The Adopted Daughter

On Monday January 10th 2011, we started our second and final semester of third grade. Everything was still the same as we had left it back in December 2010. Mrs. Cooper was still our classroom teacher. She was as we were very excited to see her and I was also excited to see Jaime, Chris, Cynthia and Carl again. As we are settling in our classroom, we started talking to each other asking questions about our winter vacation.

Diana: How was your winter holiday?

Cynthia: It was great, we visited some parts of the States, went to see my grandparents and relatives. We actually just got back last week.

Carl: I was at home most of the time, but my grandparents and some of my aunties and uncles came to visit.

Diana: That’s nice.

Cynthia: How about you guys? How was your winter holiday?

Jaime: It was great!! We stayed in town, hung out with Chris and Diana, celebrated Christmas and Diana’s birthday and then (gets interrupted by Chris)

Chris: Diana’s mum is a fantastic cook, for real.

Diana: Thanks Chris (Jaime laughing at Chris’ comment)

Carl: Do you guys live close by?

Chris: We live in the same neighborhood, a block away from each other.

Carl: Cool.

Mrs. Cooper: Alright, good morning everyone! Welcome back to our second and final semester of third grade. I trust everyone had a wonderful and restful break and are ready to kick off the semester on a positive bright note.

Mrs. Cooper spent the morning going over a few things and changes for the semester, the schedule and the subjects we would be learning stayed the same as last semester, including the classroom rules, and the ‘Weekly Star Awards’. Her classroom stayed the same as last semester but I did notice we got new desktop computers and additional reading books and brand new cushions and the carpet looked like it had been seriously cleaned because when I walked on it barefoot was feeling like I was walking on something very smooth and soft which felt so comfortable and super nice!!

Mrs. Cooper: So let’s begin our class, first things first, all your homework is to be placed in the labeled boxes by the window, so put your math, science, social studies and language, literacy and writing homework in the correct labeled boxes, thank you!

Everyone got up and placed their homework in the right boxes and returned to their seats. We started our first lesson with mathematics and ended the day with Spanish class.

As the semester kicked in, the weather was also starting to change from winter welcoming the spring then summer. For some reason, I felt this semester was a lot easier than last semester; the lessons were easy to follow and understand, it was easy asking questions, and even though the homework was a lot it was easier to work on but I would still ask Jaime and Chris questions when it came to the science and math. I was able to join in some after school activities and guess what I joined this semester ‘art club’ by Mrs. Campbell. I know you must be thinking what? Seriously!! That’s exactly what Jaime, Chris and my parents said when I told them that I had joined the art club. I mentioned joining the art club might help me gain more practice and confidence in my drawing which will better help me in art class. I only wanted to do one activity this semester as I didn’t want to over work myself and end up being exhausted every day. Thanks to my parents support, they agreed, encouraged and supported me with my decisions.

One of the other things we were doing a lot this semester was individual and group presentations. I thought it was great as I didn’t have any problems doing them, and since my group members were still Cynthia, Carl, Jaime, Chris and I, it was even better, because we already knew each other and had worked with each other but most importantly we all got along quite well. I think the challenging part was the individual presentations because all the preparation, the putting together of power points, the research and compiling all the information was quite tedious but I had to be confident that it was doable and give it my best. We also had to do some science project presentations but for this one it was group work which was a relief.

Mid-term which was followed by two weeks of spring break was not at all pleasant as we got full classes of homework except P.E., music and computer; we got homework from every other class including art homework. During the after school art club activity Mrs. Campbell gave me some art work to do at home as practice which was very helpful in helping me improve my drawing, sketch drawing and painting skills. She was actually very happy that I joined the art club and with her help and more practice I could sit, listen and do my art work with full confidence when I had my regular art class.

The two weeks of spring break was spent at home, mainly doing homework meeting up either at Jaime’s, Chris’s or my place. The hours of completing the homework were even longer than expected. At times we would have to meet up the next day to first review and talk about what we did the previous day and then continue on from where we left off. By the time I got back home, all I did was take a bath, have dinner and go to bed because my body and brain were overloaded and we were ONLY in third grade…….what will happen in fourth and fifth grade?

