Anna's 6th Grade Graduation

This was the last day of third grade for Michael and Sixth Grade Graduation at Uintah Elementary for Anna. Anna really had a nice school year. It was her fifth elementary school, so she was starting over yet again with a new school and new peers who had known each other for many years. I'm pleased that her teacher recognized that Anna would benefit from some extra experiences like being a peer leader, and Anna has done good work this year as she has participated in all of the big sixth grade projects and events. She gave a great 1 hour oral report about Russia (which was a huge stress at the end of my pregnancy). She won second place in the Northern Utah Region in the math/physics division of the junior science fair (Yes, her dad helped a lot with her project involving how many units of pi you need to most accurately measure the volume of a ping pong ball or something like that--it was a bit beyond me--but she learned a ton of math doing it and I'm grateful to have a husband to whom I can say Not It! when it comes to science fairs). Some phenomenal women in our community help the sixth grade, which is four classes, put on two Shakespeare plays each spring. They go all out with incredible costumes and sets, and it was a really fun experience for her to be a peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She was also surprised at graduation when she won the Hope of America Award. I'm pleased that her teacher recognized early in the school year what a great girl she is and chose her to be a peer leader all year. Sixth grade is a year that's different. Even if sixth grade is in elementary school instead of a middle school, the kids are growing up and changing so fast. Being young and naive and just growing up myself, I thought all of the wackiness of 6th grade was due to Utah because I moved from NY to UT right before 6th grade. Eventually I realized that many of the differences between 5th and 6th grades would have been apparent anywhere. I'm so proud of Anna and so pleased with the way she is navigating herself. She strives so hard to be kind and honest. She really stepped up and learned how to help in a meaningful way during my pregnancy with Lucy. She has made herself and Michael lunches every morning, has gotten Michael up and walked to school with him, has gotten herself to an early-morning choir practice each Wednesday, and for several months she's been waking herself up early to practice her violin by herself each morning. 

I admit to a couple of tears during the schmaltzy graduation (It was awesome. They couldn't have possibly crammed anymore schmaltz in, and Mom Dastrup and I enjoyed it all.). I remember how stunned and conflicted I felt as I stood with the other parents at the medical center nursery school in Manhattan on Anna's first day of  nursery school. We were still facing so much school ourselves, so thinking of my daughter having to start something that felt like it had no end (school and then the real life beyond) was hard. I couldn't be more pleased with how she's doing and the great example she is to her younger brother and sisters. We just love this girl!