Bear with me... this post is not only about Kenzie's final day at school but all the crazy things (they are just crazy to me because I can't believe that little 7 lbs 6 oz baby is about to be in kindergarten) leading up to it that are preparing her for being a kindergartener so it is a bit long.
Aaaaannnnndddd... That's it. We have reached the end of an era for Kenzie. At least the end of a stage of sorts. We have officially left behind the preschool stage and are getting ready to embark on the "school age" section of her life. These last few weeks have been... emotional. About three weeks ago we took our happy selves over to the elementary school and attended the kindergarten orientation for our baby girl. Who isn't actually much of a "baby" anymore despite my protests. We were able to take a tour of the school and see some of the kindergarten classrooms, the specials classrooms, cafeteria, clinic, and media center. The kids were all given the opportunity to have a snack in the cafeteria which Kenzie thought was amazing. We were told all about the school itself and what is expected of Kenzie as well as us, as her parents. After the orientation, we went over to the media center and after what seemed like 50 pages (but was actually closer to 10 and only seemed like 50 because I had to keep track of two young children while trying to sign away my life at the same time) of paperwork, she was officially registered as a kindergarten student! Eek! How did this happen? She loved every minute of seeing her new big school. She is so excited to find out in August who her teacher is and go to Meet the Teacher. We will also have a "Chat & Chew" as a one-on-one with her teacher before school starts to meet her and discuss how the school year should look for Kenzie. One of the kindergarten teachers gave us a tour and if all of them are as awesome as she seemed to be or as awesome as their classrooms let on, we are in good hands. She is looking forward to buying lunch in the cafeteria sometimes like a big girl and eating with her class. When she found out that pizza was being served the Friday after we were there, I was sort of surprised she stopped herself before she asked if we could come back to eat lunch there. She made a few new friends already while we were completing the registration process. They were telling each other knock knock jokes. It was hilarious because Kenzie knows 2 and they obviously knew about as many but they just kept making them up. None of them were actually funny but the kids would laugh hysterically every time like it was the funniest joke ever. Kids are awesome. We recognized about 5 other children and/or parents that were there so she has an okay possibility of having at least one of those people in her class. Since then we have realized we know a couple other children that will be there, too. There are 9 kindergarten classrooms so there is also the possibility of not having one of those people but she makes new friends easily so we don't worry much. She is so ready to get started. We are going to try to soak up every moment of this last summer before she is officially an elementary school student. Not that she won't have other summers, of course, but there seems to be something about this one. It's the last before she goes to big girl school and the last before Will goes to school at all... It's just crazy.
The day after the registration was the Mother's Day Tea at her school. It was so amazing! Kenzie made me a visor, necklace, and bracelet and she filled out some information about me that made me teary (and made me laugh). What really got me was the handprint thing the class made. The kids all came in and sang a couple of songs for us (which I bawled through). Kenzie was definitely the loudest kid up there. I could hear her above everyone else and another mom even made a comment about it later. Haha! She has been practicing those songs for a while so she was ready! We had some snacks and just enjoyed our time together. We don't get a lot of Mommy/Daughter alone time so I really relished in this. I think she did too. She definitely seemed to enjoy herself.
That same day the school also sent home her cap and gown pictures which were possibly one of the cutest things I have ever seen. She looks so beyond excited in the picture. This picture truly embodies who Kenzie is. She loves life. She loves everything and she is always excited about whatever is going on around her. She was so excited to "graduate" and the picture definitely seemed to capture that. She told me that she wants it to be big and put right next to Daddy's graduation picture from college because their outfits match except hers is blue and his was black. So cute. (Apparently she can't put it next to mine because the comparable picture we have of me is from my education specialist degree graduation and my outfit is very different.... I asked. Her and Daddy are the cool ones.)
