

Keegan also received two special recognitions: perfect attendance (no absences or tardies) – which came with a shiny $1 coin – and the running club certificate. Before class starts, kids who wants to, get to run some laps. These laps are counted and tallied. Each lap should be about 1/4 mile. (being very generous). Well, Keegan really started enjoying this, and he really pushed himself to run as many laps as he could. So, what was the final tally? 520 LAPS!! This is approximately 150 miles! He run most laps in the school in 2014-2015.

Running club was wonderful for many reasons: he made him use up some energy before school, it made him exercise, and he built up his self confidence. He is so very proud of his running skills. Does that mean that now he will hike or run races without complaining? Of course not. He only likes to run when he runs with his friends…

In any case, we celebrated the accomplishment with a trophy and a medal, and our own award ceremony.

We had our final teacher-parent conference as well. It went great. Both teachers complimented Keegan not only on his great academic achievements, but also on his “growing up”. He is working hard at self control, and he is trying to be a good role model. Both teachers keep on telling him he is a natural leader, that people are drawn to him, and for this reason he should be a good example.

I can attest to that. He does not go by unnoticed, especially by girls. I have witnessed, more than once, girls lunging at him and professing their love. He is usually gets annoyed, but I bet he will miss this when he is older. His greatest fan is a “spitfire” girl, called Zara. She is adorable, and with a strong personality. One day, she told me that she knows that Keegan does not love her as she does him, but that they will still get married one day. During a free work day, she created love cards for three boys, but she admitted she likes Keegan best. This is the card. Note the very elegant writing style: it makes you forget she spelled Keegan’s name wrong.

Keegan insists he does not like her, and that she is annoying, since she is always trying to get his attention by bugging him. He is glad they will be separated next year.

The school year end was marked by the Annual Spring Sign Show. This year the theme was “Great Song Writers”, at least in theory. In reality, it was a strange hodgepodge of songs, from Judy Garland to the the pop sensation, Farrell Williams. The kids were cute regardless. Most of the songs they sang were about rainbows, so their costume included rainbows socks and headbands or suspenders.

with his buddy Francisco

As always, they started the show, since they are the youngest kids. They played three adorable songs. That went by very fast. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the show, that dragged on and on.

After their performance, they quietly exited and went back to their class to watch movies and eat snacks.

And what about the parents? We had of course to sit through the rest of the performance, a good 1.5 hours plus, since all kids would come back to sing the finale.

For the finale, Zara was positioned in front of Keegan and boy did she get into it. She was dancing and shaking, while most of the other kids were as still as statues. What a personality! Next to her, the blond girl is Audrey, another of Keegan’s fans, and another strong personality kid.

The last weekend before the school end, we had a very busy weekend. Matt and I started early. He took a day off, and we spent time together, watching movies, eating out and just hanging out. it was fun. Saturday was San Diego Fair Day. I guess the novelty wore off, since Keegan was not that interested and he got bored quickly. Fortunately there were demonstration from the fire department that kept him very occupied.

On Sunday, we celebrated and early Father’s day, since we were going to be in Italy the following weekend.We cooked a nice crumb cake for Matt, and gave him his presents. He got a couple of Star Wars t-shirts and wore one right away.

We can definitively say we finished the year with a BANG! Onwards to Second Grade!

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