School Days: K Last Nine Weeks {Riley}

I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but it’s so true right now: where does the time go??? My Riley-bean is a kindergarten graduate. Before I tell y’all about his last day, though, let me recap his final nine weeks of school.

In ELA, they completed the last three Superkids units. Riley really seemed to enjoy the Superkids’ series, and I know he learned a lot from it.

They even got to dress as their favorite Superkid one day during their last week at school. Riley chose to be Hot Rod, who likes to go fast and has buttons all over his shirt. Sadly, we did not have yellow jeans to complete Hot Rod’s look, so Riley just wore his school shorts.

They had five spelling tests and Riley aced them all. His spelling ability consistently impresses me. He does need to work on writing his z’s though. However, his handwriting is light years away from where it was when this school year started. I am so proud of him. Let’s just hope he can keep it up!

They learned about nouns (persons, places, or things) and verbs (action words). Riley loved singing the little song they learned about nouns around the house.

They did a lot with their wacky words and smartie spelling, even learning proper sentence formation. They learned more than 70 words this year! Riley did excellent on his final wacky word assessment; he didn’t miss a single word.

Riley reached his goal of reading 100 books in his kindergarten year. Reading was stressed a lot this year to prepare them for first grade. They worked on reading comprehension during the last few weeks of school.

In math, they learned about addition and “Gus the Plus,” subtraction and “Linus the Minus,” “Sequel the Equal,” decomposing numbers 11-20, and simple word problems.

They each made a Gus and a Linus to take home, but Allison had no plans for them to make a Sequel. Riley wouldn’t stand for that, so she sent him home with supplies to make a Sequel for the class. He brought it in the next day, and Allison hung it up on the board. He was so proud of himself. As was I.

They did a few special math sheets on Cinco de Mayo and also had a small party that day with chips and salsa.

In religion they learned about the Stations of the Cross, Palm Sunday and Holy Week, that after death there is life, that God should come first in their lives, and that God cares for them and all He has made. They also celebrated their class saint, St. Catherine of Siena, on her feast day (April 29) by presenting about her to the whole school at morning assembly. Then they enjoyed a special treat in her honor later that afternoon.

As a class, they worked on putting together a special book as a keepsake from their kindergarten year. They all wrote about their favorite memories and drew a picture to go with it. Riley said his favorite memories were City Park Night and Halloween; his picture is of us on the Ladybug roller coaster. So very special!

The last week of school, Allison sent home the kids’ journals, which they wrote in most mornings when they arrived at school. I loved reading about the things that Riley decided to jot down. And his illustrations were impressive too!

Allison also sent home their memory books, which are a collection of some of their art projects throughout the year bound together. Really cute stuff!

Lastly, they made an alphabet poetry book. They followed the letters they learned for each Superkid throughout the year and colored a corresponding picture that went with each poem. Again, I love Riley’s drawings! He really came a long way with his artistic abilities.

The class made a special card for me as a thank you for being their room mom this year. Very appreciated!

The kindergarten room moms got together and decided to give each student an autograph graduation bear as a little end-of-the-year gift. Every student signed each bear in their class. Allison said they absolutely loved the bears; I was so glad we were able to do that for them!

We also made sure to honor Allison and Ceci for being two of the best kindergarten teachers ever. I collaborated with some of the other parents in the class and bought them each gift cards to 7 different places. Then I arranged them all, along with a cute summer tumbler, in a metal pail with their names on the front. It came out so cute, and they both really loved their gifts!

We also got together with the teachers and went to dinner at Velvet Cactus to celebrate the end of a really fun year.

What a year. I am so proud of how far Riley came with his academic skills. Mrs. Allison and Mrs. Ceci were SO good for him; they helped him learn so much and do the very best he could.

Graduation recap coming up next!