So admittedly, this post is mostly for Sophie's grandparents. But it's also for me. She is gone on her class's annual camping trip. Unlike last year's class trip (all classes at her school go camping), this is less of a family trip. The kids planned the menus, will prepare and clean up the food, will set up tents, and—as the teacher has specified—engage in decision making and problem solving. The teacher requested only a small number of parents accompany them. Fine, I thought. Three days that I don't take off work to go camping are three days I can take off later to go skiing. Sophie agreed this made a lot of sense. Besides, it made her feel all big and puffed up to be going without a parent.
A picture and report have been sent to me by a parent on the trip, so I know she's having a good time. But I am sad. Our house is quiet, and not in a good way. In the meantime, I promised her I would do a post about her first report, which she turned in on Tuesday.
It was on whales.
Here is her illustration (she used pastels).
The text (miraculously free of hillbilly spelling!) . . .
the bibliography . . .
and the proud student.
Is this any indication of the mess I'll be when she leaves for college?
Here is her illustration (she used pastels).
The text (miraculously free of hillbilly spelling!) . . .
the bibliography . . .
Is this any indication of the mess I'll be when she leaves for college? 
8 comments:
You can't get much more wonderful than that, I don't think. And she's a good artist!
We'll talk and cry to eachother everyday when they leave for college. OK? ;)
OMG! Hillbilly spelling? Not just in my house, huh? No spelling bee champs in this house. (except for me. ha)
Wow! What a great drawing. Sophie deserves to be proud. I'm surprised that they're having her do a bibliography this early in her academic career... but um... her teacher might want to review the MLA format before he/she does bibliographies again...
Crap.
Yours truly might want to review the basics for posting comments... like always make sure that you're logged on as yourself.
Impoverished Preppy
(Who is too lazy to go through the process of logging in.)
Ooh! I love that pastel illustration! Very nice work, Sophie.
I was wondering about that Steve!
The teacher only gave an example of how to cite a book, which didn't help given that Sophie used all online sources. I gave Sophie a modification of Chicago's style for citing online sources, emphasizing that she needed to cite each source in a consistent format and include enough information for a reader to find the source.
I was a little uneasy about using all online sources, but it does solve the resource problem when five kids want to report on the orca and the library only has a few books on the subject. I helped her find a few relevant websites (adding "for kids" to my Google search), printed out the pages, and we then treated them much like we would a book, except that I got to teach her how to use a highlighter pen--different colors for different types of information. So exciting!!
You know, it makes me so happy to see Sophie growing and learning. She's a year younger than my nephew and well... you know the story there. It also does something to my insides to witness how loving and close your relationship is with her. Something I wish very badly for my late sister's children. She is a great kid and you are a kickass mom. I'm guessing this is just an inkling of how much you'll miss her when she leaves for college. Better that than wanting her to get out asap ;) It's great that you respect her independence too. I could go on and on all day, but you can just read my personal blog :) xxoo
Sophie seems like such a sweet and wonderful girl. While she may be true to her nature, I think alot of acknowledgements should go to you and hubby for allowing her be who she is, and loving her unconditionally.
Post a Comment