School Days: PK4 Fourth Nine Weeks {Riley}

Today is my Riley-bean’s last day of PK4. There is a short closing program this morning and then he is officially out for the summer.

He really made beautiful progress this year; Kenny and I are so proud of him. I will of course do a recap of his last day sometime next week, but first let’s talk about what they did in their final nine weeks of school. Ready? Here goes.

They learned about the letters “Uu” through “Zz.” They did activities with umbrellas, vegetables, volcanoes, worms, watermelon, water, xylophones, x-rays, yo-yos, zebras, zoos, and zig-zags.

They also went on a “X marks the spot” treasure hunt around school, made a Yankee Doodle Dandy hat (and sang the song), and made a Zero the Hero.

They had an umbrella parade around school, painted pictures with veggies (and tasted them too), discussed veterinarians and had an animal show and tell, watched Ms. Amelie demonstrate how a volcano works, and had a yummy and yucky tasting of cheetos, pickles, pretzels, peas, marshmallows, and raisins.

  

 

They also reviewed and practiced their handwriting with all of the letters and numbers they learned throughout the year. Riley also came home with quite a few drawings he did before school started for the day. I love his “monsters” he drew, and the fact that he’s using lots of colors instead of just green.

In reading, they read two stories, Peter and the Wolf and The ABC Book, and did lots of activities and worksheets for both.

In library, they read lots of books with Ms. Jayme. In Spanish, they learned about chocolate and its history and even had a chocolate tasting.

In math, they learned about the numbers 18-20 and finished their unit on measurement. They also learned about telling time, graphing, basic addition and subtraction, and drawing pictures to help solve a problem. And they started (and completed!) a paper chain countdown to summer.

In religion, they talked about Lent, miracles of Jesus, following Jesus, resurrection, life after death, trust in God, Noah’s ark, and how God comes first.

They also discussed “what is special about you.” Ms. Amelie walked Riley to the car one afternoon that week and told me a funny story. When she asked Riley what was special about him, his answer was Darth Vader. When she said, no, she wanted to know how God made him special, he paused a second and then replied: “Darth Vader, Ms. Amelie! He’s in my head telling me what to do!” Lord.

They talked a lot about St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. They celebrated Earth Day on April 22 by making posters with their big buddies to hang around school. They supported the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team in their quest to make the playoffs and even got a visit from the team’s mascot. And they celebrated Cinco de Mayo by making sombreros.

Teacher Appreciation Week was the first full week of May. Riley made Ms. Amelie a card thanking her for a great year, we brought her coffee on Tuesday morning, and I helped set up a special luncheon for all of the hardworking teachers of SCR on Thursday.

 

Their recess times took place in the PK3 yard, so Riley and Alcee would sometimes run into each other. Ms. Lisa was so good about sending me pictures of their interactions, which were always so cute. Riley is so excited about seeing more of Alcee (and Claire) over the summer!

We also got Riley’s class picture back, but he looks less than thrilled in it. Oh well; at least he got to stand next to Ms. Amelie.

Their last week of school was full of fun stuff. They talked about their summer plans, had show and tell (Riley brought his shark truck), and had their end-of-the-year luau party (and celebrated Ms. Amelie’s birthday during it).

They also had a bye-bye breakfast with their big buddies after mass on Wednesday, and I went to help out. Everything looked so cute, and both the big and the little kids all enjoyed their donuts and juice. Riley’s buddy Eleonore is going to Mount Carmel next year, so I went to the MCA bookstore to pick up an acrylic tumbler for her as a little thank you gift. Man, was it nostalgic for me walking through those halls again!

 

 

Riley’s behavior was pretty good during his last nine weeks, with one exception. We got a note home from Ms. Amelie saying he punched another student on the playground because they were playing bad guys, even though she had told him repeatedly to stop playing that. Riley said it was an accident and that he apologized to the other boy, but I had to make him understand that he should have listened to Ms. Amelie in the first place and the accident wouldn’t have happened. (I feel this will be a running theme for a long while, listening. He doesn’t always do so these days, and it drives me crazy.)

However, Riley was “caught doing something great” a decent amount this year. He has a sticker page to prove it.

Riley brought a few papers home with him yesterday, and I’m sure he’ll bring a few last things home today. So I’ll do one final PK4 recap post and then that’ll be all she wrote for this school year.

So crazy how fast time goes.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Spring Flowers and Baby Animals

Spring is in full swing around here, and it is so evident in the flowers in everyone’s gardens and all of the baby animals roaming around. Kenny worked really hard to finally get some color in our front gardens, and they look so great. Especially with all of our agapanthus flowers blooming too.

And while they’re gone now, all of us enjoyed watching a family of birds in one of the nests on our front porch. The nests have been there since we moved in three years ago, and a pair of blue jays decided to take one over this spring. Two babies popped out a few weeks ago and the four of us had fun watching them grow. We would check on them through the window many mornings before leaving for school.

Then one day I heard flapping at the dining room window. One of the babies had made his first flight out of the nest. The other one soon joined in, and they never looked back. They hung out on the driveway for a little while, Mama jay zipping in and out of the trees above.

  

Rory came out to go to music with Grandma while one of the babies was perched on our fence. When he spotted the little bird, he walked straight up to him and actually touched him on his chest. The bird didn’t even flinch.

We also have lots and lots of ducks and geese that live near the canals by our house; we pass by lots of groups of them every morning on our way to school. There are plenty of babies among them; it’s been fun to watch them grow with each passing day.

But my favorite set of babies we’ve seen lately is of the equine variety. Nola’s longtime neighbor Mrs. Rosemary has a farm across the lake where they raise horses. She invited all of us to go up there last Saturday to see the farm and meet some of the horses, including several brand new foals.

We piled into two Mules and set out to explore the property. Ms. Rosemary’s dog Sherman ran alongside us the whole time. He loves it up there. So much space to run around in!

The kids were able to feed many of the horses carrots, which they loved. One particular horse, named Hurry Up Rosemary, got a little friendly with Rory in an attempt to get at the carrot he was holding. Too cute.

 

 

 

 

However, Rory’s fun ended when his hand got a little too close to Carmel Doll’s mouth. As in, IN her mouth. Oops. His skin wasn’t broken and he wasn’t bleeding, but he cried all the way back to the house. Poor thing. I gave him some water and he let me put some ice on his hand for about 3 seconds. But as soon as he spotted his trucks in the back of my car, the injury was forgotten. Crazy fries.

The rest of the crew came back a bit later and the kids had a ball playing on a big pile of rocks near the house. Rory even tried to feed rocks to Sherman. And Riley found a frog that he desperately wanted to take home. Mean Mama said no.

After a fun time at the farm, we drove back into town and had lunch at the Chimes before heading back to the southshore. The kids played on the decks and fed the fish in the river, everyone ate a great lunch, and Rory ended up passing out on me right before we left. That’s a sure mark of a fantastic day.

Thanks so much for having us, Mrs. Rosemary!

Video Wednesday: Hierarchy of Power, According to Riley

QP was over one afternoon last week to play with the kiddos. She and Riley got into a very funny discussion that I wish I had recorded in its entirety. Riley was explaining who rules who, both in groups of kids and in groups of adults.

His logic was so darn funny and I really wish I could remember exactly what he said. But I did get him to repeat his wisdom later that evening during dinner.

In a nutshell, he says that while bigger kids rule over the littler ones, moms wear the pants in the family. Love it.

Happy Wednesday!