The following week we had to go back to the elementary school for Kenzie's kindergarten screening. This lets the school get a baseline on her and determine the best teacher placement for her. It was only a 10 minute or so long screening. The principal explained at the orientation that they have a huge range of children coming in. Some have never been in schools and some have been in super serious preschools. Some can already read and some barely know letter identification or sounds. Kenzie probably sits somewhere in the middle. We were also informed that kindergarten isn't like it was when we were kids (which we know) and and the principal advised that although she loves a play based approach, they have to be prepared for the "rigors of first grade" by the end of kindergarten. Lovely. Kindergarten is the new first grade. Long gone are the naps of yesteryear. Not like our kids naps anyway... Kenzie did great at her screening. She identified every letter upper and lowercase with the exception of lowercase t. Weird. I thought that would be one she would get but she does tend to have some issues with it. She can remember it if you give her a minute sometimes but I guess she just couldn't recall. She could identify the sounds of every letter with the exception of 7 or so of them but the teacher that screened her told me it was still good. She indentified every number between 0 and 20 (out of order and context) with the exception of a couple of the double digit numbers. She could write her first name with no issues but we need to work on her last name over the summer. That is easy enough. She drew a picture of a person with quite a few features. She was unable to identify any sight words except I and A but those are letters so that makes sense. That is the least important part of it though. They just ask to see if any kids know any already. We have the list of the 100 sight words she will need to know by the end of kindergarten so we plan to locate the flashcards I made a few years ago when I had a group at one of my schools that I was working on sight word recognition with and we will start working on those with her soon. She loves learning so if we can make it a game, she should enjoy it. If anyone has any ideas, please share. The teacher that did her screening said she was very sweet and polite. Always makes us proud parents to hear those kinds of things. She did great and we know she is going to rock kindergarten next year.
Then we had a couple of weeks off from the craziness of switching her to a big school. A couple of weeks that we didn't have to talk about how big she has gotten and how she is growing up. Sort of. The one thing that did happen in there was her dance pictures which just reminds us of how much she has grown. We didn't do these last year but decided to this year because the price couldn't be beat and you are given the pictures on a CD so you own the rights to them. We LOVE the costume this year and we wanted pictures to remember this year of her in dance. She is still loving and rocking dance class. I think the dance studio might end up being a place that we remain at for quite some time. I don't know that she will ever be on a competition team or anything but she seems to continue to love dancing and learning new things so we will likely remain a while but we will let her lead on that. She has also talked about playing soccer in the fall so we will look into that closer to time if she continues to express an interest. She's actually coming into her own as far as coordination goes. (Finally.) We figured that signing her up for a season isn't bad and if she ends up not liking it, we move on. Might as well let her do it until Will is old enough to choose a sport or something as he has a couple of years before he is old enough by the city standards. Plus, this year we might be able to look into her joining Girl Scouts, specifically the Daisy group. She might end up being a pretty busy girl this year so we will need to see how she adjusts and what she can handle and may need to wait on.
Then... the end of preschool for her happened. It seems to have happened so fast. One minute she was walking into the preschool for the first time as a 3-year-old off to meet her new teachers. She was barely nervous and super excited. A day later she was walking into her first ever classroom and barely even turned around to say goodbye to me because she was so excited and the next... she was walking across the stage as a VPK graduate. It's crazy. Sometimes it is hard to remember the little 3-year-old girl that she was when she started at SCP. She's gotten so big and learned so much. We are so thankful to them for the time and love they put into her over the last two years. (And next year, Will gets to experience it too. I'm glad we have a few more years with the school. We love them.) When she walked in two years ago she couldn't even write her name. Now she can write her first and last name (we've been practicing her last name since her screening), counts to 100 by ones with minimal help (just helping with clues as to the next tens place when it switches), counts by 10s to 100, is almost 100% on counting by 2s to at least 20, adds and subtracts single digit numbers, loves to color and draw, rhymes words non-stop, counts syllables in words, is working on sounding out words, and spells a few common words with minimal help. Her growth has been amazing.
The last Thursday of school was graduation. I felt like a mess. She felt like the coolest kid ever. The graduation was awesome. They set up the worship center at the church for it and it looked great. Kenzie had briefed me on which side her class was on so we were prepared and arrived early enough to get seats in the front row. Will fell asleep (it was nap time after all) about 3 minutes before it started and remained mostly asleep through the entire thing so it was nice to not have to worry about him getting bored. The kids all came in to Pomp & Circumstance and Nana and I were crying already. (Nana had actually brought real handkerchiefs that belonged to my great grandmother for the occasion... talk about making me want to cry more.) Kenzie was so cute in her cap and gown. The kids did 3 pledges. Everyone did the Pledge together and then they also did pledges to the Christian flag and Bible. It was sweet. They sang a few songs for us and then each child was presented with a Bible and certificate along with a piece of candy that symbolized them in some way. Kenzie was given a Milky Way because she always shows her