Friday Favourites

We're into the final stretches of the school year!  I did a little recap of E and Q's school years this week - Grade 1 here, and Grade 6 here.  

On Sunday night we officially moved down to our basement while we undertake a significant renovation to our home.  Our top two floors are empty, and the storage bin is full. Our workers started this week so we'll see how it all goes. I'll give you a tour next week of our underground dwelling, I'm getting flashbacks to the basement apartments I lived in during university (cue Sarah Harmer).

Q had soccer on Monday, where Dave is the coach.  It was a pretty good game, and it was picture night.

On Tuesday I attended a conference for Women Leaders.  There were about 3000 attendees and we had some fabulous speakers including Hayley Wickenheiser and Lisa LaFlamme.

Like as if Hayley Wickenheiser wasn't cool enough to be a superstar hockey player with 4 Olympic Gold medals, 1 Olympic Silver Medal, and 7 World Championships, she is now a medical doctor and is assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and a mom!! I love her so much.

During my lunch break from the conference I was just going to go to the Union Station Food Court but everywhere had long lines so instead I treated myself to a sit down meal at Union Chicken.  Not a very smart financial choice, but it did mean I was able to do a a bit of work while waiting for my food rather than just standing in line somewhere (plus I could order a glass of wine) so I'll count it as a win. Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, the OG Chicken Sandwich here is exquisite, best in the city.

Last pizza day at the school for the year on Wednesday.  It was a privilege to volunteer for this a few times throughout the year.  I liked seeing the kids and their friends, getting to know some more parents, and contributing to the school. I always like to go for a little visit after we've given out the pizza.  I tried to take a photo of E's class, but no one was really looking.

A bit more attention paid by the Grade 1s!

After Q's tball on Wednesday we went over to watch the little league baseball games.  I love being at High Park with all of the people and activities. It is a gem in our city.

On Thursday it was the school's annual Party in the Playground. Fun was in abundance, along with the sugary treats.  Showers and good teeth brushing was in order when we got home.  It's always fun to see the other parents.

We're roaring into the end of June!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

School Days - Grade 6

E is finishing up Grade 6 next week. His school goes from JK to Grade 8 so no change in buildings for him next year.  They do switch into "Junior High" though and will have a bit of a different format for classes throughout the day and are allowed to leave the school grounds at lunch.  

The school year started out with E with the teacher I had "requested" for him (I often ask the principal for a certain teacher assignment and for a non-split class and they say they can't make promises but it usually works out) so I was happy.  I heard she was tough and did a good job of preparing the students for junior high and high school.  Then they had to reorganize the classes and E was switched to a split class (Grades 5 and 6) and a new teacher. I wasn't pleased but when I went to curriculum night, I felt comfortable with the teacher and he seemed like he would have high expectations of his students.  E also had a few friends in this new class that he has grown closer with over the year, they are all a great group of kids. 

In terms of school work, E does not struggle with understanding and learning the material, his challenge remains getting it down on paper or on the screen.  He did tutoring twice a week where they worked on reading comprehension, writing complete answers, and doing so in a neat way.  He enjoyed going to tutoring and I think we will continue with it next year.  I didn't see much of what E was working on throughout the year (which is probably my fault for not asking more questions) but they hardly ever had homework, besides the odd math worksheet, and although E told us about projects he was working on, he never seemed to have to work on them at home.  His teacher always had nice things to say about him at all the parent-teacher conferences, with his only critique being E needs to work on answering the questions being asked and to do so neatly (hence the aforementioned tutoring). Honestly though, I don't really understand what is expected of them in school anymore. The traditional way of learning, like how I grew up, seems to be in the background, but there is also a lot of computer work and PowerPoint presentations, which is something I loathe.  We will continue to help E with the basics and hopefully will be alerted to any major problems as he goes forward into junior and senior high school.  

The current debate around here is whether E should have a phone.  He is one of the only kids in his grade and definitely the only kid in his class that does not have a cell phone.  I am on the side of not getting one yet, Dave thinks he should have one so he is not left out of the group messages and making plans, and E wants one but doesn't really give us a hard time about it (this is keeping with his usual demeanor of being pretty easy going).  I don't want to go into the full debate in this post, but current status is "We'll see". 

All in all, I cannot really complain about the school year. I'm hoping as we get farther away from the pandemic, the education system kicks back into gear for our kids and that I can better grasp what is expected of them and support accordingly.

