4th and 6th Grade Field Trips

I posted earlier in the school year about our field trips. at our old school, we didn't have field trips. We were so excited to have them at our new school. Other students gave Reagan and Cole a hard time, saying "This is your first field trip? That's just sad." So funny.

The 4th, 5th and 6th grades all take their field trips on the same day (they all have groups classes together, so, it makes sense for all three grades to miss on the same day. Just like Reagan and Cole are excited about our new field trips, Steve and I are excited about the field trips. So, we both signed up. I went with the 6th graders on the bus to the Hayden Planetarium. Steve drove a group of 4th graders to the Tracy Aviary.

I had a bigger group of older students - we did pretty well staying together. Steve, on the other hand, had a smaller group but he had a hard time. One of the boys in his group is on ADHD medication and apparently, the boy had put his medication in the laundry and the doctor won't refill the prescription until next week. So, he had a kid who is normally on medication who had been off his medication for over a week. Not exactly a great situation. I guess the kid would just take off running and Cole would have to run after him and bring him back to the group. (Personally, I get mad at things like this. I feel like one of his parents should have gone or they should have made the kid stay home from the field trip. The students made potted plants for their mothers' day gifts. This kid threw his pot at another kid in our car - dumping potting soil all over our car. Then, he put his feet up on the ceiling in our car, leaving muddy footprints. Ugh)

It was a super rainy day. The 6th graders were inside, but the 4th graders were outside. Steve took umbrellas and they didn't need them the entire time, but by the time they were to leave the aviary and go to the part for lunch, it was pouring. They ended up coming back to the school to have lunch.

Reagan had a great time on the bus with her friends - playing MSQRD on my phone while Cole was doing the same on Steve's phone as they drove back to school.

Yep - we both had a great time and we love field trips!!!!!

Cole's 4th Grade Show What You Know

Our new school has an assembly at the end of the year for each grade. It is called a "Show What You Know". You'll recall that every week, the 4th - 6th grades had an assembly and, many of these, had one of the grades do a "Show What You Know" whether it was reciting a poem, singing a song, acting out a principle or something else. This end of the year assembly is basically a combination of many of those.

Cole's assembly was up first. They showed some of their drills that they had memorized, recited the poem Paul Revere's Ride (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). That poem is 130 lines long! Cole memorized the entire thing. He really wanted to play either the old man who starts out the poem or Paul Revere. Unfortunately, he wasn't chosen for the old man. His teacher told him that he would have been chosen for Paul Revere except that the old man was chosen from their class and that each class could only have one major part in the poem. Drat! Cole was placed in the front, though, because the teachers thought he knew the parts and the songs well. One of his friends was removed from being next to him and was placed in the back row. Oh well.

Cole did a great job and knew his stuff. He was also very expressive. He was cute!

I had to put together a movie of clips from the assembly. It is long - no pressure to watch it. After all, this is our own, personal scrapbook :)  Please excuse the shakiness of the video - Reagan kept insisting that she wasn't a good videographer. Plus, we had a big, blonde haired lady sitting between us and Cole, so, we had to keep shifting in our seat. :)



Way to go Cole!!! It was a great program!!!!!

Karate Tournament - 2nd Degree Black Belt Test

The second part of our Karate tournament started at 7pm. Unfortunately, they didn't actually start until after 8pm as a result of the demo team competition running long. That was pure torture as Reagan and Cole were warmed up and ready to go. It was like .... hurry up and wait. Oh well - nothing to do but adjust. So, eventually, the black belt test began.

Candidates for black belt, 1st degree black belt and 2nd degree black belt all tested at the same time. Although the different degrees did perform different forms and weapons forms, the warm up and the physical fitness part of the test was the same for everyone.

After they were warmed up and showed off their kicks and punches, they showed off their forms.

I thought it was hard because there were all of these testing candidates and they had to try to stay in synch with the "leader" whom they may or may not be able to see.

Sorry I have these videos out of order - their jumping jacks and punches and kicks were at the beginning.

After showing their forms, they showed their weapons forms. Again, the different levels of testing candidates had different forms.

Then, they did more kicks and punches and showed off their forms once again.

Next, they were tested on their power karate.

After that, the candidates were asked to sit while the senseis and masters met together. Reagan had to grab a hug from Allison - one of our teenage instructors who was also testing that night.

They called up the candidates by dojo. Ours was almost to the end and I could hardly stand it!

