All this school year, Lucy has been involved in a program called JAWS. It stands for Joining Ability With Subject Matter. It's Tacoma School District's program for "highly capable" students. Lucy has LOVED every minute of it. The first semester was all about ancient Egypt, and this semester has been about the Middle Ages.
I love that the kids have a chance to think creatively, and collaborate with other students on hands-on projects. The teacher works on social skills as well (smart kids are social morons...who knew?), and I've seen a lot of growth in Lucy in that area this year.
What makes me a little sad is that the creative projects and thinking activities the kids in JAWS get to do are the things I did in "regular" school--before all of the testing/accountability requirements took over education.
Anyway, tomorrow is the last day of JAWS for the year, and the culmination of the Middle Ages unit. There will be food, a short play, and then all of the students will present something they've prepared--something edible, original artwork, poetry, and in Lucy's case, a song on her lap harp.
She and I have been reading through a little book called "A Child's Book of the Seasons" by Arthur Ransome. It's in the public domain, and some wonderful soul has converted it into a PDF. It's a sweet book written as a story, but contains scientific descriptions of plants and animals and when and where they appear in nature.
At the end of the chapter about Spring, Ransome shares the lyrics to the song "Sumer is Icumen In". It's a song written in about 1260, and talks about the arrival of Summer. I was able to make a card for Lucy's lap harp so she can play it for her classmates tomorrow. I also made this for her to display:
Should she have done this herself? Yes. Did I have fun doing it myself? Yes. Tomorrow's presentation should be a lot of fun! I'll take my camera along.
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