The best part of the high school, middle school, and elementary worlds.

A quick post today about having one child at each level this year.

The best part of the new high school world is hearing about amazing/challenging lessons and music – lots and lots of music!

The best part of the middle school world is seeing my son diving into sports and activities – fully embracing his middle school experience. He may even run for an office!

The best part of the elementary school world is making new friends, trying out new instruments, and being more responsible (possibly).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Last Day of School

We didn’t do much the last day of school.

We watched movies, played video games, and talked with our classmates.

It was a really good year, but I am looking forward to summer.

I usually don’t look forward to summer because it’s pretty boring.

But I have a lot of games I want to play and things I want to do this summer.

I will miss my teachers.

They were very nice to me.

I think that sixth grade was a good year.

I even got a “student of the month” award in May.

That was very nice of my teachers to think of me for the award.

I hope that I have a great summer and seventh grade goes as well as sixth grade did.

I think it will.

I think that my school is great.

My mom says that I have grown since last summer.

I am 2.7 inches taller than I was this time last year.

But I know that’s not what she meant.

Carnival

 

At the end of the year, another thing my school has is a carnival.

Every student can go.

It takes place around the recess area and tennis courts.

I shared tickets with Mickey.

We got to play cool games like Chance Wheel, Knock over the Cats, and a pipe game.

There were a bunch of tubes set up.

They were labeled with different numbers.

The goal was to get a little ball into one of the tubes to score points.

There was also a bounce house obstacle course.

I didn’t do that this year.

We got to go to the carnival when I was in fifth grade because we were located at the middle school.

This year, I did the jousting arena with Mickey.

I had to stay on a platform and hit him off of his platform.

We both had trouble staying on our platform, but it was fun to try.

This was the perfect end to a great school year.

PIP Reward

PIP is something we have in our school.

It stands for Positive Incentive Program.

What that means to me is that if I get a high enough “habits of learning” grade, I get a reward.

The sixth grade reward is to go to a local mini-golf, go-carts, laser tag, and arcade.

I earned the reward.

Most people in our school got it.

I was very excited to have a day off of school to go to the arcade.

I played my favorite game: Fruit Ninja FX.

It’s really cool because it’s so much larger than playing Fruit Ninja on my Kindle.

I got first place that day; I am still in the top three.

I played mini-golf with Mickey and Mr. Roy.

I brought my lunch along, in case I didn’t like what they served.

It was a very good day.

I hope that I can earn the reward in seventh grade too.

We get to go to a big pool.

Show Choir

I tried out for show choir at the end of the year.

For the first round of tryouts, I had to learn a song in about 30 minutes and then sing it by myself for the director.

I found out the day after that I did a good job at singing and made it to the second round of tryouts.

For the second round, which was held the next day, I had to learn a dance and perform it to music with other students.

I have never done anything like that before.

First, I don’t dance.

Second, I don’t dance to music.

Third, I’ve never danced with other people at the same time.

Fourth, I’ve never danced the same dance with other people, except at the end of fourth and fifth grade when we had to learn a dance for field day.

I didn’t mind that because every fourth and fifth grader learned the same dance.

I stood in the back so no one could see me.

I wouldn’t even show the dance to my family beforehand because I was embarrassed.

The people on my dance team were very friendly.

They tried to help me.

I didn’t make it past the second round.

I won’t be in show choir in seventh grade.

I’m okay with that because I tried out and I think that took a lot of courage.

That’s more than I would have done at the end of fifth grade.

Besides, maybe I will have other things to do next year, and I won’t even mind not being in show choir.

Monopoly

I love playing Monopoly.

I don’t get to play it that often because no one in my family likes to play it very much.

They say that it takes too long and that it’s boring.

I don’t think it’s boring.

In fact, I created two more levels to my Monopoly game (which is the Mario version).

I created 44 more properties for my game.

I also had to create more Chance and Community Chest cards and ways to get up and down to the other levels.

There are properties that cost more than Boardwalk.

There are spaces that change the direction you can move.

I’ve named all of the new properties after things I like, such as: Old Forty Foot Road, Banner Street.

I like some of the new rules I’ve made for my game.

If you pass a transit, if you have rolled an even number, you will move up or down to a different level.

There’s a Chance card that makes double rent, which makes the highest property’s highest rent $6000.

When I think about all that I’ve added to my game, it could be complicated.

Here is what my new board looks like:

I guess I could see how to some people, the board is confusing.

To me, it’s very exciting and I always want to play!

How I Solved the Language Arts Project Problem

My teacher emailed my mom about how upset I was about the book project.

I guess I am glad that she did.

I didn’t get in trouble.

