School Days: K October Activities {Riley}

Why does October always seem to be so busy? I feel like I blinked and poof: the month is over and here we are in November. Crazy.

Riley had a lot going on at school during the month of October. Here’s what he’s been up to.

They started learning their fair dance during their PE time, and I’ve been able to make a few of their practices. They are dancing to the Glee version of “Proud Mary” and their dance is so cute. Dana’s sister-in-law choreographed it for us. The kinder room moms have also been busy working on the fair dance costumes. They’re going to look so cute performing on stage in a couple of weeks!

They did a special Halloween art project that our art mom Kristen organized. They made handprint vampires, which turned out so cute. I’m glad I could be there to help; I also snuck Riley into Claire’s classroom to take a picture of the two of them.

On the same day as Halloween art they also had a visit from Chuck E. Cheese in honor of a fundraiser held there that night. Riley chose not to go in favor of building his star destroyer.

They’ve done lots of other Halloween-related projects; it’s a favorite holiday for the kids. (One guess as to why.) And remember when I took pictures of all of the kids at the beginning of the year? Mrs. Allison finally put them to use on the bulletin strips outside of her classroom. Cute.

Tuesday, October 27 was the 50th day of school. Kindergarten makes a big deal out of the 50th and the 100th days of school, so there were lots of fun activities and celebrations that Tuesday. Oh, and they all came to school dressed like they were from the 50s. We rolled up the cuffs of Riley’s jeans, put a plain white t-shirt on him, slicked his hair back with gel, and stuck a black comb in his back pocket. UJ was also kind enough to lend us a Brother Martin letterman sweater that he found in the alumni archives. Riley looked so great all dressed up like a 50s boy!

The teachers got into character for the day, too!

Lots of parents, myself included, volunteered to assist with the activities the teachers had planned for that morning. It was so much fun to see the kids so excited about their special day.

 

There were 5 stations for the kids to rotate through: putting 50 thumbprints on paper records using 5 different colors of paint, bubble gum blowing, limbo, hula hoop, and a handwriting activity.

They’re beginning “smartie spelling,” where they sound out words and write what they hear. It means their spellings won’t always be correct, but it’s an important first step in learning how to spell. They did this kind of spelling for the first time on 50s day.

I also made sure to get a few pictures of Claire and Riley together. Words cannot describe how adorable they looked together.

 

Later in the day, they had a sock hop and then went to the drive-in right in their classroom, complete with popcorn, root beer floats, and the movie Peter Pan. Such a fun day for them!

I also loved the aftermath of Riley’s gelled hair. It looked awesome that night before bath.

On Thursday of last week they enjoyed a visit from the fire department and got to go through a pretend “smoke house.” They learned to crawl low to the ground if there’s smoke from a fire.

Last Friday was a supremely busy day for the kindergarteners. They could wear Halloween shirts and socks, Connor’s dad Mr. Craig came in to carve a pumpkin, they had their Halloween party, and they attended a school pep rally.

I realized earlier in the week that Riley didn’t have a Halloween shirt that fit him, so I decided to paint one for him! He wanted a ghost, so this is what I came up with. Cute, huh? He also wore awesome candy corn socks that Mrs. Rosemary gave him.

For their party, I had Nola make bat and ghost sugar cookies (thank you, Nola!), I wrapped apple juice boxes to look like jack-o-lanterns, and I made spider suckers again. They seemed excited to get their special Halloween treats!

Katie found a really cute pumpkin design that got the kids involved too. After Craig had it all carved, they stuck candy Dots on toothpicks to make colorful teeth. Their pumpkin looked really great when it was all done.

 

And with that, the school days of October were in the books. Boo Bash and Halloween recaps coming up next!

Oh, and a very Happy Birthday to Aunt E today. We love you!