Kindergarten Readiness Camp, VBS, and Swimming Lessons {Riley}

This month has been quite busy for the wonk potatoes. He has actually been at school since June 1, in two different summer camps. The first one was Kindergarten Readiness Camp. Lots of his school friends were there with him for a fun week.

Two of the SCR kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Allison and Ms. Jen, ran the week. The kids were divided among the two of them, and unfortunately, Riley and Claire were in separate rooms. But they still had a good time and got to see each other for a small part of each day. They went from 9am until 3pm Monday through Friday. (With no nap!!)

They did a lot over the course of those five days. They played alphabet bingo and rhyming games, found pictures in magazines to help them with their letters, and worked on the computer and the promethean board. They also practiced writing their names.

They worked with patterns and puzzles, used Q-tips and paint to help with their numbers, and created a “shape monster.”

They read a different story each day and did an art project to go along with it.

They also did a lot with “wacky words” (sight words). In kindergarten next year they will learn 70 wacky words, and they got a jumpstart on their first 6 (a, and, the, I, see, like) during the week of camp. They did two wacky word cutting and gluing projects, a watercolor painting project, and a wacky word rainbow write worksheet. They also practiced reading their first sentences with the 6 wacky words they learned. They used special “reading fingers” to mark their places and keep them on track when reading from left to right.

Riley had a great week; I think it was really beneficial for him to do this camp. He said he really liked Mrs. Allison, so it would be neat if he actually got to have her again for his kindergarten year!

This week Riley has been back at school for three hours each morning at Vacation Bible School. And this time he actually gets to be with Claire. They were so excited to learn they were in the same group.

 

They’ve sung songs, danced, did a few fun crafts, and ate yummy snacks. There is a little closing performance in the church this morning, and then Riley is all mine the rest of the summer.

And as if he didn’t have enough going on, Riley has also been taking swimming lessons for the past two weeks. His teacher is the daughter of his PE teacher at school, and their house is two blocks away from ours. So we have been walking over for his half-hour lessons at 4:30pm on Mondays through Thursdays.

  

Riley has done really well. In fact, he’s actually swimming! I’m not ready to throw him into the pool by himself with no supervision, but he has learned so much from Ms. Kellen. His kicks are still great, he’s gotten much better at putting his face in the water, and he’s starting to figure out what to do with his arms, although he does look a bit spastic at times.

He’s even doing a bit of diving!

Rory has come with me most days, and he loves running around in Mrs. Jean’s backyard, watching his brother swim, and throwing toys into the pool. Crazy fries.

But both boys’ favorite part of the lessons is afterwards, when Riley is awarded a popsicle. Pretty good incentive to swim well.

He finished up yesterday and did a great job. I hope he swims as well in Nola and Nopsi’s pool as he did in Ms. Kellen’s pool. We shall see.

Videos of Riley swimming will be up tomorrow!