Jaycob's Graduation/Promotion

This afternoon was Jaycob's promotion ceremony. While parents and other family members were finding seats they had a slide show of the kids of pictures that were taken in the classroom. There was a really cute one of Jaycob playing in his all famous rice and beans and another one of him writing on the dry erase board! Awwww My Little Boy is Growing Up! Actually, I think I was one of the few parents not crying. Sorry, its nice they recognize the kids moving on, but they'll have one of these type of promotions for the next 2 years!

Anyways... Next they filed all the kids in and talked about how the kids have progressed throughout the year. Then they called each one up and give them their promotion certificate.

After all the kids from both classes got their award they asked us all to stand up and sing the Tooty-Ta song, the one I had here on my blog for awhile! It was so great seeing all the parents do it, cracked me up!

All the parents and family were then invited back to the classroom for refreshments. Then we were all sent home with our sugar high children! Originally Jaycob said he wanted to ride the bus one last time, but he changed his mind at the last minute.

Homework!

Jaycob had homework during this four day weekend. He had to pick at least 3 pictures of his favorite animal and write where they live and what they eat. He picked a giraffe when I first told him about the project and I thought for sure he would change his mind. But when we sat down to start finding pictures a couple days later he still stuck with his giraffe! He did great writing out everything he needed to. And was actually upset when I told him his poster was finished! I hope you can see all of his hard work when you click on the picture! He did work oh so hard on it!

Week 10 of School, October 21-24

Pumpkins, the letter T, and counting seemed to be the focus this week. The paper with the pumpkins on gate had "The 5 Little Pumpkins" printed on the back. Thank goodness because I had totally forgotten the words to it!! Jaycob did come home most the week reciting the finger play.

Week 9 of School, October 14-17

Nothing real special this week. Seems the worked on the 5 senses. Jaycob did talk quite a bit about tasting with his mouth and smelling with his nose.

Oh and he sure did get the touch part too. I guess he fell on the playground while running.

He came home with a medical glove full of water and ice. He told me he had to put it into the fridge to keep it like the nurse said!

ETA: He ended up having to HAVE a band-aid on his elbow for the next 2 weeks or more!!

Week 8 of School, October 7-10

This week they continued to learn about our community helpers. On top of these things that he worked on he came home with a fireman's hat!

From the looks of the papers they also worked on the letters 'P' and 'S'. You can't see it very well in this picture, but Jaycob did trace all of these letters very nicely! You can tell where he had some direction and where he did it by himself. He tells me, "P, pa-pa-pa P. Pa-pa-pa penguin. Pa-pa-pa pumpkin." And the same thing with the 'S'. Very cute to see that he's actually learning these things!
Seems they continue to reinforce the shapes they're working on, separating the triangles and the circles. And of course another one of these little books. This week, the same as the past few, only the first few pages are colored. Check out his coloring skills on the front of this one!!

Parent Teacher Conference October 6

Well we had our first (and I guess only planned) parent/teacher conference today. Jaycob is doing well in class. He listens and participates. He will interact with the other children, but he does not usually initiate it. He does sneak over to the sensory table more often then he's supposed to. But for now she lets it slid, I don't know how I feel about that one! To top it off he keeps sneaking a certain truck into the sensory table. I guess measuring cups are just to boring for him!

We talked about his speech sessions starting and she personally didn't think he needed a whole lot of help with it. But she did promise me that she would get the ball rolling with it.

These pages are what we discussed academically. I was told these three papers contain everything he should know by the end of kindergarten. The teacher said he was actually up to speed per most kids his age.
And knowing our Jaycob he knew some of this information and he was done with her questions and didn't want to answer them any more! Especially the body parts section. I KNOW he knows most of these without thinking that aren't checked. Same with some of the shapes. But hey she did say that most the kids in her classes didn't even have this much knowledge only a month into the school year! Never mind that Jaycob is her oldest student this year.

All in all so far he's having a good year and doing good in class and as an idividual!

7th Week of School, September 30 - October 3

This whole months focus, I think, is supposed to be community helpers and the roles the play. This week was police officers.

The day the police hat came home... Bus pulled up and all you could see were little heads wearing these hats!! Come to think of it I should have expected it since when the bus picked Jaycob up the morning kids all had them on!!
He also won this "Outstanding Character Award". He did say everyone got one though... So who knows!

