I have no idea how it's possible, but we're now officially a little over two months into the school year. I wanted to do a little post all about Kindergarten now that we've settled into the year. I'll apologize in advance that these pictures aren't organized in a more meaningful way, but this is just as good as it's going to get at this point in my life, ha! I'm still trying to figure out how get things done since the girls have stopped napping. ;)
The first few pics below are from Shelby's Open House the Friday before school started. Just so I'll always remember, I want to share a quick story about Open House. At Marvelously Made, Open House meant a chance to play in each of the areas of the school--the outdoor classroom, the Art Studio, the Gathering Room, etc--to get comfortable in their new space. It was like the best day ever for those kiddos! So, when we told Shelby we were going to Open House for Kindergarten, it should have occurred to me to explain that this Open House would be
nothing like MM's...but it didn't. She was all geared up for a fun Open House, and of course the first 30-40 minutes consisted of crowds in the lunchroom. After about only five minutes in, Shelby asked if we could go home. My heart was so heavy when she said that, I just wanted to scoop her up and run her back to MM for one more year! Thankfully, once we were finally able to get to her classroom, things were looking up! There was a reading tent in her classroom with an entire tub filled with Magic School Books...all was right with the world again!
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| Shelby posing with her teacher, Mrs. Sotelo |
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| Shelby has a little journal/notebook she keeps in her room to draw/write in. She insisted on taking a shower (her first ever independent shower!) the night before starting Kindergarten, so while I was bathing Hadley she wrote this gem in her journal. Can you tell she was excited?! |
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| The Night Before Kindergarten!!! |
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| Shelby & Hadley sporting their UGA shirts for Red Day in Kindergarten! |
Shelby is totally rocking Kindergarten!! She is VERY into the classroom management systems her teacher utilizes. They do the whole color system, which I'm not a huge fan of...but Shelby takes it very seriously. Each kiddo starts the day on Green. For poor choices, they go down to Yellow, then Orange, and Red. I was shocked kids were already moving all the way down to Red the first week of school--her teacher runs a tight ship for Kindergarten!! For extraordinary behavior, they can go up to Blue, Pink, and Purple. Shelby is always on Green or Blue, and she's super proud of this! They also do ClassDojo. Have you heard of this? I'm wondering how new this is b/c I never heard of this during my teaching days! It's an app that the teacher and parents use for communication, but the students can also earn "Dojo points" for good behavior, turning in homework, etc. I can track Shelby's points on my phone using the app, and then each week she's able to redeem her Dojo points for various prizes.
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| One thing that is totally bizarre to me is the morning drop-off routine at the school. The first bell rings at 7:40, but students are not allowed inside the school. The Kindergarteners stay on the Kindergarten playground, and grades 1-5 are on a separate playground/blacktop area. The kids play outside until the second bell at 7:55 This would only work in a desert, ha! We've had 2 months of school, and there hasn't been one rainy drop-off. I wonder what the school does in the event of rain??? Anyhow, when the second bell rings, the Kindergarteners line up and go in with their teachers. The rest of the school stays outside for "morning ceremonies," which includes the pledge, moment of silence, announcements, etc. This is Shelby lining up with her class when the second bell rang. |
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| The afternoons at home were tricky at the beginning of the year (and they still sometimes are!). Hadley has been missing Shelby all day & often wants to play when we get home from picking up Shelby, but all Shelby wants to do is read. Thankfully, now that we're getting more settled in our routines, Hadley is more considerate of Shelby's need to wind down by reading. |
I was a little worried when we moved here that Shelby would be significantly older than most of her classmates b/c the age cut-off for Kindergarten is later here than it was in San Antonio. The age cut-off in Las Vegas is September 30th, so had we moved here a year sooner Shelby would have been in first grade this year...crazy to think about! But there are actually a handful of kids in her class that turned six in September & October, so the age been a non-issue. And of course, I'm incredibly grateful that we got an extra year with her at home!
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| Peeking out of the shower at us ;) |
I
never gave homework as a Kindergarten teacher. I knew there was a chance Shelby might have a little homework in Kindergarten, but I totally wasn't expecting it to be as much as it is! She gets a new homework packet every Friday, and it is always due the following Friday. It really is way too much in my opinion!! The school day is so long for these kiddos, and I hate that they have to come home and do more. There's also been a huge emphasis on sight words for it being so early in the school year. The kids were all given a "Kindergarten sight word book" a couple of weeks ago that is comprised of about 12 sets of words. Every Thursday, they are tested on sight words. The kids have the whole year to master the book. If they master the book early, they are given the next grade level book of sight words. Shelby is currently working her way through other grade levels' lists of words. I can't imagine how stressful it must be for parents of kiddos who aren't quite ready for reading yet--not only are they having to muddle through homework packets every week, but they're also having to drill their five year olds on sight words!! They're too little for this nonsense! But from what I've heard, it seems that the amount of homework & sight word testing is pretty much standard school-wide.
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| First homework assignment of the year! |
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| Of course Hadley couldn't be left out...she makes me give her "homework" to do every afternoon when Shelby works on hers. |
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| I took this picture one day when Shelby's class was walking into the building. The boy to the right of Shelby with the Spider-Man backpack is one of Shelby's favorite school friends. This picture cracked me up b/c Shelby & Caleb are heads & shoulders above their classmates in line behind them! |
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| First time sporting her new Bonner spiritwear! |
Shelby was assessed on her reading earlier in the year, and she is reading on a 3rd grade level per the assessment they used. A couple of days each week, she goes to another classroom to meet with her reading group. Her reading group consists Shelby & 3 or 4 first graders who are also reading on her level. She seems to enjoy this so far!
I feel like we're finally finding our groove with the long days! The girls come home every day and relax for a few minutes. Then we do snack and homework (Hadley does pretend homework alongside Shelby every day). After homework is done, the girls have a little free time before bath/shower. Shelby is always too tired to engage in any kind of play. So she
always opts to do art. And if Shelby wants to do art, so does Hadley. :) Then after bath/shower, we eat dinner, go outside to get some fresh air & water the garden, then we begin the bedtime routine! The girls go to bed every night at 7, and they fall asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillow!
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| Reading after school |
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| Doing art after school |
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| This is what Hadley looks like every single afternoon as we wait to pick up Shelby |
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| Working hard on her pencil grasp |
One thing I really love about Shelby's school is how close we live so we can walk her to and from school every day. Walking has helped us meet other people at the school and in our neighborhood. We're feeling much more "plugged in" b/c of our proximity. While I don't love every little thing about Shelby's school (I'll admit we're probably pretty hard to please coming off two years at MM and with me being a former Kindergarten teacher), Shelby absolutely loves her teacher and going to school each day....and there's not much more we can ask for than that!! I always loved school (and still do!), and I hope Shelby will always love school, too!!
