School Days: K First Nine Weeks {Riley}

My apologies for not posting since last Friday, but the past couple of weeks have been insane. Room mom responsibilities are really ramping up as we get closer and closer to the fair, not to mention preparations for all things Halloween. October is always so crazy busy, but it’s so much fun.

So without further adieu, let’s discuss what Riley has been up to during his first nine weeks as a kindergartener. (Don’t you love his little guy holding a lightsaber in the picture below?)

In ELA, Mrs. Allison uses a really cool teaching series called “The Superkids.” Each unit revolves around one Superkid (or pet) and they do all kinds of lessons, activities, and games associated with each kid. So far they have learned about Cass, who loves to cook; Oswald, who loves odd animals; Golly, who is a dog that was born in a gas station; Alf, who loves to go on adventures; Doc, who is the doctor for all broken toys; and Sal, who loves sports.

They have learned 27 wacky words and 11 color words and done LOTS of activities and worksheets with all of them, including lots of handwriting. They have also started to learn spelling words in conjunction with their Superkids lessons.

Riley did great on his first wacky word assessments and his first spelling bee. We are so proud of him!

They have to submit reading logs each month, documenting that they read 12 books. They can read on their own (not so much yet), read with someone, or be read to by someone. 

In math, they have learned about numbers 0-20, discussed equal to, greater than, less than, one more, and ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.), counted to 50 by ones and to 100 by ones and tens, and learned how to draw more to show a number.

In religion, they have learned about the Blessed Trinity, creation, being images of God, the 10 Commandments, loving others, God’s house the church, wrong choices (sin), and baptism. They reviewed the sign of the cross and learned a couple of prayers (Glory Be and Hail Mary). Their class saint is St. Catherine of Siena. They also talked a lot about Pope Francis’ visit to the United States. He even found time in his busy U.S. schedule to visit SCR!

They go to PE twice a week and library, music, and Spanish once a week. Check out the family picture Riley drew in Spanish one day. Not sure why he didn’t include Rory or himself, but I like my green eyes.

They had a fun Opposite Day when everyone could wear different socks and shoes and the girls could do their hair in different ways. They also had a Sports Day when they could wear whatever sports gear they wanted. Riley wore an official European soccer kit passed down to him from Nicholas and James. He looked SO cute.

For the letter “G,” they grew some grass. Each of them had a plastic cup with their faces on the front but their hair was missing. They planted some grass seeds in their cups and watched their “hair” grow. They recorded their observations each day and talked about the importance of sun, water, and soil for a plant to grow.

They have done one fun food project when they were studying the letter A. Our art mom, Mrs. Kristen, had the kids make rice krispie treat apples and celery airplanes. So fun!

Astronaut Day: In celebration of letter A, they transformed into astronauts one day. They studied and learned about astronauts, space shuttles, and space, made astronaut helmets, floated around the room to music, and counted backwards to blast off!

They had a special morning of donuts with their dads in the cafeteria after assembly. They completed a “dad interview” that they gave to their dads as a special present. Dana and I were both there to help serve, and of course Riley and Claire sat next to each other. And I love that Riley thinks Kenny is 90 and that he doesn’t cook at all because Mama does it. SO funny.

Dinosaur Day: They learned all about the different types of dinosaurs and fossils. In centers, they made our own “fossils” with play dough and dinosaur bones. During Math, they pretended to be paleontologists and dug out fossil “chocolate chips” from chocolate chip cookies with a toothpick. They even graphed how many “fossils” they found.

Kindergarten Dog Show: The entire kindergarten dressed up their favorite stuffed animal dogs and entered them into the Kindergarten Dog Show. Riley at first wanted to put a tutu on his chosen dog of Scooby, but then I mentioned that he could do Darth Vader. Done. The kids named their dogs, put them out for the whole school to come judge, got to judge Mrs. Jessica’s and Ms. Jen’s dog shows, enjoyed some yummy “graham cracker dog bones,” received a certificate, and had a ribbon ceremony. Scooby Vader got a special blue ribbon for “Most Creative Boy Dog.” Riley was so proud!

They have homework just about every weeknight. They can check out library books this year, which Riley is loving. And they go to mass every week wearing their special mass uniform.

Mrs. Allison has lots of fun incentives that she surprises the kids with every now and then, including awarding terrific tickets, visits from the desk fairy, and “smelly spray.” The kids love all of these things, and they’re all a great way to get them excited about kindergarten.

As far as behavior, Riley has been on yellow twice, for shooting water out of the water fountain and for goofing off with Connor during instructional time. And he has forgotten his lunch kit on the playground a couple of times. There were also a few tough days in the beginning of school when he cried at drop-off. But he is ultimately doing pretty great this year. Fingers crossed that continues.

They took school pictures in mid-September. Riley’s isn’t the best but at least he opened his eyes decently and has a pretty nice smile. Here’s our official kindergartener.

We received his first quarter report card at the end of last week and he’s right on track with almost everything. His handwriting is the main thing that needs work, but that came as no surprise to us. It is getting better though; I can see definite improvement since the beginning of the year.

First nine weeks of kindergarten: check!

Oh, and a very Happy Birthday to Uncle Jeff today!