Thursday

The two hour drive to Ellensburg was filled with anticipation. I was excited to spend time with the kids in their classrooms. I arrived at the school with Hope waiting to greet me. I gave her a big hug and handed her the brown bag lunch that I had made for her. We went to the lunch room and ate our lunches. After lunch we went outside for a brief recess. Hope showed me some of her daring new tricks on the jungle jim as she hung upside down and flipped over the bar. I met a couple of her friends, Mateo & Cory. Playing on the grass this beautiful day warmed my heart.

After recess we got in line to enter one of the the K-1 classrooms. The kindergartners were working on colors and numbers so Mrs. Clasen gathered up her first graders into a circle on the floor and taught a lesson with a balance scale, an apple and some blocks. She taught the kids about estimation, making guesses and predictions. She is a young woman in her early twenties and has a great way about her. After the lesson the kids broke off into small groups and worked on the writing of numbers. I gives me a greater feeling of connection with my kids to know what they are learning and talk to them about it.

Next stop was Max's 3rd grade class with Mrs. Ristine. She asked me if I would like to lead an activity. I said, of course! My job was to help the kids make beaded bracelets with specific colors that represented the life cycle of the salmon. It was fun to talk to the kids in a casual way and listen to their chatter. Then, all of a sudden. . . THE FIRE ALARM! A fire drill! Cool, the school was evacuated in a short time and the kids were amazingly quiet. One the way back into the class room, I reminded the children of the rule, "If you don't come to the fire drill, you're not allowed to come to the fire." The kids got the joke and laughed.

After school Moira met us at the flag pole and dropped Liam off. I need to find out where he is going to preschool and visit him there. We went to a playground for an hour where we played Star Wars with our imaginary light sabers. After that we went to a movie.


Then it was time to go back to the school (where Moira picked up the kids), one final round on that playground and call it an evening.

The drive back to Seattle over the mountains during sunset was spectacular. Started out fiery orange, then magenta and finally the clouded sky turned pink. This sure is a beautiful part of the country