Back in school after the spring break and now going into the summer season. We were starting to do more outdoor activities as the weather was getting warmer including track and field, music activities, swimming activities and grade level activities. This was also the time when we would be celebrating Jaime’s birthday on April 20th and Chris’s birthday on May 23rd. This year their birthdays were on weekdays during school days so would have to buy their gifts on the weekend before their birthday and give it to them either during break time or when we were heading home. This year Mrs. Anders and Mrs. Peterson brought the class cupcakes, and a huge cake with drinks and snacks. We sang the happy birthday song for them and took lots and lots of pictures. We celebrated their birthdays during lunch time as it was when we had a longer recess and a longer break, which was great, that meant no need to go eat in the cafeteria. I had noticed that it was difficult for me to give them their presents while at school as we were all so busy celebrating their birthdays, enjoying the cake and snacks while playing games. So I waited until after school when my mum picked me up so that I could give them their birthday gift before heading home. As soon as we all arrived at the parking lot we all stopped at Mrs. Anders’ and Mrs. Peterson’s car and that was when I took out the gifts from my backpack and gave it to them.

It had been difficult to decide what to get them for their birthday but in the end I got them a math, science and social studies puzzle game and a scrabble game. I knew they liked puzzle games and solving puzzles so I had to make sure I found something challenging but straight forward puzzles games for them. They smiled, thanked me saying “we love them, they are great”, thank you Diana. Mrs. Anders and Mrs. Peterson were very pleased with the gifts and gave me a hug. We then waved our goodbyes; each got into our cars and drove out of the school parking lot heading home. My mum had to stop by the supermarket to pick up some groceries which wasn’t a long list and once we were done, we got back into the car and drove straight home. Dad wasn’t home yet, but I was feeling exhausted, not only from celebrating Jaime and Chris’s birthday’s but there was just too many other activities going on in school and it was mandatory to participate in all of them since they were class activities, and activities done by the entire third grade. To top it all, the homework we had to complete, the presentations we had to prepare and present…..I almost felt like I was in high school but I am ONLY in third grade!!! Life as a student I often ask myself does it get any better or worse?

We were now a few more weeks away from finishing the school semester, grade three and the school year 2010-2011, then would be off for the summer vacation. Lots of activities, events, and goodbye parties were happening at school. We had our school year track and field events, music and performing arts events, parent teacher conferences, and the seniors’ graduation school parade. There were some students and classmates from third grade who were moving to another city so we wouldn’t be moving on with them to fourth grade next year. It was always quite sad during these times as we came close towards the end of the school year also knowing that Mrs. Cooper won’t be our fourth grade teacher next year was also sad, but that was OK….I truly enjoyed having her as my classroom teacher, learned a lot from her, liked her a lot because she was kind, always smiling, strict which is not unusual with most of the teachers, but was always fair.

As the last two days of school were approaching summer plans were already on the way, could hear my classmates talking about their summer vacation where they will be going, what they shall be doing etc. I was also thinking about it as well, not that my parents had mentioned anything about it, but was pretty much hoping that it would be an adventurous one and would be able to hang out with Jaime and Chris. On the last day of school, we all hugged each other, got hugs from Mrs. Cooper, was truly a very sad day, saying our goodbyes while some of my classmates were crying. I tried so hard to hold my tears but I couldn’t as it was so emotional. We had taken our class photo each getting a copy of it and the many other photos that were taken in third grade. We gathered all of our belongings, lined up and as we were heading towards the bus, I turned around and looked at my classroom one last time, as I knew this was going to the last time I will be in third grade. My mum was standing next to our car waiting for me, I waved goodbye to Jaime and Chris as I walked towards my car. I got into the car and was looking out the window as I watched my mum drive out of the school gate. School day was over; another school year was over, third grade completed and was now the beginning of our summer holiday.

My overall performance for grade three was more than just GREAT!! All my grades were ‘very satisfactory and excellent’ including art class. Mrs. Campbell had written that “she was very impressed not only with the fact that I had joined her art club but had made great improvements and was becoming more confident with my art work. She ended by commenting that I should keep up the great work and to continue with the same positive learning attitude next year”. I smiled and said to myself “looks like taking art club after school was the best decision I had ever made.”

My parents were extremely proud and happy of my achievements, grades and overall performance; they were quite pleased and happy with Mrs. Campbell’s comments as well. Jaime and Chris’s parents were also very proud and happy with their grades and their overall performances and to congratulate them, their parents and my parents decided we should get together for dinner at Jaime’s place. My parents also thought it was a great idea as it would be a great way to celebrate the ending of the school year, celebrating all the success we three have achieved and accomplished over the years at elementary school. This was truly worth celebrating and what better ways to celebrate the ending of our school year with two of my favorite buddies in the whole world.

As the summer vacation kicked in Jaime, Chris and I would spend days in the yard playing and having fun, we finally got around to talking about our summer vacation plans. It was funny because none of us knew what was going on or what we would be doing for this summer vacation but all in all to me that wasn’t important. What was important was that I was officially on summer holiday, free to relax, sleep late, and was not going to be waking up at 6 AM on Monday morning to go to school!! What a great feeling!!