Surprise!

If there's one thing that we've learned about Alex's first grade teacher, it's that she never does anything half way (she expects that of her students too!)  Today was a perfect example of that... Alex's class has been learning all about penguins this last month.  They read books about penguins, made penguin art projects, talked about penguin facts, and wrote a research report (in first grade!) about penguins.  Today the parents were invited to the classroom so that the students could share their report and celebrate all of their learning about penguins.  As a surprise to the students, Alex's teacher arranged for a REAL penguin to visit their classroom!!!

It was so great!  The kids had no idea that the penguin would be waiting in their classroom when they came back from gym.  As the reality set in, I heard Alex say, "Wow, there's a real live African penguin in here!!"  The kids were giddy with excitement!

The kids were all dressed up in black and white in honor of the big day, and they each wore cute bow ties! 

The room was decorated with all of their penguin art projects and the kids had worked on some penguin predators (killer whale and leopard seal) that were hanging from the ceiling too!  There were even adorable penguin cookies for dessert.

 

  

The kids had a great day!  They were so surprised!  The animal handler from the Como Zoo that came with Cupid the penguin was great too, and the kids loved the presentation and impressing him with their penguin knowledge!  

 

Joe and I (and Tad too!) loved being there to share in Alex's exciting day and also hear him read his report.  Writing hasn't necessarily been his strongest subject, but we've been so proud of him because he has done some really amazing writing and shown so much improvement in the past month!  (Up next, the kids are writing a 10 chapter book!!) Joe and I often comment to each other that we can't believe all of the awesome things that Alex gets to participate in at school.  His teacher has made first grade so memorable and the fact that she expects the kids to work hard, makes days like this even more rewarding.