Environmental fair

Kara has been loving attending the center for creative learning on Mondays. She loves her regular school already, but she loves CCL even more, since it's a different way of learning. They had their big environmental fair last Friday. It was an event with all of the 1st graders who attend CCL to show off what they learned this quarter, and to do a fundraiser for the world bird sanctuary. Of course Kara had signed up to cover the earliest time slot. So when we got there, the teacher wasn't there, and I was pulling out my hair trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. Of course as soon as I just asked Kara, she knew exactly what her booth was about, and how the game was supposed to work.

Her game was an egg toss. There was a hummingbird, cardinal, and eagle's nest, and different sized "eggs" for the kids to toss into the nests. The nest Kara made was the hummingbird nest, and she brought white jelly beans for the eggs. Luckily I just bought the stuff she said she needed to bring. I was skeptical when she kept saying she needed to bring jelly beans and snickers, when the teacher hadn't sent a paper home about it. I also had been hesitant to send her to school with a bunch of sticks and leaves, without the teacher having requested it. I guess at the CCL, they do things a little differently than her regular school. I'm used to getting papers, and emails and texts about every little thing. So next time I'll just trust she knows what she is talking about. (the snickers were the prize when someone got  3 eggs into a nest).

She made about $8 during her 20 minute shift, and then 2 more girls from her class showed up to relieve her. She was excited to get to go see the other booths.

Kiersten and Kara playing a game with magnets taped to stuffed birds. They had to try to catch the appropriate type of food. They gave Kiersen a prize, even though her bald eagle caught an ant :) I guess maybe they do eat those.

These  boys are in Kara's CCL class with her. She made sure to quiz them about what owls and eagles eat.

I didn't realize I cut this hawks face off. Whoops! There is an owl just to the right of Kara's head too, if you can see it. It's a little fuzzy. Kiersten was a little nervous about the hawk. She kept asking if it knew how to fly or not.

Just when we were checking out the raffle baskets, and deciding which ones to bid on, Evie wet her pants, and we decided to leave. The girls were disappointed, as Kara now fancies herself quite the lucky charm. But Evie was miserable, and my jeans were wet too, so we left.
It was fun to see Kara so proud of her work, and to meet her CCL teacher. She came home from school a few days later with a printout of her powerpoint presentation she made. They ended up not showing them at the event, as it was pretty hectic. But I was impressed. Mostly I am happy to see that she is loving being there, and learning new things, instead of being bored, relearning things she's known for 2 years. I definitely plan to send her back next year, and hopefully Kiersten will test in as well.