6 years, 4 months/4 years, 2 months.

Last day of school!  Compare with the first day of school.

OFNS put on a show entitled "Sea Volcano": 

Once upon a time there was some bird eagle stingrays flying in the air.  Them saw a shark and stinged him.  A dolphin sprayed water out of his blowhole onto the shark.  The shark got water in his mouth, didn't breathe it out, and died.  The bird eagle stingrays squirted ink at the shark.  He came back to life and ate the stingrays and they died.  

Princess Charlotte whale has powers and she used the powers to make the mean dolphins die.  A sea plane zooms off.  She shoots her powers and teared the wires and died the electricity.  She has a baby, her name was named Ilah.  The mom swam off and left the baby alone and the baby died, because the mom was bad.  The mama whale, turned out, that she was really nice.  The baby whale comes back to life.  The mama whale takes her to the hospital.  The baby whale stays at the hospital but the mama whale doesn't wait for her.  The baby follows the mama to a sea volcano.  They wait until it erupts.  

The End.

6 months, 4 years/4 years, 2 months.

Graham wrote this note to Thea with no help or prompting.

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 2 months.

Morning campers!  We woke up bright and early, still a little sleepy.  A trip to dunkin' donuts helped.  After taking down our campsite and doing a hike to some beautiful falls, we headed back to Brooklyn (and caught up on a few zzzzzz's).

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 2 months.

Our first family camping trip was a success!  We went with friends to a campsite on the Delaware river.  The kids played in the creek, roasted marshmallows on a too-big open fire, and went to bed...eventually.  No one got scared or bitten by anything.  Woohoo!

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 2 months.

Connor had so much fun playing with his friends at the OFNS beach day.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "Many fish in the sea":

Dear you all,

We started our week reading more ocean books. We rehearsed our ocean
tale one time before going out to the yard to splash and play in the
water bins. While waiting for turns children used spray bottles to
stay as cool as sea cucumbers.

We used the water bins the next day too. Wednesday and Thursday we
took turns in pairs taking a dip in our swimming pool. The children
were excited, to say the least. One person decided not to get in the
pool but wanted to get wet when it started to "rain" sprinkler-style.

Our beach trip was cloudy and pleasant. Some of the children were
digging a garden for what seemed like an hour, or more. They said they
needed water. Someone looked at the ocean and said, "There's some
water." Many ocean critters were discovered, some living, some not.
Fun was had by all.

It has truly been a pleasure watching each and every one of your
unique, amazing, intelligent, offspring grow this year. Couldn't ask
for more. Most fun ever! Thanks to you for all that you contribute to
make Old First a great place!

Next week: no school Monday, full day Tuesday, and Wednesday last day,
half day. Our graduation show will begin at 11:15am.

Sincerely,
Therese

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 2 months.

Graduation gifts from Nana!  Graham can't wait to wear his kindergarten graduate shirt (and Will can't wait to pilfer those tastykakes).

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 1 month.

Strawberry/raspberry picking on a blazing hot day. We cooled down afterwards with a shady hike around a beaver pond.

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 1 month.

Renaissance man Connor Miller played a few tunes before heading to his last t-ball game of the season.  He is a consistent lefty and has a very good throw for a 4-year-old.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "Water writing":

Dear mamas and papas,

We began our week painting with water. We used cups of water and paint
brushes to "paint" the brick wall outside. The children immediately
set to work, noticing the color change and trying to cover the entire
wall. They succeeded.

We had two Old First alumni visit the classroom. Gus and Alex are
fourth grade twins. The children guessed their ages to be around 100.
They said they knew they weren't really that old. We measured the
nine-year-olds on our height chart to see how much taller they are and
to think about how much taller everyone will soon be. They took turns
reading our My Trip To The Aquarium book. It is a long book but the
children listened intently to every word.

Our trip to the aquarium was hot and sunny with a touch of penguins.
The children speculated what animals we would see at the aquarium just
before departure. We checked our list after and found only two animals
that we had guessed would be there. No blue whales.

The children took turns writing a new story using sea creatures as
characters. We acted it out and decided to use it for our graduation
show on the last day of school. We brainstormed ideas for costumes.
Lots of excitement! Amazing cast and crew. One person was concerned we
wouldn't have time to make his costume because we've been talking
about the number of school days left. We assured everyone there was
plenty of time left to work and create.

Next week, weather permitting, the children can wear bathing suits to
school. And sunscreen please. We will be swimming in our (tiny) pool
and playing water games outside. Water shoes or sandals too. Not your
Easter shoes, as Beanie suggested. Yes, you heard correctly, please
send children to school in bathing suits with a dry outfit for after
our swim. (Unless it's raining)

Also, graduation will be on June 28, at 11:15am.

Have a good stormy weekend,
Therese

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 1 month.

Graham's kindergarten moving-up ceremony!  The kids are wearing capes to remind them of all the superpowers (reading, writing, friend-making, etc.) they have learned in kindergarten which will help them in 1st grade, to help ease any nerves about the transition.  Graham doesn't seem nervous.  He is sad to say goodbye to Ms. Marie, Mr. Greg, and his class, though!

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 1 month.

Pictures from Graham's teacher from his kindergarten year.  The last one is his "after" picture.

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 1 month.

Today was so hot and sticky, the only thing we could do was hide in the shade with our feet in cold water.

6 years, 4 months/4 years, 1 month.

Linner!  We spent all day at the beach and were starving by the time we made it to Dinosaur BBQ in the late afternoon.  The boys scarfed down tons of ribs.