Towards the end of the school year, Ammon was involved in two performances.
The first was a 4th grade talent show. Ammon was excited about playing the piano in it. His broken wrist was still in a cast, and he hadn't had piano lessons for over a month. We were living in our camp trailer, so we didn't have a piano for him to practice on. He prepared for the audition by practicing two chosen piano pieces at Grandma's house. His audition went well, and he was permitted to be one of the performers in the talent show the following week. In between the audition and the performance, he didn't practice once. The day of the performance, he learned they would be doing the talent show in front of the whole school rather than just the 4th grade. He doesn't like performing in front of people AT ALL. He was so nervous right before, he told me he didn't want to do it anymore. I told him he had to, because he'd already made a commitment to his teacher. He got all mad at me and told me he was only going to the short piano song. Luckily, his turn to perform was towards the end of the show--there were several dancers, cloggers, singers, and musicians first. By the time it was his turn, he was determined to do the longer piece. He didn't do as good of a job that he would have if he had practiced, but it went alright, especially considering how nervous he was to play in front of everyone.
The second performance was a reader's theater put on by his class. They performed "Tuck Everlasting", and I got a special invitation from the class because I read that book to them earlier in the year. I've volunteered in Ammon's class since he was in first grade. I helped with slow readers that year and rarely saw Ammon because he was at the top of his class in a different reading group. In 2nd grade I helped students who needed to acquire minutes reading, and occasionally I saw him. In 3rd grade, I helped students prepare for spelling tests, and since Ammon always got 100% on spelling, I hardly helped him. But, this has been my favorite year volunteering in the classroom; I was in charge of group reading to the kids in the higher reading group, so I got to see Ammon EVERY time I volunteered! Once a week for almost the entire year, I came and read a 4th-5th grade level book to them. It took me about 6 weeks to get through an entire book. Over the course of the year, I read Gulliver's Travels (shortened version), The Witches, Tuck Everlasting, and The Wish Giver to them. With "Tuck Everlasting" they did a movie:book comparison, and then they chose to do a reader's play about it as well. Since 2nd grade, Ammon has been involved in class reader's theaters. And every year, he starts out being a big character and drops out half-way through it because he doesn't like committing his time to practice or having to perform in front of people. This year, he started out as the 'Man in the Yellow Jacket', but he ended up being the 'Sherriff", a two-line part in the play. 
I've loved performing ever since I was in the 3rd grade. It's strange to me that none of my boys like performing in front of people. In fact, Ammon, Jonah, and Micah all despise it! I'm grateful for the opportunity that I had to watch Ammon's two performances this spring, but since he'll be at the middle school next year, I doubt I'll ever be able to watch him involved with these type of performances again--especially since he doesn't like doing it!!!
The second performance was a reader's theater put on by his class. They performed "Tuck Everlasting", and I got a special invitation from the class because I read that book to them earlier in the year. I've volunteered in Ammon's class since he was in first grade. I helped with slow readers that year and rarely saw Ammon because he was at the top of his class in a different reading group. In 2nd grade I helped students who needed to acquire minutes reading, and occasionally I saw him. In 3rd grade, I helped students prepare for spelling tests, and since Ammon always got 100% on spelling, I hardly helped him. But, this has been my favorite year volunteering in the classroom; I was in charge of group reading to the kids in the higher reading group, so I got to see Ammon EVERY time I volunteered! Once a week for almost the entire year, I came and read a 4th-5th grade level book to them. It took me about 6 weeks to get through an entire book. Over the course of the year, I read Gulliver's Travels (shortened version), The Witches, Tuck Everlasting, and The Wish Giver to them. With "Tuck Everlasting" they did a movie:book comparison, and then they chose to do a reader's play about it as well. Since 2nd grade, Ammon has been involved in class reader's theaters. And every year, he starts out being a big character and drops out half-way through it because he doesn't like committing his time to practice or having to perform in front of people. This year, he started out as the 'Man in the Yellow Jacket', but he ended up being the 'Sherriff", a two-line part in the play. I've loved performing ever since I was in the 3rd grade. It's strange to me that none of my boys like performing in front of people. In fact, Ammon, Jonah, and Micah all despise it! I'm grateful for the opportunity that I had to watch Ammon's two performances this spring, but since he'll be at the middle school next year, I doubt I'll ever be able to watch him involved with these type of performances again--especially since he doesn't like doing it!!!
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