164 days

We have been keeping a tally of how many days of school we have had all year.

Each week we used an image related to what we had been studying. 

This week we have put up 

I asked my friends if they could guess why I chose a heart for this week.

Judah: Because you love us so much. 

Morah Katie: That is true.

As our wall clearly states, our year is coming to a close.
We had a short, busy week creating one of our final art projects.
It required some self reflection.

As the children took time for self observation, I took the time to observe the growth in the skills they acquired or refined over the year.

My friends had conversations about hair and eye color, 

Ari: I have tan hair and brown eyes. 

Evan: I have green eyes, I don't have brown eyes.

Judah: My hair looks kinda gray.

Morah Katie: Gray? 

Judah: Well maybe not gray, but not brown or black.

Augie: You see I have white on my eye but I don't need to draw it on the paper because the paper is white, but I'm not white like the paper I'm more peach like the peach pencil. So I'm not going to draw the white of my eye but I'll use some peach.

Olivia: I have long hair.

Abram: And it's black.

Olivia: Well it's brown black.

Abram: Mine is black.

I made note that many of my friends were cutting on their own, and holding pencils correctly and writing with careful precision.

 

I watched how eagerly my friends created their masterpieces, 

and reflected on the individual growth of each child over the past year.

Looking back, September seems very long ago.

My friends have grown so much and bloomed into beautiful, caring, young people.