End of Year Fun: Kindergarten Edition

New beginnings are now ending and I am left once again wondering where the time went. 

First up, another season of baseball ended (end of May). The boy did well this year. 

If he plays in the fall he gets to move up to the next level, coach pitch, where they keep score and play outs and not everyone gets to play on the field at the same time. I think that would be a good experience for him. To learn that you don't win all the time, that there are losers and you just might be the loser, but you keep practicing, keep trying, and keep playing. Never give up, never surrender!

He got a game ball on the last game his team played.

After his closing ceremonies we went to the zoo with his Sunday school class. The tee ball groups got medals this year. I promise he is happy even if the photos don't show it.

                                                                        hi giraffe!

I have no idea what they are doing in the first photo, but I love that they are holding hands and having fun. Never has there been a happier girl with a bubble machine than this one. Ha! :)

The next week school ended. He has finished kindergarten. We walked to school on the last day (right photo), just like we did on the first day (left photo). He ended up wearing the same outfit on the last day just like on the first day as well.

I enjoyed spending part of the morning with his class. They sang a song with hand movements, they read a short story that they wrote about their classmates, got awards, and had ice cream.

My Rockin' Reader! I love his face. He doesn't really like attention like this. He's not a performer. I asked him why he didn't smile and he told me it was because he didn't know the names of the people watching him (the audience of parents). I told him he didn't need to know the names they were just the audience. Ha! He's so cute. All of the kindergartners got a certificate of completion.

I made a photo book for his teacher and it arrived on the second to last day of school. Phew, it was a close call. I wasn't sure it was going to get here in time. 

I put all of the photos from field day into my shutterfly account and ordered some prints for the kids, which they got earlier that week. I tried to make sure I got at least a couple of photos of each kid to take home with them.

Shutterfly had a page to add into books for autographs, so I added a couple of those pages to hopefully get the students to write their names in the book for her. I made my way around the room while they were eating ice cream and tried to get to as many kids as possible, but they kept moving around and some parents took some home early so I know I missed a few.

At the end of the book I put my son's first day of school photos, which you can sort of see on the right, and some others of him at school with some commentary about his first day, and a note of appreciation for his teacher. He will have her again next year for first grade, but I thought this would be a good idea.

How was your first day of school? "Mommy, I LOVED it!"

When we got home we looked through his bag to find his report card. The boy has destroyed kindergarten! In the fourth quarter there were 51 areas on which he was graded. The kid got scores of 3's in all 51 areas! My guess is that it would be equivalent to getting straight A's if they gave out letter grades instead of number grades. His reading and math teacher left a sweet comment as well on the report card. He made it to a level 5 reading level in his first year of school. It goes up to level 12, which they have to reach by the end of second grade. So in his first year of school he is firmly, and roughly, half way through first grade. Crazy! We are doing the summer reading program with the public library so he will keep up his reading skills and hopefully move up more levels next year.

It'll be fun to see how much he has grown at the end of next school year compared to the school sign out front, and in the years to come when he graduates from high school and grows into the XL shirt.

His average growth per year is three inches, I think he grew almost four inches, or more, this year.

Also, one thing that I did have his two main teachers do for him was write a note in the Dr. Seuss book Oh, the places you'll go!. It's a surprise. shhh. I will give him the book when he graduates high school and it will have little notes from all of his teachers through the years. Fun!

We are engrossed in summer vacation right now and even though school has barely finished, it is all going by so fast.

A Popsicle and Some Memories: First Field Day

My boy participated in his first school field day. I think I was looking forward to it more than he was. He had been sick prior to field day so I was hoping he would be well enough to participate. His temperature was closer to normal, 98.9, and he was back to regularly picking on/teasing his sister, and therefore well enough to go to school.

I loved field day when I was in school. Playing some games, competing with/against your friends, some teamwork, working hard and trying your best. And if you did well enough you got a colorful place ribbon. Ahh, so much fun!

So imagine my mild shock when the games started and realized everything was a team/whole class effort. Wha..? 

E.V.E.R.Y game involved the whole class... 

and they only played like 7 games... (I remember so many different activities)
and took breaks... (yes, it was warm, but really?)
and got a popsicle...(I never got a popsicle on field day)
and nobody got ribbons. :(

I know, it's all for fun, and we don't want anyone to feel left out, and we don't want kids to get any hurt feelings, blah, blah, blah.
Where was the spirit of competition and sportsmanship? Of trying your best even if you don't win? Never give up, never surrender! (name that movie) We'll get 'em next year. Yeah, none of that happened.

Anyway.

We had a good time and enjoyed this new experience. It was fun to see the kids play their games. I took some photos of course.

Egg and spoon balance race: even the teachers joined in.

40 yard dash and noodle partner race:

Popsicle break. Then, the human chain race:

Hippity hop race:

Pop the balloon race:

and a fill the bucket race.  

The photos of the kids on the blue hoppers were so funny! Some kids had the funniest expressions when they would bounce. Loved it!

When I was telling my husband about field day and how different it was from when we were kids in school, he said something that shocked me. 
"Ugh, I hated field day in school." 
*gasp* 
Did I just hear him correctly? Why would anyone not like field day? I've never met anybody who hated field day. What is wrong with him? 
And then the realization of why he said that came to light. "Because it involved some (minimal) athleticism and physical activity...?", I said. And he agreed! And it was academic related. Nerd. :)  He also doesn't like sports so it makes sense...I guess.

