June 2017

School's Out For Summer

James finishes Kindergarten

Kindergarten was a wonderful experience for James.  He learned a lot about himself, about how to interact with others at school, what kinds of friends are good friends and he even learned a little math and reading too.  He had to face his social anxiety head-on during lunchtime and other challenging times.  He was able to conquer his fear of the lunch tables and on the last day of Kindergarten he even bought lunch, something he was scared to do but wanted to do all year.  

His favorite things to do at school were make little books (which were mostly about dinosaurs), he loved the week they learned about sharks and enjoyed making the shark craft, he loved running K Milers every week and especially loved playing with his friends, Jacob, Hudson, Jack, Robert and Tyler.  He also loved reading with mom during "morning read" everyday.

Here are two of the "little books" he made this year.  He brought home at least 20 of these books and loved spending his "after work time" creating stories about dinosaurs and sharks.
Top Book Says: A Spinosaurus is one of the Spinosaurs. A Suchomimus catches fish.
Bottom Book: My boat is exploring the sea.  Then some sharks came, oh no!

James loved shark week at school  This is his shark craft.  James knows many facts about sharks.  His favorite shark is the Great White Shark and he thinks the Greenland Shark is the weirdest shark.  He recently told me that the Oceanic White Tip Sharks are being wiped out because of shark fin soup.  Then he said "so what are we going to do about it?"  I just love him and his care and concern for the animal kingdom.  

This was James' reading journal.  He brought this home every night and we read a book.  The smiley face stickers represent a reading level.  Red is the lowest reading level and pink is the highest.  This is evidence of James' hard work this year.  He started at red and worked his way all the way up to pink.  Mrs. Greenan and I were so proud of him.  He was pretty proud too!

James was very fortunate to have such a sweet and caring teacher, Mrs. Greenan.  She recognized James for the sweet and thoughtful boy that he is and took great care to help him with any anxieties he faced at school.  She also sent him home with lots of shark books to keep and a shark poster for his bedroom wall. On the last day of school, a toy dinosaur made its way into James' backpack too put there by his teacher.  Mrs. Greenan taught James some pretty cool phrases like "Roger that" "Oh for crying out loud" and "smarty pants".  She is a larger than life force for good and we will love her forever.

James and Mrs. Greenan on his last day of school.

As James' mother it was truly wonderful to see him grow this year.  I was sad to see the year end and may have shed a few tears on the last day.  I think James and I will both look back on his kindergarten year with very fond memories.  

Here are some of the highlights of the end of the year:

Class Photo at Birch Aquarium.  James is sitting next to Jacob and Tyler.  

Jacob and James being silly, as usual.  We had time to explore the aquarium before going to a special classroom where
the kids were able to examine sea creatures close up.  James liked putting his finger in the Sea Anemone and he was pretty proud that he was brave enough to do it!

I had a great time chaperoning the field trip.   I even rode the bus!  Needless to say, I was exhausted after a long but fun day!

This is what James wrote about the field trip: First I rode the bus to Birch Aquarium.  Next we saw lots of fish.  Then we went to a class.  Last I ate lunch. 

Some of James' work this year:

Yes I Can:
I can hop on 1 foot for 100 times
I can run fast
I can jump high
I can be a good student
I can smell good
I can sometimes read

This summer I will go to the beach and I will look out for sharks.  But I never saw big sharks, I only saw tiny sharks.  But I am not going to swim with a shark.

Foster Finished First Year of Preschool

Foster grew and matured a lot this year.  The outfit he is wearing on his last day of preschool was one of his favorite outfits this year and he wore it at least once a week.  Sometimes, I had to hide it at the bottom of his hamper so he wouldn't find it.  He loved wearing "cozy pants" even if it was a hot day and I felt very accomplished if I got him to wear shorts.  He also requested "Hot-sleeve shirts" (long-sleeve shirts) on a regular basis.  The boy sure likes red and likes to be cozy!

School was an adjustment for Foster.  He had a challenge following the rules at first.  One of his favorite games, was to hide from his teacher when it was time to come in from the playground. Once he had all of the teachers frantically looking for him and when they were at their wits end, he jumped out of his hiding place and yelled "Surprise!"  He thought he was hilarious, his teacher's didn't think it was so funny.  So there were lots of talks about listening to teachers and following the rules, which he learned to do very quickly and loved every minute of school.

Mrs. Arnold and Foster were good buddies and she loved his sense of humor.  She told me that he walked up to her and said, "Mrs. Arnold, I had a dream about you.  You were asleep in my bathtub."  She thought that was so funny and didn't dare ask if she was clothed or not!  He would tell me interesting things about Mrs. Arnold, such as she likes to eat popcorn seeds and about her dogs.  He took a great interest in learning about her and loved her very much.  

 Mrs. Arnold received many notes from Foster and was told many times how beautiful she was, he's such a charmer.  He made many friends at preschool and loved seeing them each day.  Some of his best friends were Charlotte, Nicholas, James, Abe, Piper and Cannon.  His favorite things to do at school were art projects, cooking classes, science experiments and anything "hands-on".

Foster and Piper during the Mother's Day Tea.

Foster and the twins, Sasha and Suri.  Everyday at the end of class, in unison, they would say "Bye Foster".  It was so cute.

Charlotte and Foster at the end of the year school picnic.  These two are twins separated at birth.  There were many playdates and hugs throughout the year.  So happy they will be in the same class again next year.

Foster is very social and loved dressing up for Cowboy Day.  He gets excited about holidays and the special activities surrounding them, especially going to the pumpkin patch during October.  His preschool has taught him many songs about Jesus which he loves to share with us and he even has his very own Bible for school.

Clifford the big red dog visited the school on special occasions and events like Bedtime Story Night.  Foster always greeted Clifford with a great big hug and a smile.  

Here is some of Foster's work from this year:

His first preschool craft.

Self Portraits

The craft instruction was to make a snowman.  Foster made a melting snowman.  So creative!

Foster loved painting and took his time layering colors and getting it just right.

Foster the Astronaut

Foster gave this to mommy at the Mother's Tea.  Of course I love his last answer!

We are excited for his second year of preschool and all of the fun he will have at Pomerado Christian.  This little boy is full of life.  He is smart and inquisitive and full of fun.  

We are so proud of these two boys and all they accomplished this year!