Buh bye Kinder - Hello First Grade!

Somehow I managed to get confused about what shorts both boys wore on the first day of school.  So weird.

Knock me over with a feather.  Kindergarten is over.  First year of public school done.

Eleven more to go.

He has loved it.  He was loved the independence.  of doing this great big thing by himself.  He is most enamored of being a first grader; of not being the youngest in the school any more.  He asks a lot when his brother will go to school, "what grade will I be in when D goes to kinder?" Third grade. "So he'll walk to my classroom and we'll walk home?"  Yes.  "What grade will I be in when J goes to kinder?"  Fifth grade.  "Then everyone will walk to my classroom??"  Yes.

Today that thrills him.  When the time comes I'm pretty confident that his 2nd grader brother may embarrass him some.  J he thinks of as his baby, at least today.  So lets hope that continues when she starts school.

He is a good boy, and protective and proud of his siblings.

He has made some good friends.  He has a very dear best friend and he refers to them as "us."  So and so "played with us, today mom."  They were near each other in line (every kid gets a number 1-19 and thats your number in line and folder number and in all things kinder).  So they sat together at lunch.  And they've been fast sweet friends.  They both love Wild Kratts, rocks, science and science experiments.  They both love playing rock, paper, scissors instead of scoring soccer goals (dear friend is on our soccer team too).

He loves his teacher and her classroom.  I asked him yesterday who his favorite kinder teacher was though and he said Mrs. H.a.t.l.a., and then Mrs. B.  Mrs. H was his WIN group leader (no idea what a WIN group is - I can complain a long time about the lack of effective communication this year, but no end to communication about fundraisers).

His favorite part of school was always recess.  He loved science and P.E.  I think Coach G took the most interest in him and he liked her the best.  He had some issues raising his hand and asking for things he needed from Mrs. B.  So I told him at one point to ask Coach G.  He seemed to like the idea better.  

All in all I think that we had a great year.  I learned a lot about how this whole public school thing works (not always well) and G has learned a ton.  We have things to work on and I have goals for over the summer to get him ready for first grade.  There are things that are expected that may shock him (spelling words) so I want to start that now.  His penmanship needs work (fine motor) and he really needs to get better about asking for things from his teacher.  He can't just stay quiet when he needs help.  But that's probably age and maturity too.

I can not believe it's over, but I can, because with the exception of a handful of sick days and two days his dad took him ... I was there every single day.

And I'm really, really looking forward to a summer with a little more freedom and a lot less sickness!!

And because I love his face.  Here's one of D.