Einstein Overnight

One of the quintessential Mayo experiences is the overnight.  There is an overnight for each group of grades.  The Pre-K and Kindergartners are called the Einsteins.  And the Einsteins have their overnight in the school.  Last Thursday before Lucy got sick on Friday, we spent the night in the school.

We did activities around the building, including reading this book in the library!  You can read about why this is funny in this post.

We made pigeons with paint and our hands (as in Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus).

Then Lucy painted a truck in the cafeteria.

The first thing she did was grab a paint brush and put a big swath of black paint across a paper plate.  Just as I was about to ask her why she did that, she put the truck down and ran the wheels through the paint, thereby painting the wheels all the way around.  My jaw dropped.  It would have never have occurred to me to do that.

Then it was time to brush teeth and read books and go to bed.

Lucy has a little trouble with the water in the water fountain jumping off and running down her shirt.

Below we are reading books with our dear friend Lily and her dad Jeff.  I hope we didn't give her the Flu that we ended up with 48 hours later!

I did not get much sleep that night but it was worth it!  I will always treasure the bonding time of the overnights.  The teachers put so much work into this night.  It is always a learning, bonding, sharing, memory-making adventure.  I can tell you who has sleep apnea, who has allergies and who has a deviated septum!  But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Mom, I need a costume!

Have you seen this ad?

Well I had a similar experience, with albeit a little more notice.

"Mom, I am in a living museum at school and I am a French Canadian named Louis Jolliet, a fur trader and cartographer who mapped the Mississippi River in 1675.  I need a costume and three artifacts that he would have had in his era."

Yes dear...

There is faux buffalo and bobcat fur all over my craft room.

Time Machine

Tonight we were in a program at Mayo.  The 4th and 5th graders are called Armstrongs and the Armstrongs put on a program tonight for the parents.  Lucy and I got to participate along with other parents and little brothers and sisters. 

The students discovered a time machine.  Emma Jane went in as a 4th grader and there was smoke and then she emerged as a preschooler (Lucy).  Then she went back into the time machine and went into the future (Emily).  Then they returned to 2013. 

Here we are as the past, present and future Emma Jane...

Brain Dissection!

Last Friday I got the privilege of assisting Emma Jane's science teacher with brain dissection at Mayo.  We dissected sheep brains.  The students were very excited (and so was I).

You can read about our new Mayo here, or the last day at our old Mayo here.  This new building is such an amazing place.  I was so happy to be here in this building and share this moment with the fourth and fifth grade Armstrongs.  

This is Mrs. Power.  She is talking about the two hemispheres of the brain and how they control opposite sides of the body.  We love Mrs. Power!!!

Here are the brains waiting on the anxious children...er..I mean the anxious children waiting on the brains.

We learned about the cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, corpus collosum, sulci and gyri.  The two grown ups dissected the dura mater off of the brains.  It was too tough to cut through.

Then we let the kids cut down the midline and look for the landmarks.  

We learned about what each part of the brain is responsible for.  Did you know the brainstem is responsible for the functions necessary for survival such as breathing, digestion, heart rate and blood pressure?  Of course you did...

I got pretty excited because during one dissection we found the olfactory bulbs still intact, as well as a few of the cranial nerves. 

Look at that studious girl...

Truth be told, she was a little grossed out by the smell but she got through it.

One group of kids even had snack during this class.  Those kids are tough as nails...

Thank you Mrs. Power for letting me come to your class and dissect dura mater and talk about the pituitary gland and how the surgeons get to the pituitary gland and look at MRI's and take pictures of your amazing students and create a very good example of a run on sentence that would make Lucy Piper's head explode!

Addendum:  Right as I was cleaning up from the brain dissection and the students were lining up for lunch I got a call that Lucy was throwing up downstairs.  I ran down to the office and she was sitting there all puny looking and pale.  She must have eaten something bad because she vomited a couple of more times and then was better after a nap.  She was happy and back to herself by dinner time.  She announced that she was hungry and we all sat down to dinner that night.  I asked the girls about their day.

Emma said she got to have ice cream with Madeline.

Lucy said she learned a new song at school.

I said "I saw Lucy throw up and a dead sheep's brain."

(And if you missed the joke, you can read why I thought this was an appropriate answer here.)

The New Mayo

 

This marks the end of our first week of school.  Last weekend we worked at Mayo to help get it ready for the first day.  They moved buildings and the new building was quite old and needed a lot of renovation.  But it is a beautiful building and we are so lucky to be in it.

The call went out for volunteers over a week ago and Mike answered the call.  He was invaluable to all the teachers and staff at the school.  All weekend long I heard, "has anyone seen Emma Jane's dad?", "oh, you should ask Emma Jane's dad to fix that, he can do it."

We all went up and chipped in but Mike put in more than his fair share.

The girls unpacked boxes, scraped stickers off lockers, and fetched snacks for the teachers.

And if you know me at all, you know I LOVE School Supplies!  (I was accused once of becoming a teacher just for the school supplies.)

All the pencils sharpened to a fine point.  All the crayons in every color.  The markers still have ink and the correct lids on them!  All those primary colors! 

And all the books ready to be read to eager children sitting "criss-cross applesause" in a circle around a nurturing teacher who knows all their names and sings songs and gets down on their level.

After a full weekend of working the school had it's grand opening on Monday morning.  It was quite an event!  Lucy was so happy and excited to be going to her "sissy's school".  She was a little intimidated by the hoopla surrounding the grand opening.  There were television news crews and music and people talking on a PA system and lots of cheering.  It was not the best way for a little girl who doesn't like crowds or noise to start school.  But it was the perfect way to start off the school year for the rest of us.

Here is sweet Lucy on her very first day of big girl school.  Pre-K here we come!

And both of my beautiful girls in our front yard.

And here is Emma Jane's best friend Sophie too!  Two of the smartest and prettiest 4th graders I have ever known.

Then we all drove to school.  I have this exact same picture of Emma Jane with her dad 5 years ago.

 I love the community of Mayo.  We have the best teachers and parents.  I am so proud of how we all came together to get the barn raised.  It takes a village to raise a child or open a school.

It is going to be a great year!