End-of-Year Wrap-Up: Micah

Micah was a busy guy when school was winding down.

He had his final orchestra concert. It's been fun to watch his talent for music develop. This kids loves the Piano Guys, so his dual piano/cello talents have him focused on big dreams!

Each fifth grader chooses a famous American to research, write about, and portray in the annual wax museum. Micah chose the sculptor of Mount Rushmore and Stone Mountain, Gutzon Borglum. He chose Borglum because he was born in Idaho, the state Micah wrote about for his state report earlier in the year. I think it may be the only day of the year where hammers and chisels are allowed without being sent to the principal for bringing weapons to school.

I couldn't find any mustaches anywhere, so I used a piece of industrial-strength velcro on his face. I warned him that it may not come off until he got home, but he didn't care. In reality, industrial-strength velcro is not intended to stay adhered to skin. It started coming off halfway through the presentations. He improvised a removal technique--using his hammer and chisel, he scraped it off in true sculptor fashion.

I was lucky enough to chaperone Micah's final field trip to the Halle Heart Center.

The kids watched videos and listened to presentations about how food affects not only weight and energy, but how it affects our hearts, too. They were astounded to hear that a Happy Meal is the correct amount of food to feed  . . . an adult for an entire meal. Wish you could have heard their reactions!

They got to play Fruit Ninja at an exercise station . . .

. . .  and it got pretty competitive.

They listened to heartbeats of different animals and see scale replicas of the animals' hearts. Wish this picture of Mrs. H's full class had turned out better, but it was really dark in there.

Look closely, and you can see the whale's heart in the background.

This is one of the best teaching field trips I've ever been on. The kids learned a lot, and the structure/free learning ratio was perfect.

Micah is going to always remember fifth grade--Idaho, Borglum, science fair projects, and learning that even though he's pretty smart, grades aren't instantly good--they take work and practice.