End of year happenings

Quick recap of some great springtime events: 

The students helped me out with a project for Kristine. They all posed with these amazing mustaches or glasses and it resulted in the cutest collage of kiddos ever. Perhaps it's more that I've been with these guys for two years now and have real feelings about how much they have grown, learned, challenged each other, and matured. They used to be like babies and now.... I have some really mixed emotions about getting a new group of children.

My golden birthday - turned 27 on the 27th. Celebrations included mint chocolate brownies for the staff, a delicious cake with grade 4, Indian food and beer fest with friends, and a fantastic pineapple with a face! 

In class we were doing our final unit about the human body. After reading a bit about the circulatory system and blood, we made our own blood models using Cheerios and food coloring. It was pretty awesome and quite disgusting, which makes it even more awesome in grade 4! The students also worked in groups to present on an activity and how it affects different systems in the body. They did an incredible job with the projects and even though they were specific to that unit, I felt like it was a culminating project in that it showed how much they have come with their presentation skills! Speaking of presentation, we also had the Spring Show. Grade 4 did a song about the respiratory system set to the music of a One Direction song.... It was fantastic. They also sang "all about the bass" like Meghan Trainor, except the lyrics were all about bass notes. It was adorable.

In a continuation of my birthday, we biked out to Jurmala. It was only like a three hour ride. Since Latvia has no hills, it really wasn't bad. Just hot. I still have tan lines from that trip. But it was worth it once we got out to the water. Bekah, Rorey, Cody, Shaun, Alyssa, and I all enjoyed a nice lunch and  then some drinks and naps on the beach. Plus a bit of volleyball. Then It was time to head back to Riga.... We opted for the train. :) 

Grade 4's end of year party. Oh my. There was a bit of drama in the planning of the party, but in the end, it was great. The kids had a great time and it didn't rain until it was time to leave and no one got hurt! Which is quite astounding given that the party included a climbing wall, ropes maze, slack line, trampoline, outdoor games and 33 sugar-crazed 10 year olds! The venue wouldn't have been my first choice, but again they all enjoyed it and that's really my biggest concern. 

I know there was a lot more in between those things, but I don't have as many photos of those.