This week in Kindergarten

The letter of the week (and show and tell theme) was "C" so David took Captain America for show and tell time. This week's sight word was "a" which David tells me is "a really easy one". In Math, he continued working on writing his numbers properly and in writing they worked on writing sentences. David says that's super tricky, but he gives it a good try. They were also given their first bit of "homework" this week. A two-sided sheet full of numbers and sight words came home on Monday, to be worked on throughout the week and returned on Thursday. David felt pretty important and grown up sitting at the table with Daddy working on his big kid school work. 

He brought home his very first report card on Tuesday. Talk about a bittersweet moment for Mama! How can you be so proud of their milestones and so sad that they are growing up at the same time?! He got outstanding feedback from his teacher, both academically and socially. The kids are given a "P" for proficient, a "D" for developing or a "B" for beginning based on their skills. David earned himself 25 P's and 3 D's this quarter.   :)

Dave and I went to conferences on Thursday to discuss the report card and David's progress in class. He's progressing well academically, but his most outstanding developments have been socially. When the school year started he was extremely quiet in class. He never raised his hand, he struggled to talk to the teacher, he didn't interact with many friends. They are given choice time in the morning when first arriving at school. Each kid get to choose a box of small toys and go play with a buddy quietly on the circle time rug. David was taking a box, but he'd go off and sit by himself and not really play with it. He followed the rules and did the bare minimum that was asked, but he never gave anyone much more than that.....and then Kira was born. One of the very first pictures he ever saw of Kira was one that I emailed to his teacher. She put it up on the big screen in the classroom (and left it ALL DAY!) and printed one for him to hold as well. Mrs. H tells us that within minutes, my shy, quiet boy blossomed into quite the social butterfly. He walked up to each of the teachers that visited his classroom that day, talked to them and showed them his baby sister. Some of the teachers were ones he's never met before! He introduced himself, asked their names and started blabbing about his "pretty sister". He went around the classroom and showed each friend his picture and talked to each of them. He even asked to go down the hall and meet the principal and show her the picture! His teachers were shocked. They didn't know he could talk let alone that he could do that much of it. Getting caught up in the Kira excitement and accidentally forgetting that he is shy was one of the best things that could have happened to my buddy though. It broke the ice. At the beginning of the year, it was recommended that David do Young 5's instead of Kindergarten. I bypassed the school's warning and placed him in Kindergarten instead. We asked his teacher at conferences what she thought of our choice now that she's had some time with David. She said, in all honesty, that if I had asked before Kira was born she would have said he was a good Young 5's candidate because of his lack of social skills, interaction and cooperation, BUT baby sister changed everything. Since then he is a different boy and he now interacts on a Kindergarten level and is placed just fine. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Having that little girl was life changing. 

David discovered sometime mid-week that one of his little friends at his yellow table is secretly a superhero. Yep, it's true. Apparently, the little dude has the ability to morph (much like a Power Ranger) into whatever he needs to be to fight the bad guys. He wouldn't actually show David any of his skills because that would give away his secret and blow his cover (obviously), but he told many a tales about single-handedly defeating evil geniuses and saving the world. 

We also made the huge decision this week to start taking the bus in the morning instead of driving him to school. His first bus day was Thursday. I really struggled with this one. Mornings have turned into a little bit of a disaster around here. Getting everyone ready and out the door on time has become quite a challenge and by the time we manage it I'm stressed and snappy and we are all feeling very rushed. The bus was quickly becoming our only option, but it's still so hard to let someone just come and drive away with my kid. Letting them go is so hard sometimes....but that's just another opportunity to trust God, right? :) David on the other hand is super excited. He took a field trip last week and rode the bus there and back. He came home to tell me that "it was fun and awesome" and he "wasn't nervous at all!". He asked if he could ride everyday. Attitude and mind set are everything and to David, this is just a fun adventure. I have no doubts that this will go well. 

David told me after his first morning on the bus that he was worried that he'd be late to school because the bus driver kept driving slow and stopping so much. :) He was very worried that he'd get in trouble with his teacher and get a yellow card flip. 


David brought home 2 paintings that he did last week....

This one "is just dots".

This one is a "beautiful swan".