evening of the arts

One of the things I love most about the end of each school year (most of it makes me sad knowing my kids are promoting another grade higher...) is all of the art and music performances! My boys are always excited to show off what they have worked so hard on and we are obviously just as excited to see! In second grade, each year, the students have an "Evening of the Arts" where all of their art class work is displayed in the hallway, they put on a music performance in the gym and then you are invited to their classroom where they host a "Reading Restaurant" giving the students a chance to show off all of their writing and reading skills from the year. It is really a fun and creative event! They even have tiny little second grade students serving cookies and punch in the hallway so that you can browse the displayed artwork in style. It's quite fancy!

The theme for Maddox's Reading Restaurant was 50's Diner and so he was asked to dress the part. I think we came up with a pretty cute outfit!

First we made our way to the gym to get good seats for the music performance. It seems that no matter how early we get there (this time we were 30 minutes early!) we always end up at least half way back in the seating! I don't even want to know what time the people in the front row show up! Anyway, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that we didn't get a single piece of video of Maddox's performance. Ugh. Brandon was literally getting out of his seat to sneak up the aisle and get some video when the music teacher announced that "that was their last song" and thanked us for coming!?!? What!?!? The program was only three songs long and kind of took us by surprise! Oh well...I guess you'll just have to believe me when I say that it was REALLY CUTE and Maddox did an AWESOME JOB!!!!

After the music performance we strolled the hallway taking in all the wonderful artwork. And yes we munched on some cookies and punch too! It still amazes me what incredible artists little kids are! I wish we never lost our inhibition and confidence in art. It's a beautiful thing!

We had to take a break from the art gallery to attend Maddox's Reading Restaurant. We waited at the classroom door until our party name was called "Knight! Party of 3!" and then Maddox escorted us to our designated table. He handed us our "Reading Restaurant Menu" and let us choose what we wanted.

Each "course" was listed on the Reading Menu as an actual meal. For instance, there was an appetizer, drink, main course, dessert, etc. Beside each menu item there was a description of a piece of Maddox's writing that he would then retrieve from his folder and bring to our table and read aloud. There was also a "price" associated with each menu item. The prices were things like "One Hug" and "One High Five." We took turns paying for our menu items. Ash refused to do the "Kiss" so mommy took that one but Ash did hug his brother and dad gave a high five!

Maddox did a great job reading all of his writings to us! It was really interesting to see him get tripped up by some of his earlier writings because his spelling skills weren't as good and so he couldn't sound out even his own words! He has made so much progress this year!

Once we were finished with our delicious reading meal we made our way back to the hallway art gallery where we found some of Ashtyn's art work! Much of the third grade art was actually up for sale including this drawing by Ash! The artwork could be yours for any donation to the school's art program. Of course, we couldn't leave without purchasing Ashtyn's art.

We are now the proud owners of "Rhino at Sunset" which is framed and hanging in our living room. It's our most priceless piece of art by far!  

I really can't rave more about our kids' school! The teachers are all amazing. They go above and beyond and truly care for their students. It's so much easier to send your kids to school every day when you know they are going to place where they are loved and thought of as their teacher's "own." I love that our school encourages parents to be involved and the staff is so accessible and willing to help with any and every thing! There are many reasons I hope we never move but this school district is at the top of my list!