To the beach!

Allison came home on Tuesday - super excited - because Wednesday was Beach Day.  There was even a note in her folder to "dress for the beach" but no swimsuits allowed.

Initially I thought, "well, that's cute!"  It's been so very cold, and I can appreciate the school's lighthearted attempt to think of warmer weather.

Then, I realized the impossibility of dressing a child for the beach, when the child had to endure freezing temps getting to school, from school, and at recess!  Especially Allison, who clings to the "5th and 6th graders DO NOT have to wear their snowpants" rule like gospel.

So, we settled on a long, knit, strapless dress with flip-flops in the backpack, a sweater to wear to and from school, and a beach towel to wrap up in.  All set!  This probably would have been fine for the day - had they not decided to have a fire drill.  Because it makes total sense to ask the school kids to dress like they are going to the beach in FEBRUARY in WISCONSIN and then send them all outside (without coats) for a FIRE DRILL!

And, exactly where in the common core curriculum is the material on logic?

Allison's Math Test

Allison nearly aced her last math test.  Congrats!  The topic was multiplication with decimals and the test was pretty much just about the math and not about hokey math concepts and twisted word problems.  Support for my theory that Allison would be a much "better" student had she been born 20 years earlier....

But I also took a picture of the grading sheet.  It must really kindof suck for the teachers.  Each question with it's targeted objective.  Each (multiple choice) problem graded on a scale of 1-3.  Seriously, the benefit of multiple choice tests is that they can be graded quickly with one pass of a red pen.  No More!

Pinewood Derby Time!

Yesterday was the Pinewood Derby.  This is Jacob's den (gotten a little bit smaller this year).

 Jacob and Brian worked on Jacob's car this past week.  It came in at a perfect 5.0 ounces (it's the red car in the blue lane below).  Jacob was pretty certain it would win, but after watching a few practice runs beforehand, I was much less certain.

 None-the-less - he scored a first place win in his den, which means we got to stick around for the finals - where he raced all the ones he raced before the derby and didn't place at all.  But he was excited!

And here is Jacob with his friend Ian.  Immediately after the derby, Jacob and Ian headed over to their soccer game.  We got home and to bed around 9 pm, only to get up for the 8 am basketball game Saturday morning (honestly, the YMCA said "Games at 10 am *but the time may change."  Yeah - talk about a crappy time change!  Jacob asked which game the whole family was going to make it to and I was like.... uh, none.)