As part of the celebration for the 3rd grade graduating class at the River School, Dylan’s Falcon Class gets to go on an overnight team building event to Camp Horizons which is an educational outdoor adventure camp located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Harrisonburg, VA. Accompanied by his teachers and other River School staff, Dylan and his classmates will get to participate in outdoor activities such as kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, zip-lining and swimming. After the trip, Dylan told me that he only got about three hours of sleep that night, because all the boys were keeping each other up all night, but he said everyone had a great time. One of his teachers also complemented us on Dylan’s canoeing skills which they said he was very proud of. Dylan was very apprehensive about this trip early on, but it was nice to see that he had a good time with his friends and made the most out of it.
This years River School Spring Play was an original production of Inside the Library & Out of the Book, staring the 3rd grade Falcon Class. The kids did a great job for a sold out crowd of parents, grandparents and friends. I’ve been asked not to post the video of the production, but here are some pictures from the event. We are so proud of Dylan and all the other students of the 2019 Falcon Class!
This years annual River Walk was very special for Julie and I, but even more so for Dylan because this would be his last River Walk as a student at the River School. It was also very special knowing that Dylan’s artwork was imprinted on every tee shirt and poster for this years event. The weather for this years River Walk wasn’t all that great with rain forecast for the entire day and of course that made for a wet muddy mess on the trail. But Dylan and his Falcon Class friends still had a great time regardless.
The River School has an art contest every year for the purpose of finding the perfect design to represent the annual Jill Bailey Chenet River Walk. This years contest winner was my son, Dylan, and along with being recognized by the entire school, he will also get his design put on all the tee-shirts for this years big event… The River Walk. This is a huge honor for any of the students, but even more so for Dylan, as this is his last year at the River School. As a 3rd grade Falcon, Dylan will be ageing out of the River School at the end of the school year in June.
As a favor, Julie personally arranged an educational visit for Dylan’s 3rd grade class to the NOAA’s main facility in Silver Spring, MD. The field trip was geared towards weather, the earth and climate. Along with taking a tour of NOAA’s Educational Center and learning about all the things that NOAA does, the kids also had the opportunity to check out NOAA’s new technology exhibit known as ‘Science on a Sphere’. I wasn’t initially planning on attended the field trip, but I’m glad I did… I was totally blown away with the quality of the graphics and computer generated holograms used to display climate data on the sphere. This was a great field trip and the kids from the Falcon Class really had a blast.
As part of the 3rd grade curriculum for the River School, all the students in the Falcon Class have to come up with a project for the School Fair. Dylan’s class has been studying the time period of Ancient Rome and for his project he decided to research and write a report on ancient Roman games and toys. Along with a thorough report, Dylan made a model of a toy ball with beads inside of it, much like the ones the children of ancient Rome use to play with.
As part of the after school enrichment program, my wife and I signed Dylan up for some Tae Kwon Do classes at the River School. The classes were held right in the River School Gym, so there was no need to worry about transporting him to another location in the afternoon, and the instructor, Master Jason Yoo, came highly recommended for his skills working with young children. Dylan really seems to like it and I hope that he sticks with it. I took several years of taekwondo as a kid myself and truly enjoyed the way that it challenged me and made me more disciplined in everyday life. If nothing else, it will be a great form of exercise for Dylan moving forward.
One of the things that every student of the graduating Falcon Class at the River School has to participate in is the 3rd Grade Science Fair. Dylan’s science fair project was about the different types of fidgets that kids use to help them focus in the school classroom environment. He did an awesome job of researching his topic, running his own trials on real subjects and then coming up with a hypothesis… and he did this all on his own at school! We are so proud of his work and how well he is doing both socially and academically at the River School. Keep up the great work Dylan!
I wanted to put up a couple of photos from todays father and son event at the River School… Dad’s Hot Lunch. Every year the River School invites all the dad’s to join their children at school for a special pizza lunch day. Dylan loves this event, I’m sure it’s mostly because he loves pizza, but I’d bet he enjoys eating pizza with his dad and all of his school friends too.
Today was Dylan’s first day of Third Grade and from the expression on his face this morning, I’d say he was really looking forward to it. After a good breakfast and some photos on the front porch we drove Dylan into school to meet his new teachers and see his new classroom. The River School only goes up to third grade, so his class this year, the Falcon Class, would be this years graduating class. The Falcon Class of 2019! Have a great year Dylan!