But I had to think more about the book and project, which I didn’t want to do.

My mom asked which book I wouldn’t mind talking about.

I told her that I liked Pay It Forward.

She asked me to think about what the main character would say about his story if he was telling someone about it that hadn’t read it.

This seemed easier to do than write about what the character thought about his book, which he might not even know he was in because he was living the story.

Also, because Trevor was not an old character or one that was in a fantasy book, I could easily dress up as him with my regular clothes.

Also, he rode his bike in the book.

I have a bike.

Two props down.

I wrote like my mom told me to and the summary turned out good.

Except that I made sure not to ruin the ending.

I really hate when other people ruin the ending of something for me.

I walk out of the room if we are watching a movie and someone tries to tell me what’s going to happen at the end.

I still did not want to dress up in front of the class.

I also did not want to talk in front of the class.

Just thinking about having to dress up and talk in front of the class made me feel very anxious.

I didn’t think I could do it.

My mom told me to ask my teacher if I could videotape myself dressing up and talking like the character.

I thought I could probably do that.

That was definitely better than standing up in front of the class, dressed up as Trevor, trying to talk like him.

The only problem was I wanted to use the whiteboard at school as the third prop so I could write down the formula for paying it forward that Trevor wrote for his class to understand how it worked.

Then I remembered that I had a whiteboard in my bedroom.

It was a gift from my grandmom for my birthday.

I hated to have to erase some of my work that was on the whiteboard.

I have been working on a few math problems and games for a while.

But if it meant not standing up in front of the class dressed as Trevor, talking like I was him, it would be worth it.

The video turned out good.

My teacher played it in class and I got a good grade on it.

Everyone clapped.

I was glad that she could be flexible like I am always asked to be.

Math Project

Now I have a math project to do as well.

I like math, so I don’t mind doing this project so much.

I have two other partners to work with on this project.

I am creating the game.

Kevin is writing the questions to play the game.

Aiden is writing the answers.

I used Scratch to create the game.

I made it look like Monopoly, but with all math chance cards.

Sometimes the player has to answer a math question to buy a property too.

I worked on it for a whole week, for about three hours each night.

I was really happy with it.

When my team worked in class, they liked it and seemed to be working on their parts.

Only, the day before the project was due (Monday), I still didn’t have more than three questions from my partner, and no answers.

I started to get upset.

I realized that what I could do is just make up the questions and the answers.

That would be fun and good practice.

It took me all day, but I finished it.

I wasn’t mad at my partners.

I just wanted to finish the work.

When I got to school to present on Monday, the other two students had their work done.

They didn’t realize that I was going to write the questions into the program.

I guess it would have helped to let them know that.

We did well and everyone liked our game.

We played it twice.

I still play it sometimes, when I have computer time.

Thinking of Others

I have a hard time thinking of others.

I sometimes interrupt when others are talking, because I don’t really notice that they were talking.

I am just interested in sharing what I was thinking about.

I don’t usually know what to get someone else for their birthday.

I don’t know how to tell what they want.

It’s different with my brother though.

I can always tell what to get him for a present.

He always tells me what he wants.

It would be easier if everyone would be like him.

I’m not sure why they are not allowed to tell me what they want.

What’s the point in having to guess if it’s for them anyway?

I don’t usually know what other people are feeling.

I have practiced this with some of my teachers, but it’s not always as easy as it is in the games we play in Speech or social skills class.

I don’t even know what to ask others when I see them after some time has passed, like my friend, Mickey after summer vacation.

I am actually just glad to see him.

I don’t think about what he has been doing.

I don’t ask him what he has been doing.

If he wanted to tell me, I would listen.

My mom says I need to think of others.

What could I ask them?

What could I do for them?

This seems like a lot of effort.

Can’t they just tell me what they are interested in like I tell them what I’m thinking about?

If they want something, I am happy to do it for them.

They should ask.

Being with other people can be very complicated.

I think of others when they are with me.

I don’t know why I would need to think of them at other times.

They don’t know if I am thinking about them or not.

So, why is it so nice to think of others?

Paying it Forward

I have a project to do in Language Arts class.

I have to pick a character from a book that I have read.

I have NO idea what character to pick.

My teacher told me to pick one that I really connected with, or that I was like in some way.

I don’t think I am like any of the characters I have read.

I know that I definitely didn’t do any of the things they did in the books.

Then, I have to tell the story from their point of view.

How in the world can I do that?

I don’t know how they felt about the book.

They didn’t even read it, really.

Finally, I have to stand up in front of the class with three props (one can be to dress like the character) and read my “book talk” script.

I have never stood up in front of the class to act out something.

I do not want to do this project at all.