Allison has had a busy last month of school. Her teacher’s name this year is Miss Coovert. It is her first year teaching and she is pretty awesome. Allison has loved having her. All the third grade teachers have made this a pretty fun year. They always had fun projects when they learned things and Allison loved being able to use her creativity. One of her favorite projects was making a bottle buddy of a famous Kansan out of a soda bottle and a foam ball for the head. She picked Bob Dole because his name was Bob.
They have gone on several field trips the last few weeks too. They went to the Topeka Zoo and toured the Capitol building. They went to the Fire Station, and last week they went to the Mahaffie Stage Coach Stop. I went on that one with her. We panned for gold, road in a stage coach and learned a lot about the different trails pioneers used to travel around. I am glad that I got to go on a field trip with her. She won’t want me on to many more probably. She is getting to where she wants to be around friends more and more.
Panning for gold, we didn’t have any luck. 
Stage Coach ride! 
Mahaffie Stage Coach Stop
Allison has been learning the value of honesty the past few weeks too, and is still working on it. She asked me to sign her planner after school one day, which is very normal. The ‘planner’ she brought me was not normal. It was a stack of lined paper taped together with “Do Math” written on it. At the bottom of said stack of papers was a suspicious orange piece of paper sticking out that said “Parent Signature”. As you might have guessed she wanted me to sign her ‘planner’ on the orange paper. I looked at her and said, ‘You want me to sign your planner, is this your planner.’ She looked back and said, ‘Yep, my real one is missing so I made one.’ I picked up the pen she conveniently had ready for me to sign with and signed the white paper, she of course said I should sign at the bottom where the orange paper said. I told her is she wanted me to sign the orange paper I would have to untape it and read what it said first. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her face when she realized that her plan had not worked. I remember coming up with ridiculous plans like that as a kid and wondering how my plan could have possibly failed. Allison quickly disappeared when I started un-taping her ‘planner’. I told her when she wanted me to sign it she could come talk to me about it. It was a think sheet from school. They have to fill one out when they do something they are not supposed. It says what they did, why it’s wrong, and what they are going to do to fix it. All the teachers have tickets at the school and hand them out to kids when they see them doing something good. When they get so many tickets they can turn them in for a prize in the office. Allison had decided that she would make her own tickets at home with our color printer and then turn them in at school and told her teacher the substitute they had the day before had given them to her. Again, how did this brilliant plan fail?!? I of course did not fail to point out the irony that she tried to get me to sign her think sheet about being dishonest by trying to trick me and be dishonest again showing she clearly had a lot to learn about being honest. After a long repetitive talk about honesty and trust, several drafts of an apology letter to her teacher before one was approved, and the punishment of being grounded from friends and all electronics for two weeks, I signed her think sheet.
One of the best days of the year in elementary school is Field Day. It was a great success this year. It was 85 degrees and sunny. Perfect weather to play outside. They had the younger kids do Field Day in the morning and the older ones in the afternoon. I went and helped out with both of them and had some fun one on one time. Allison helped her class win the relay race and the tug of war. She had a few turns in the giant hamster balls and blow up obstacle course and slide. They had fun water activities and lots of rope climbs, net climbs, hula hoops, dancing, pogo sticks, and topped it off with lemonade and popsicles.
Water games 
Alli in the hamster ball 
Allison and Paighton waiting for the hamster ball. 
Running her leg of the relay race. 
Nice job Allison!
Allison finished her second year of Girl Scouts this year. She bridged from being a Brownie to a Junior. She joined a new troop this year and has really liked it. They do a lot more outdoor stuff. She went on a campout at the Zoo a few weeks ago. They went on a night hike while they were there and saw the animals while they were sleeping. Then they slept in one of the exhibits. She has a few good friends in her troop too. I am glad she has found something that she looks forward too.
Allison with her Girl Scout Troop 
Walking through the rainbow bridge. 
She is now a Junior Cadette instead of a Brownie.
This week at school they had the talent show and awards ceremony. Allison and her friend Hailey started working on a cheer routine at the very beginning of the year. Somewhere along the way it got changed to Hailey and Paighton doing the cheer (I think because they had matching cheer outfits) and Allison was the comedic relief/judge for the cheer leaders. They were all pretty excited about it and had fun doing it.
Allison was awarded the Student of the Month for P.E. and Miss Coovert gave her the Helping Hand Award because she is always willing to help in the class room. She is a very helpful girl when she wants to be.
She can also be thoughtful. The past week or so she has been learning to sew a little bit. She made a few pillow cases for herself to use. Then she decided to make little throw pillows for each of her Grandma’s so she picked out some fabric, I helped a little but she cut, sewed, stuffed and then decorated them pretty much on her own. They turned out pretty cute. She definitely has talented crafty side. In between sewing projects she decided to make a snack serving platter for her chips, salsa, and fruit. It actually worked quite well.
