Ancient Egypt: Aidan's 3rd Grade GREAT Project

Home Learning 2020 (brought to you by Coronavirus)! Holy Smokes! You Did it!

Aidan's Kindergarten Graduation

My dear, sweet, sincere, creative, protective, amazing, son. I know how we got here. Your mother and I have been with you every step of the way, through every success, every set back, every tear, every bump, scrape, and bruise, every challenging work completed, every lesson learned, every friend made, every peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's just how quickly it all seemed to go in hindsight that alarms me! How has the time flown so quickly...it seems like yesterday that we packed your first lunch and you went to your first day of "school":

2012- Headed to "Kidding Around" MDO

2013- Following your Final "performance" at Kidding Around MDO

2014- First year at White Rock Montessory

First day of Kindergarten 1 at White Rock Montessori: 2015

First Day of Kindergarten 2 at White Rock Montessori: 2016

And now you are a big Kindergarten Graduate who has learned and grown so much.

Kindergarten Graduation Picture: May 2017 

Your sister, mother, and I were there for the big day along with Mimi, Pops, Aunt Sham, and Uncle Joe. Yaya and Baba were there in spirit. And we were all cheering you on!

Your graduation ceremony and graduation day was such a special, sweet, silly, cute, inspirational, successful, and lovely moment in time. It began with many big hugs:

It continued with a procession and a ceremony:

Your teachers, as part of the graduation ceremony, read a book about the uniqueness of being YOU. They gave each of you and your classmates a copy, and gave three words to describe your uniqueness and the amazingness of each of you soon-to-be first graders. 

They described you as "Observant," Loyal," and "Loving." And their words brought tears to my eyes. 

So did the love you displayed for your friends and your sister and teachers and family. So did the songs you sang. One about growing up, and one about being the "awesome you."

I put a little video together to hopefully capture the specialness of this day, and the awesomeness of YOU and your experience in Pre-school at White Rock Montessori!

The ceremony was followed by a reception with Cupcakes, Punch, smiles, frog-finding, hugs for family and teachers, photo ops, and a lot of fun. Neither you nor your sister wanted to leave!

Your reading teacher, Ms. Newman

Ms. Mary

Mr. Lewicki and Ms. Mary

Music Teacher, Ms. Wheeler

As all of you graduating kindergartners sang, "we are here to learn, we are here to grow, at our White Rock Montessori" (I'm paraphrasing). And it is true. Here, with your amazing teachers, you have learned. You have grown. And you are moving onward and upward to Lower Elementary. 

Here's to the next adventure, Aidan. Our observant, loyal, and loving boy. We are so very proud of you, and all you've become, and all you will do. This is just the beginning! Go, Aidan!

Pre-k A-okay

Aidan, back in late August you started an new school for your pre-k year. It's actually a school school! Your last school was more of a Mother's Day out/day care for two days a week. You had a lot of fun there, and had several great teachers who you still talk about. You grew a lot and we are thankful for the experiences you have had there. It's hard to imagine you were ever shy, but you really came into your own at Kidding Around.

But we thought you might be ready for the next step. So you interviewed and interviewed and got in to a lovely, cool school called White Rock Montessori. 

 

Your first day of school was a bit complicated by a bump in the road. Your Mom had drawn Spider-man on a ziplock bag which contained your spare clothes for the class room. While walking in to class for the first day, you were so enamored with the Spider-bag that you didn't watch where you were going and tripped on the sidewalk, cutting your knee pretty solidly. Bleeding and upset, you got to check out the nurse's station. You got a great big band-aid, and pretty soon thereafter dried your tears and happily marched into your classroom. So, your first day of school had some tears, but none of them were going-to-school related. They were just falling related.

 

And after day one, you've happily marched to school five days a week from 8:30- 11:30. You seem to like your teachers- Mrs. Mary and Mr. Lewicki- very much. You brought in a photo of your family, and a potted plant to take care of, and rain boots so outdoor play can proceed after wet weather. You don't really talk much about school, but when you do- in small details- you really seem to like it. You do sing about school a lot though: You come home singing new songs you've learned (like "Where is pointer? Where is pointer? Here I am!" and "The earth goes around the sun" and a song in Spanish that we haven't quite identified yet.) You also get really excited for Wednesdays, because that is show and tell day. For your first show and tell, you brought in photos of our spider, who lived on our deck over the summer.

 

After 2 months at school, we finally got to see where the magic happened: open house night. You took us to your school, marched us into your classroom, and immediately sat down on the carpet and told us to do the same. Then you took your mother, sister, and me around to some of your favorite stations to show us the cool work you do every day. You were so proud to show off, and we are so proud of you. You also showed us the turtles...who you named "up" and "down."

 

 

Your sister found the photograph of our family, your mom spotted your potted plant (you're taking care of both of them quite well). Your sister also had so much fun playing in your classroom that she forgot that she needed to go potty...so she wound up wearing my t-shirt.

 

 

 

You got some hugs from fellow students on the way out, and we met a few of your buddies.

 

I still am not sure of what goes on at school everyday, which is so weird to be in the dark.

 

Your teacher told us that you are one of the star students in Music class, and that it is one of your favorite parts of school. I don't doubt that- given all the songs you sing!

 

But we see the growth and changes in you ever since you've been attending WRM. We all still have a lot of growing and learning to do, of course; but I can tell that you love your school, and that you like going there.

 

 

 

When Mommy picked you up the other day, Miss Mary told her that she was so impressed with you because you've been working on your work stations for the whole 'work station' time lately.

 

And the next day, Wednesday, when you brought in "Billy Goats Gruff" for Show and Tell, Miss Mary told Mommy that she LOVED it when you do Show and Tell, because you're so animated, energetic and unafraid to talk in front of the class.

 

So far, so good in school and on a lifetime of learning. Soon enough you'll be teaching Mommy and Me!

Almost Crawling

Julia,

You are almost 7 months old...and you are almost crawling!

You've pretty much mastered sitting.

Learning to crawl is really a long and involved process. But the way you like to pull yourself to standing on everybody, though, sometimes we think you're trying to skip crawling and go straight to walking. But for now, your preferred method of mobility is rolling everywhere.

You roll here:

You roll there:

You get to where you want, or you get to where you are stuck and then it's back to start!

But wherever you're rolling, you normally wind up on your belly.

And then, you normally tuck those knees up and under you...

Push up...

Surprise yourself...

And then...quite rightly...you get really proud of yourself!

Once there, you kind of rock a little bit and try so hard to go somewhere, but mostly end up falling back down, and rolling away, which is totally acceptable.

After all, learning to crawl is serious business. But, it looks good on you.

..And it'll really tire a growing girl out.