Wrapping up kindergarten

It is hard for me to believe that Trey has finished his kindergarten year.  He had a good year and made some good buddies.  Some of his friends he already knew from his soccer team, but he quickly bonded with Sunny and also spent a lot of time with Austin and Miguel on the playground.  This year Trey also learned to read.  He started the year knowing some sight words and all of his sounds, but he ended the year reading at the second grade level.  I am so proud!  Trey loves to be read to, and he loves to read for pleasure, and this one of my proudest parenting accomplishments so far.  He also seems to enjoy math and has good number sense.  The problems he can do in his head shock me!  The area he was the weakest in when he started the year was writing, but he has made a ton of progress in that area too.  The boy loves to make up stories but his ideas do not quite yet match his writing skills.  This leads to a lot of dictation which is fine with me!  Trey's only real problem area in kindergarten was that the boy would not shut up.  This lead to some consequences in the classroom that I was not fond of (who puts a five year old at a desk facing a wall?) and his teacher was not super accommodating, but it didn't seem to bother Trey, so I tried to keep my mouth shut.  Overall, his first year of school was good and he seemed to enjoy it.  (Disclaimer: I brag so that I can get it down on "paper" because otherwise I will forget.)

At the end of the year, all of the kindergarten students at Errol Hassell Elementary did a program. They sang songs and showed a slide show of the year.  It was super cute, and I wish I could have gotten more pictures from it.  (Note: I just spent 30 minutes going through the slide show and taking screen shots of the pictures Trey was in.  If I thought the first time watching this slide show was long, the second time was even more painful.  The worst part is that when I went to insert all of the screen shots into this blog post, they were all blank!!!!  Ugh - frustrated.)

The kindergarteners at their best

Sunny and Trey

My love at the end of his kindergarten year

Trey's last tee ball game was fun - we had both been counting down - and we enjoyed being with our friends.  Trey was super excited because he was playing Sunny's team for the last game.  

Trey, Zach, Owen, and Ryder with their personalized cookies

The boys goofing around with Sunny

These boys (except for Ryder and Sunny) were not very cooperative with my picture taking.  

The end of the school year was a blur to me as I was finishing my spring term and trying to wrap up my reports and IEPs at Columbus.  I do have some regrets about not spending as much time with my students and my assistants before the year ended, but I was in crisis mode and trying to get everything done.  The good news is that I will be back at Columbus part time this coming school year as a school psychologist, so I will still see my people.  I will certainly miss them.

Marcelle and Tanya, two of my amazing LRC assistants, 

at the end of the year school talent show for the students.

On the last day of school, I was able to take Trey to school and drop him off.  This happened less than half a dozen times during the school year, and I cherished every morning I could walk him to his classroom and say goodbye.  I know that might sound weird, but not being able to be involved as much as I'd like with Trey's schooling, since I work full-time, has been harder for me than I thought.  I know that teachers have it good with having summers and vacations with their kids, and for that I am very grateful, but the lack of flexibility during the school year and the lack of ability to participate in my child's education really makes me sad.  I would love to take Trey to school with me in McMinnville, but I do not want my six year old in the car for two hours a day, and I love him having friendships in the neighborhood.  

Trey and his BFF Sunny

Trey and his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Moon

Last day of school with his soccer/neighborhood/tee ball buddies,

Zach, very upset Ryder, Trey, and Owen

As summer began, Trey was so happy to be home.  The boy enjoys school, but he also loves being at home.  He started the summer with writing his own comic book.  The boy says he wants to have four jobs when he grows up: scientist, author, actor, and ninja.  He's off to a good start.