classmates how to use good manners and listen to her teachers so she guides them sort of. I have heard this from her teachers before but it was so sweet to hear her recognized for it. After the graduation we were able to go into a prepared room and take some pictures with our little graduates in their caps and gowns. Kenzie was so excited that she was able to keep her tassle. She is officially part of the SCP VPK Class of 2017. Nana and Papa were able to come so we went to dinner at Froggers (Kenzie's choice) to celebrate before they headed home. Kenzie was given a few small gifts for graduation. Grandma and Grandaddy gave her a Frozen Lego set, Nana and Papa gave her a Moana inspired dress (that unfortunately is delayed in being shipping so it wasn't here yet though they gave her a picture of it and although it isn't a costume she knew immediately it was a Moana dress), and Steven, Will, and I gave her a sign for her big girl room that says "LOVE". (Her gallery wall items are all ready at this point and we paint this weekend. We just need to order her bed and then we can do most of the transition to her big girl room)
Although the graduation was held on Thursday, her last day of school is technically today. This is a fun day for her and basically a party day. The last day of school is themed every year. Last year was sports day. This year was a luau theme. I have to stop here and tell a story because one day when I come back through and read this post I HAVE to remember it. Her teachers stopped me one morning a couple of weeks before and told me that the day before they were talking about having a luau and that everyone could wear Hawaiian theme clothing if they wanted. Kenzie proudly (and very seriously) announced to her class that she has a grass skirt... and the boobs to go with it. The teachers said she was so serious and adorable and they tried so hard to not crack up. (Sidenote: At the same time as this conversation I saw Will playing in the water fountain around the corner and when I asked him what he was doing a dad walking by told me, while laughing, that he was informed by Will that he was giving his car a carwash. These kids keep me on my toes. That is for sure.) Anyway, her last day was Friday and was a luau themed party day. Kenzie was so excited to wear her grass skirt. We elected to leave the boobs at home and let her wear her Moana shirt. Her teachers also informed me that they are never going to be able to look at a bra or bikini top again without thinking about Kenzie so I guess she has left her mark. I can't believe how much she has grown in the last year. Both physically and academically. We were given the results of her final VPK assessment, as well and she is doing so well. There were four areas assessed (the same as the prior assessments which were done at the beginning and middle of the year). In Print Knowledge she moved from Below Expectation to Meeting to Exceeding Expectations through the year. She remained Meeting Expectations for Phonological Awareness throughout the year. Her Math went from Meeting to Exceeding and remained Exceeding. And to no one's surprise... her vocabulary/oral language has remained Exceeding Expectations from beginning to end. Yesterday she informed Nana and me that she had a shirt "similar to this one" when we were in Target. Similar. Not "the same" (which it wasn't because similar was the correct word). Not even "sort of like". Similar. She's ridiculous. VPK is over and she rocked it. I can't believe she is now a kindergartener. So crazy.
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| Can we discuss that the kid seems to have officially lost every last ounce of baby fat on her little body? Stop it! No more growing up! |
So, with that, school is over for the year. We have a big summer planned this year. We are going to the Keys again and will be in the Keys for almost a week in mid-July. Stayed tuned over the summer for recaps on that. We have some new things planned and it is our first time traveling that far by car with two kids that are more than just babies (we went to Mississippi when Will was about 4 months old so that was far different). We plan to get in as much as possible down there because we likely will not be back for a few years and we have minimal down time while we are there. We have a road trip in the planning stages for next summer already that will take us through my birthplace and Louisiana and won't do the Keys again more than likely next summer. Though we would happily go back every year if we had the time and money to do so. We have swimming lessons coming up soon and each child will be doing 10 this year. Kenzie is registered for two different Vacation Bible Schools so far for the summer. If I hear of another one that Kenzie might like, she could end up doing another. My parents will be in town for a week at their timeshare (the house one with a pool) so we will be staying down there with them for a bit. Kenzie has her dance recital in late June. Steven has learned that he will be gone about 16 (week)days in the month of June/early July which basically adds up to him being out of town more than he is in town for about a month. It's going to be interesting. He will be staying away from home so we will have weeks at a time that we don't see him other than on Skype. We have our Summer Bucket List making a return in a couple of weeks and we have a lot of library and pool time planned. Plus, our goal is to visit as many beaches as possible this summer. We found out that the #1 beach this year is only about 2 hours away so that is certainly happening. (Another top 10 is in the panhandle so I'm filing it away for next year's road trip.) Kenzie turns a whole hand old this summer and with that, and elementary school, it appears that we are moving into a new stage in life. Combined with Will doing 2 mornings of preschool a week... life is changing. (I had someone ask me a few weeks ago what I was going to do with all my "free time" next school year and I felt like it was a good time to inform them that I will continue to do all the things I do now like work, run errands that we don't want to worry about on family weekend time, and clean... I will just do it in silence. I'm sort of looking forward to that.) It's not a bad change but I want to hold on to BOTH of my little babies a little longer this summer. Like I said, it's been an emotional few weeks. But we are all excited for what is to come for both kids in the coming school year. =)
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