Kindergarten Wrap-Up

Kindergarten went by in the blink of an eye.  A BLINK.  I cannot believe it is over.  Norah transformed so much this year.  She is incredible.

Our class lost its room parent this spring (she moved) and so I stepped up to help with the class party and class gift.  I did gluten free "smart cookies" which turned out even cuter than the photo reflects.

After spending an inordinate amount of time on pinterest, I came up with a photo flower pot for our awesome Kindergarten teacher.  There were 20 kids in the class and each one got their own flower with their photo on one side and their name on the other.  The sparkly "V" at the top (which is the teacher's initial) held all of the gift cards I was able to get with the parents's generous contributions. One side of the pot said, "Thank you for helping us bloom" and the other had her name and the year.

I made a simple card to go with it that had a photo of the class from their field trip.

The class party and program was the day before the last day of school.  The last day was not really a day--it was a make-up for one of the inclement weather days we had during the ice storms this past winter.  In order to qualify for state funding the kids have to go a certain number of days.  The last day ended at 11:00 though, so all of the festivities happened the day before.

Louie was thrilled to get dragged there with me.

The whole kindergarten sang two songs and there was a sweet slide show.  There are seven sections of kinder with 20-22 kids each.  It's a big school.  Each class wore a different color of the rainbow.  We were red.

After the program we went back to Norah's classroom for the party.

Her teacher handed out "awards," i.e. recognizing something special about each kid.  Norah was named "most considerate."

They got to eat some treats, hang out with their friends, and then called it a day.

One of the other moms set up an adorable photo booth with all kinds of props and signs.

At the end of the party, Norah's sweet teacher took a moment to let me know just how exceptional our girl is.  She was always "kind, helpful, considerate, and a really good friend."  She ends the year as one of the top readers in the class and in terms of the "leveled readers" is where they expect kids to be after the first nine weeks of second grade.  

The next day was the aforementioned short day.  I spent some time asking Norah what she thought was different about herself on the last day of school versus the first.

Here's her list:

I am way less shy.

I can read for real and even some chapter books.

I know math and science experiments.

I don't have bangs.

I have way more friends.

I am not scared of the big slide.

I am much taller.

I can do the remote by myself and put on my own sunscreen.

I have more patience with Louie. (I dispute this one.)

I am not nervous to go to my friend's house as long as I know their parents.

I've seen Star Wars.

A friend in the neighborhood put together a little after school celebration at the park.  There were ice cream sundaes.

And extras for little brothers.

There were also three huge coolers full of water balloons.  Which was pretty much Lou's dream come true.

He was pushing through the big kids to get to them.

Overall, it was a great academic year and an incredible start to our public education journey. Despite my anxiety over the fact that the school is huge, we have found the faculty and administration to be responsive and nurturing.  It makes our ginormous property tax bill a little more palatable.  A little.