Also, on Friday they had a Family Celebration Day. Us parents and siblings got to come into school and experience their last hour of school. When we (Abygail and I) walked in they were in the middle of circle time. I love the way the teacher is with the kids. She seems great! I'm really glad that Jaycob likes her so much. A good way to start out his school experience! Anyway... I heard a different version of 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' that I had never heard before that included a wolf and an ant. And then came the 'Tooty Ta' song! Yep, the one you now here when you open up the main blog page! The kids LOVED this! Abygail had joined their circle time by then and was dancing and singing right along with the other kids. After circle time we had a snack and played outside.

Small problem though... After circle time Jaycob went and hid under a table. Talk about feeling like parent of the year! Come to find out that before we got there, earlier in the afternoon, they had an intruder drill... Not such a smart move if you ask me. Go through an intruder drill and then ask all kinds of strangers to come into the classroom! I wasn't the only parent that was a little confused by this logic, but my kid was the only one hiding under the table and redoing the intruder drill! Other kids had shouted out "Stranger!" but that was all. So after most the 'strangers' (other parents) went outside with their child Jaycob finally came out and ate a bit of snack and then we went out and played for a bit! At first he wanted to ride the bus home, but he changed his mind once he knew I was taking the rest of his snack home! It was a very busy, long, and stressful day for him!

6th Week of School, September 23-26

Nothing special this week. They talked about their families. They had to do homework and have it due at the beginning of the week. It had to be a poster with their family, favorite place, favorite food, and all of it labeled! Jaycob did a very nice poster! Forgot to take a picture though! I'll be sure to post it when we get it back!

5th Week of School, September 16-17

Well this week was an extra short school week. Jaycob didn't have school Thursday because it was Early Dismissal and since he's an afternoon student he doesn't go to school. And all the students had Friday off. It's the weekend of the fair and so many kids are part of the 4-H around here that they just assume cancel school for the kids than to have them all absent, so I've been told!

4th Week of School, September 9-12

3rd Week of School, September 2-5

The first paper he said had his snack on it. They were crackers he had to count he said, all I know is they were greasy. They left little round grease marks all over the paper!

3rd: As I got Jaycob off the bus today all I hear are children screaming, "Jaycob I love you! Jaycob we love you". Yeah it was crazy! That was the loudest I've ever heard the kids on the bus and they were all screaming at my child like he was in a boy band! The bus driver said that when kids get on the bus that's the first thing they say, "Where's Jaycob?" or tells Jaycob HI!

I'm so thrilled he's well liked! As a parent I think this is something we all worry about. The fact that all the kids on the bus are in his class really helps I think. I ask him about all his friends and he has no info... All well!!

4th: Woo Hoo! I've been waiting for this! Book orders were sent home today, our first one! Now I just have to remember they're due on Wednesday the 17th!!

First Week of School

Well the first full week of school has come and gone! We did get his B.E.A.R. folder, I'm so excited! He still loving to hop on the bus and go to school as of right now. I need to take pictures of all his first week papers he did. Friday was the first day they didn't get to go outside and play on the playground. He was kinda upset about that, but he talked about the other things they did instead! He's picking up things at school like crazy already. He's been singing this monkey and crocodile song non-stop and has even taught it all to Abygail! I just can't figure out the last lines!

Anyway... I know this was quick and I'll add the pictures later. I just had a minute so I thought I would jot it all down real quick!

2nd Week of School, August 26-29

First Real Day Of School

As I sit here and catch up on my morning computer stuff all I can think about is my baby going to school today!!!! Its now appx. 2 and a half hours until the bus will come and take him away!! I really do hope he has a good day!

Update: Well, the bus came and got him over half an hour after class was supposed to start!! Yeah! Crazy! First day kinks need to be worked out! But here's the picture I got of him! He hopped right on that bus like he's been doing it for years, I was so proud of him!

Oh and one of him getting ready to go wait for the bus!

Update II: He's home from school and had a really nice day. I was disappointed to not see his daily(B.E.A.R.) folder come home yet, but I'm sure it will at some point! He told me they read a story and he went pee at school and a lady helped him. And then he was done talking about it! Short and sweet, that's my boy!

Due to more prodding he also played with a little girl, some cars and a car wash, and something else we couldn't make out!

Just Realized

So I just realized that the school Jaycob will be attending next year is considered a year-round school... Not so sure how I feel about this. They start in the middle of August and get out the second week in June. So really its just an extra month... But looking at the calendar for this year they need to start that early just to cover all the vacation they get off for the main holidays! I mean they get just about 3 weeks for the Christmas/ New Year's holiday!!

Still pondering how I feel about this... Any comments?