from the corner of my couch: Last Day of Kindergarten

Friday, June 3, 2016

Last Day of Kindergarten

Last day picture! (by the way she loves these boots...I can't believe she's wearing them when it's 99 degrees outside! Also, I love that little snaggle tooth smile...she lost 2 teeth this year!)

First day...you can see how much more reserved and nervous she was in this picture!

I officially have a first grader! I can't believe how fast these kiddos are growing up. I'm pretty sure we brought Emmie home from the hospital just the other day! Emmie is SO excited about first grade. She has a specific teacher she wants and she got in the car talking about being in Mrs. Estes class next year. I keep trying to prepare her for the fact that she very well might not get her but I don't think it's sinking in!
She was overall pretty happy today but she was sad to be leaving her teachers. She keeps saying she wishes she could take them to first grade with her! I'm so glad she had such wonderful teachers that she loves so much. She had such a great year in kindergarten and she learned SO much. I'm so proud of all her hard work.

with Mrs. Seawell

Picture with Mrs. Lester

When she started kindergarten she could only read a few words and now she's reading chapter books and reading them fluently! She's also a whiz at sounding out new words. Her math abilities are about the same but she definitely has a better grasp of the concepts. She did learn to count by 5s and 10s and was SO proud of herself. She got to ride in a school bus for the first time for some really great field trips.

Zoo field trip!

She learned about helping to clean up around the school and about giving back to the community by helping to raise money for the fire department. (One of my favorite things about our school is their focus on service and community.) She adapted quickly to a full day of school and loved every minute of being in the classroom. She learned about lifeskills (another of my favorite things our school does) and was recognized for her lifeskills of friendship and caring. She ran/walked 18 miles throughout the school year in PE and learned lots of different sports. She thrived in art and music and I loved hearing about all the fun things she was doing. She was so excited to go to the library every week and couldn't wait to show us her new book for the week. She is slowly becoming Emerson instead of Emmie which has been an interesting transition to watch.
I still remember the second week of school when I had to drop her off at the front for the first time and she looked so little and lost trying to remember exactly where she was supposed to go but she figured it out and now she is so confident.

Last day of school...look how much Emmie and Evelyn have changed since the beginning of school! I'm SO glad they were in the same class this year...it made the transition so much easier!

We choiced into our school and I second guessed myself a lot as I loved all of my top 3 choices. I am SO glad we ended up where we are. We love that the school is small and I love that even though I'm not up at the school a whole lot the office staff knows who I am. I love our teachers and while you may hear that certain teachers are better for specific types of students, you never hear anything bad about any of the teachers. I love how close Emmie's school is to preschool (and so close to pretty much everything...drs office, My Gym, the stores I shop at, dentist, etc). I just couldn't have asked for a better kindergarten year for Emmie AND for me!

The week before school got out the kindergarteners had a Young Author's Celebration where families could come in and the kids could share with us all the stories they'd written throughout the year. Emmie was SO proud of all she'd done and we loved having her show us everything she'd worked on.

Ellie had to check out the classroom while we were there.

I was also able to help out at her class party (and Ellie tagged along to try out kindergarten...recess and ice cream sundaes...she's sold!) and had a great time. I love getting to hang out with her friends and watch her interact with them!