After each of the candidates had been awarded their belt, they took off their old belt, made it into an "L" with their new belt and then made a triangle with their hands to signify looking forward into the future and they bowed down on their two belts. The "L" represents Learning - continuing to learn, Longevity -  having a long and healthy life and Loyalty - being loyal to our family, to our dojo and to ourselves.

After they put on their new belts, they stood up and gave a loud kaia. Then, Master Bobby Lawrence addressed them. 

Master Lawrence had them bow to show courtesy to their families to thank them for all of the support they have given them along their path.

Our dojo had 9 candidates testing for various degrees of black belt. They all passed (which is different than what happened at the pre-test) and so they were all celebrating together.

The test was officially over, but our sensei had a special gift for each testing candidate - swords. The black belt received a sword in a white sheath, the first degree black belts received a sword in a black sheath, and the second degree black belts received a half red, half black sword in a black sheath with red and white ribbon on it - SO COOL!!!! We will definitely have to get a display or holder for the 3 swords Reagan and Cole each have now.

We are SO proud of Reagan and Cole. They have worked SO hard to earn their 2nd Degree Black Belts. We can't say enough to applaud them and their efforts. They cannot test for their 3rd degree until they are at least 13, which - for Reagan - is only a year away, but for Cole seems like an eternity.  I'm not sure where our karate path will take us next, but I'm excited to be on it with these guys. LOVE YOU REAGAN AND COLE!!!!!

Karate Tournament - Competing

We had another successful karate tournament on May 5th, 2018. Since Reagan and Cole were testing for a belt, they had to "work" the tournament. Their assigned time to work was 9am even though they weren't competing until almost noon. Ugh! So, we drove down to Provo for them to work the tournament. They were each assigned to different mats. Cole was a flag bearer - to signal the competitors to come to their mat. Next, he was a score keeper and then, he got to give out medals. Reagan, on the other hand, was a score keeper and - quite literally - a runner. Her head judge had her run to get medals and run to get information from the people running the tournament. Apparently, one of the competitors in her mat got a bloody nose and there are very specific rules as to how long one can be given for a bloody nose before they forfeit their competition. They gave the competitor a long time and, eventually, the bloody nose stopped and he was able to compete. So, Reagan's mat had one set of competitors during the time that Cole's mat had three sets of competitors. Cole also had the special needs competitors at his mat. He said they were so excited and were very enthusiastic about getting a medal. He did note that their belts had different markings on them, signifying that they were special needs. He enjoyed being a helper on their mat :)

After Reagan and Cole were done helping, we ran to get some lunch and then returned in plenty of time to have them compete. My sister, Amber, and her hubby, Jared, drove all the way up from Manti to come and cheer them on - LOVE THEM!!!!! 

Unfortunately, Reagan and Cole were called up at exactly the same time. Cole was on the mat 4 or 5 down from Reagan. We had to divide and conquer... again. So, Jared and I headed down to watch Cole and Steve and Amber stayed to watch Reagan who was the next mat over from where we were sitting.

Cole was first up (Reagan's mat was still being assigned) and they did forms. Cole showed off his form really well.

We looked over and Reagan was doing her weapons form. Both kiddos chose the staff and did the same form - Lockout. 

Reagan always does a great job on her staff form - her stances are so deep and she is very intense.

Next up on Cole's mat was weapons forms. Cole did Lockout and did really well.

He actually added some moves (that our instructor helped him with) just to add a bit of flash and break up the monotony of seeing the same form for the judges - hopefully that helped in his score.

We looked over again and Reagan was sparring. She always does great at sparring.

She won her bout and went straight into the next bout with the next competitor.

Back on Cole's mat, he was sparring. He sparred against one competitor and then ended up having the final bout be against his friend Collin who also is at our dojo.

Collin and Cole were well matched. They train together at our studio, so, they know each other and their moves very well. I could't just cheer for Cole, so, I kept yelling "Go boys!" I hope Cole knew I was cheering for him, without calling his name :)

Then, medals were awarded. At the end of their competition, Reagan had won a gold for sparring, a bronze for weapons and a bronze for forms while Cole had won a gold for weapons, a gold for sparring and a silver for forms. I'd say that is a successful tournament.

We said goodbye to Amber and Jared and headed home to rest for a couple of hours until it was time for the black belt test to begin. We are nervous, but confident. Let's hope the second part of this tournament is as successful as the first part..... fingers crossed.