"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be" -Ralph Waldo Emerson

June 16, 2011

So proud of our little man! He has finished Kindergarten! What an amazing year of growth, learning, and accomplishments! At the last award's assembly, JT was given the "Most Improved"award for the leaps and bounds he made with his penmanship. We were there celebrate his achievements!

The last day of school was spent with all the other Kinder Classes as we walked to El Dorado Park for a fun day of play. There were bubbles, games, relays and face painting. Each class rotated stations, they had such a fun time even though we were experiencing June Gloom weather.

Kinderbration was hosted by 2 classrooms at a time. So smart to have only the families of 50 students in the auditorium as opposed to all 100 kindergarteners at the same time! 

We were treated to super cute songs and we got to cheer for our kids as they were presented with awards (JT got a Math Super Star award!) and then their Certificates of Completion. The wonderful Mrs. S choked up a little when offering sweet words of kindness about our children. I know that JT will remember how much he loved and learned from her for his whole life!

At the end of the day, we went back to class and collected all the projects, books, tests, and memories of kindergarten. Can't wait to come back and experience 1st grade!

pirate fest carnival and day with grandma gg

Our Awesome charter school hosted a Pirate Festival for our annual carnival fundraiser. There were games, music, food, entertainment, rides and good times to be had by all!

 The whole playground was transformed and each class hosted a game booth. Ours was the Ducky Pond. It was monitored by volunteers from our classroom and they did a wonderful job. HeaBug had to make sure everything was in working order and spent a lot of her tickets here!

I made a banner for our class utilizing an old banner that we had printed for a pirate themed birthday for JT a few years ago. I snapped pictures of all of his classmates and teacher and used apps on my iphone to transform them into cute pirate pictures!

Silly string was the big winner of the day. Kids were running around spraying each other, their parents, teachers and anyone else in a good mood. Our playground looked like it had confetti all over by the end of the day.

There were aerial acrobat performers, chinese dragon dancers, huge carnival rides and lots of food and fun. What made it even cooler was that GG (Great Grandma Booth) was visiting with us for the whole day. She joined us for JT's baseball game early that morning and got to stay the whole day with us. Maga and Tutu also hung out with us and the other older Booths came for a little while.

The kiddos enjoyed the day so much and were wiped out by the time GG had to head home.

Mr. B took off after the carnival to hop in a Penske with our brother in law Craig and drive straight through to Atlanta, Georgia. Our company built some scenic element for the Katy Perry tour and due to delays, we weren't able to make the deadline for the shipping company. Our stuff had to be on site by Monday morning so Mr. B and Craig drove it there, taking route 40 the whole way through and dropped off the pieces Monday just outside Atlanta. Then they hopped on a plane and were home by Monday night! Keeps us on our toes!

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust

The week before school let out for the summer, I got to go with JT's kindergarten class to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was a wonderful free day as each parent volunteer was given 4 children in their group and we were at liberty to explore the exhibits and the grounds at our own leisure! We had  a great time!

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. -- Mark Van Doren

Oh how we LOVE the LBUSD charter school that JT goes to. Oh how we LOVE his wonderful teacher Mrs. S. HeaBug LOVES coming to JT's class, she feels quite a part of the happenings in his room! Mrs. S hosts a ocean themed open house, which is evident from the adorable "Message in a Bottle" invitations. Because of issues in the district, Open House, which is in the second part of the school year event where you get to go and see all the things your child has been up to for the last few months, had to be moved to the end of May, barely weeks before the end of the school year. Mrs. S pulled of an amazing evening that showcased all of their wonderful work, beautiful art projects, and excellent writing! We were so proud as we strolled through the class. At the rate that JT and Hea were playing with his classmates, you would have never guessed they'd just seen each other hours before. There were beautiful sea horses, crazy cute ocean books, crab math, scuba diver writing, "who am i" mer-people, and coral/sea star displays. I work in his classroom once a week and even I was incredibly surprised! We are so proud of him and so thankful that he has such an amazing teacher.

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. ~William Shakespeare

 EC turned 5! We played and had a great time celebrating our little friend!

LaDy and her little sister GraDy had their party at Pump It Up! our first time and we had a blast!

We got to celebrate a lot of birthday parties this month. And we didn't have to plan a single one!

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.

JT has the official best Kindergarten teacher in the world. As a class, they had caterpillars  in a habitat and watched as they went through their different cycles finally emerging as painted lady butterflies. His teacher, Mrs. S. had a tent that they put the butterflies in so that each student in his class could go inside one at a time and get a close look. It was awesome!

Our little cat in the little red hen

JT's kindergarten class put on a musical production of The Little Red Hen. Mr B was glad to help by donating and setting up the lighting and focusing the school's existing equipment. JT was offered the role of the sneaky sly fox but his shyness (SHY?! JT?! I know, you don't believe me) over took and he happily supported in the storyteller's chorus as a cat reciting the finishing line to the play.

He had LOTS of support present and luckily I got a front and center seat since I filmed for his teacher! Nice!