winding down

This is the last week of school in Moorhead, and the kids have been taking part in some fun end of the year activities. All of the 5th graders had "Immigration Day", where they had to pretend that they were immigrating to America from another country. They had been studying their ancestors and lineage, and had to choose which country they were going to come from, come up with appropriate clothing, and plan what they would bring with them on their voyage. Some of the kids traveled in "families", and others just traveled in groups. Cooper was a nineteen year old coming with a friend from Poland, and Carter was a three year old from a large family immigrating from Norway. Here are all the 5th graders waiting to get off the "boat."When they got off, they had to be checked by the nurses for any health problems before they could move on.
Friends Joey and Jacob
Next up was an interview with an immigration official and a questionnaire to make sure you knew enough information about America to be let into the country.
They also had to be interviewed in their "home language", and the kids got such a kick out of this because they couldn't understand a word that was said.

They had to have their passports stamped before they could board the ferries bound for NYC. I had such a fun time watching this whole process and was impressed by the lengths that the teachers went to create a fun learning environment for the kids.
The boys also participated in the 5th grade track meet. Cooper ran the 100meter and the Boys Relay, and Carter ran the 100 meter, and both the Boys and Co-Ed Relays. It was a gorgeous day to be able to be outside.
Kennedy has been participating in an accelarated reading program with one of the most amazing teachers I have ever met. For one of their projects, they had to break into small groups, research a country, and then create a skit and slideshow to perform for their homeroom classes and parents. The slideshow had to include things like a map, types of land, tourist attractions, foods, sports, climate, language, natural resources, and government. Their story had two young girls traveling to England to see all of the sites, and they end up finding out that the Queen of England is actually one of the girls' mother and she gets to be crowned the PRINCESS! (It just happened to be Kennedy... wonder who wrote THAT part of the skit!) The performance had an airport, a restaurant, a taxi-ride, a visit to Buckingham Palace for high-tea complete with real cupcakes, and of course a coronation. Kennedy had three clothing changes during the skit... it was quite a production! Katelyn has officially completed her driver's training program and needs to go in and take her permit test. She as been begging us to take her out and teach her to drive, and dreaming about what kind of car she thinks we should buy her.