Ready for the Grade 6 Overnight Trip at the Sheldon Education Centre (owned and operated by the Toronto District School Board).  He had such a great time and by his account was a superstar at all of the various activities.

He walked everyday with his buddy B. They never once asked for a drive even in the rain, cold, and snow.  He will really miss B when he moves away this summer :(

Some homework and reading help.

Poppies for Remembrance Day (not a holiday in Ontario).

E's group of friends at his birthday party.

Unfortunately he has grown out of this blazer now, so we'll need a replacement, he loved wearing it.

Cross country run day.

E and B, good buddies.

School Days - Grade 1

The last day of school will soon be upon us.  This was the first "normal" year that Q has ever had.  No missed days of school, most of the extra-curricular activities were back, and no masks required.  I think most parents and teachers can agree that the kids are behind on where they should be academically. This was definitely the case for Q. Although his handwriting has gotten neater and he certainly has grasped all of the Grade 1 concepts, he is definitely behind in his reading.  Many kids have caught up this year, but Q still needs some work.  We worked on various things that tried to help him and although we made some progress, it was hard to keep the momentum up. We will keep up the reading help over the summer and get him some tutoring help next year. A reminder to all of us that he’s in French Immersion so he’s learning both languages. The curve is a little steeper and it does level off eventually.

Despite his reading challenges, Q loves going to school, he has lots of friends, and always comes home with stories. His teacher was the same one E had in Grade 2 so we knew her and she is a great teacher.  Now that I work from home two days a week, and there were actually things happening at the school, I was able to volunteer for pizza day every once in awhile, and I got to see the Halloween costume parade.

Q particpated in some art classes at lunchtime, got some after school tutoring offered by the school, and played a lot of ball hockey, soccer base (or as they call it "kickball"), and soccer.

Q attended the YMCA before and after school program and they have so much fun there.  We continued to share drives with our neighbours and the littles were good companions for each other.  They are moving away this summer and we will miss our friends (and the convenience of going up to the school only once a day).  

Showing me something he made at the YMCA

Lunchroom friends on pizza day

Some school work outside of Q's classroom.

Ready for Valentine's Day

PJ Christmas Party Day

Some artwork

Halloween Parade

Cross Country Run Day.

E's Grade 1 Post here

Weekend Recap

 On Friday night we had our first dinner outside.

We watched the golf after supper, and since it was happening in LA, it was only until after 10:00 pm, so not much time to watch anything else. 

I did a workout in the morning and then got to work packing up our house. 

We all went to Q's hockey game.  It was the semi-final. 

They asked for a volunteer for goalie and Q wanted to do it. A bold movie to try out goalie for the first time for the semi-final game, but it worked out.

He made some great saves and the final score was 6-3 for the Leafs so they are off to the finals. The team all ran down to pile on their goalie (Q) at the end.  It was so cute. 

I moved over to the sunshine.

After hockey we dropped Dave off at the golf course for a tournament.  They had two nice meals and a beautiful day for golf.

I took E to his friend's house so he could go golfing.  Q went to a friends' house to play and I went back to packing/moving.  The kitchen looked the same as the photo above, even after hours of work, but I was making progress.  

Q played with a neighbour when he got home and I sat on their porch and had some rosé with the parents.  

It was Father's Day on Sunday so we had a few gifts and treats out for Dave. 

We skipped church so we could keep packing, but we did take a break to see the end of E's baseball game and have a beer at Henderson's Brewery.

They won!

Henderson is always fun to stop in at, and on this day they had a pop up smoked brisket sandwich.  mmm

We got home and kept working away.  This was our last major thing to do move our table down to the basement.  Dave took the metal legs off but the wooden top was still really heavy.  At first I wasn't sure I could do it, but I donned some shoes and gloves and used all of my muscles and we did manage to get it downstairs.  It was a family effort with E and Q helping to look an angles and putting down cardboard and blankets to protect the floor. 

We did accomplish everything we wanted to do on Sunday and were feeling pretty tired!  We ordered some pizza and then enjoyed the Father's Day treat I had picked up, Ernie's Icebox ice cream sandwiches.  I had Black Forest, Dave had Coconut Key Lime, E had S'mores, and Q had Birthday Cake.  Will definitely buy again.

We watched the golf (we were hoping for Rory or Rickie) and then fell into bed.  Even though Dave worked hard all day on Father's Day packing and moving, we don't feel too sorry for him, he did golf on Saturday afternoon and he's off to PEI this weekend for more golf. ;)