Friday Photos: Gabe's year of Kindergarten

It's hard for me to believe that my "baby" finishes his last day of Kindergarten today.  I can think back to my first year in elementary school and I have memories of fun things we did.  To think of my little Gabe being old enough for that....makes me feel old myself!  But I'm happy that he's had a great year.  A flashback of his year in Kindergarten:

• Kindergarten in Utah is just 1/2 day.  So Gabe only had school for 2 hours and 45 minutes each day.  He went to school in the afternoon, but on Wednesdays "Squishy Days" they had an early out schedule, so he attended in the morning.  It was always a little bit confusing to try to remember what day it was and what time to pick him up or drop him off at school.

• He started the school year in Southern Utah.  His teacher Miss Cooley was amazing.  She has been teaching for a long time and is a favorite of many.  We could certainly add our family to the list!  As a mom I loved getting to go into the classroom to help with reading, or to go on the fieldtrip with the kids.

• Gabe's class was all sad to hear that he'd be moving after Christmas.  As I left the classroom that last day I volunteered I have to admit I shed a few tears thinking of leaving his great class.

• After January we moved to Texas and with that came the excitement of "All-Day Kindergarten".  It was a bit of a struggle to get adjusted to, but Gabe really enjoyed the activities he'd get to do by having an all-day schedule.  They have different "Specials" (like Theater Arts, Music, Art) every-other-day and then on the other days they have P.E.  A high-light for Gabe was creating a "Pinch Pot" in Art class where they got to fire it, glaze it, and bring it home.  He was so proud of his creation!

• Gabe has become quite the reader this year!  I love nothing more than to hear him read a book to me, or even better - hear him reading to Hunter.  It still takes quite a bit of encouragement, but when he buckles down and does it he's an awesome reader.  We're planning to work on our reading through the summer, the boys are excited to participate in the summer reading programs through the local libraries!

 

• 100 day of Kindergarten - a celebration no matter where you live - Utah or Texas.  Gabe's school had a parade and fun 100 days events going on to celebrate.  Gabe decided for his 100 days poster he'd glue 100 cutout Mickey Mouse heads.  It was fun to count them out and watch him glue them on.

• Valentine's Day - Gabe wanted homemade Valentine's.  That made this crafty mama proud.  He helped me design them and was pretty happy with how they turned out.

• The school had several fun family-friendly events - a fun Valentine's Day lunch, Muffins with Mom, Donuts with Dad, a Sock Hop Dance, we attended the school musical, and the highlight for sure was the school's carnival - complete with a "Fun Run" that we ran together.  I have loved the extra activities they've offered at the school!

• May has been filled with fun activities too - the class field trip to Sweet Berry Farms, Field Day and all coming together with Kindergarten Graduation.  I will have to admit that I cried like a baby at graduation.  To see Gabe all grown up, wearing his little graduation hat - it was just a bit much for me.  I could almost instantly picture him 12 years from now graduating from high school - it just hit a bit too close to home for me. 

• So farewell to Kindergarten....hello 1st grade!

(In a seperate note - I have had all kinds of issues with posting all these pictures...sorry for the formatting mess.)