After over 8 years of marriage and almost two decades...is that right?..two decades!...doing the math...yep...since we first met in high school, you learn something new about a person.

Are there other people out there who disliked field day?

His Journey

The school year has begun!

Here's a photo log of what has transpired lately:

About 10 days out from school starting. Such a big kid, now.

Indulging me with some cutie-patootie photos.

His final day as a preschooler.

I added up how many school days he would go through before he graduates high school. 2,340 school days. He's surprised and exasperated.

We read a book: The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing. Follows the same pattern as T'was the Night Before Christmas story, but about getting ready for school and stuff instead of Christmas. Then, he was off to the land of nod.

He woke up ready to start school. He was happy and very excited about his new adventure. I was relieved that he had that up-and-at 'em attitude.

Photos: First Day of Kindergarten August 19, 2013; I'm a Kindergartener paper; Stop Crying Mom chalkboard sign.

The dry erase board photos didn't turn out as well as planned. I a) couldn't find a thicker, darker marker or b) don't own any. I picked up some when I was shopping for school supplies but they were for the my son's class...not for me to use. It also didn't help that it was still dark out before we left to go to school.

When I grow up I want to be a: Super Hero. Again, would have been better with a darker, thicker marker. Then, in the car and ready to go to school. Love the smiles!

I dropped my daughter off at daycare so I could just concentrate on the boy starting school. I didn't want to drag her along with all of the craziness of the first day of school. The primary school is about two blocks away from the daycare they go to, so to avoid the madness of first day traffic, we walked to school from the daycare. We had plenty of time and I could talk to him about what was going to happen and he could ask me questions.

We found his hall and classroom. He found his name on the wall to leave his backpack, but he got to sit on the floor and wait for his classmates first. His hall had a countdown celebration and they got to throw confetti after the countdown and cheer. Fun!

I am so glad that he wasn't clingy or upset. He had been clingy the day before at open house. He's not worried on the photo on the right, he's just waiting.

We had been preparing him for a while for this day. We've had many conversations and read lots of books.

We've introduced new activities for him, beginning with fall t-ball last fall. The first day of that practice didn't go so well. He wouldn't participate. The second practice was much better, then he was fine.

One day he decided he wanted to join a kids Sunday school class (all on his own, no prompting from us. Awesome!). I decided both kids needed to go to children's church instead of sitting on the sanctuary with us being a distraction (fighting and arguing with each other) since the girl had outgrown the nursery. That has been going pretty good. They have each other.

He did spring t-ball. Then, the summer came and I put them in a gymnastics program just for the summer, and had them go to VBS.

All of the prep work paid off on Monday.

He threw his confetti and we walked into his class. He gave me a few hugs, there were no tears from either of us, and went to sit at the front of the room with his friends to start the day.

While we were waiting for the countdown, there was one boy a couple of kids away from him who was having a hard time. New things are scary and it was getting the best of him. He was so upset. It was hard for me to watch. I know how he felt. When I was his age I had a hard time adjusting to new situations like the first few days of school. I felt bad for him. His mom was having a hard time, too. I really wanted to help her and tell her he would be ok, but I was getting emotional just watching them. If I had tried to help I, too, would have been reduced to a puddle. I didn't want my son to see me upset and have it spiral downhill from there. I was able to give her a knowing smile because I have been there. It could have easily have been my son.

Once I got my son in class I asked him if he would sit next to his new friend and be a good friend to him, help him, tell him it would be ok. He told me he would be his friend but didn't want to sit next to him. *scowl/frown* We'll need to talk more about being a good friend and helping others. There was another kid in his class that he is already friends with and he wanted to sit with him. Understandable. It was someone he was familiar with. He went to sit down and I left him there, ready to be a big kid.

I went home to a quiet house. The first few minutes after I sat down and just looked around, something felt off. Then I realized it was because the house was quiet. It was a nice moment and I just sat there in it for a while. After I enjoyed the moment for a bit I did some housework and kept busy until it was time for school to get out.

My son was so excited to see me in the car line. I asked him a simple question about how his day went and without missing a beat he said, "I LOVED it!" He was so enthusiastic and emphatic about his statement. I was so happy for him. He went on to say that he didn't want to come home, he didn't want me to come get him, he wanted to stay at school. He asked if he could come back tomorrow. Yes! I guess that made up for the fact that he had to go home first. :)

His journey to Kindergarten was made easier by the groundwork we had laid beforehand. He's ready to grow up. He's joining a whole group of kids beginning their school journey for the first time. It's making me happy and sad. I'm only partially ready to let go, while he is sort of ready to spread his wings a little more. While we were preparing him for this day, we were preparing ourselves as well. It helped both us.

Have a great year, Son. You are going to do fantastic!

Love you,

Mommy

First Day

Well, we did it!
My boy is off to his very first day of school.
First day of kindergarten.
The first day of the 2,340 school days he will have until he graduates high school.
2,339 school days left.
Class of 2026.

Don't worry. He's not worried. Which you may not be able to tell from the photo. He was a very big kid. He wasn't very clingy, there were no tears from either of us, and he went to class like a pro.

He is going to do awesome!

He is going to be awesome!

He is awesome!

I'm so glad I get to be his mom.

Happy First Day of School, Son. I love you.