The End of Kindergarten

One big reason I want to be a stay at home mom even after all my kids are in school is I want to be involved in their classes and with their school activities.  I want to be part of their lives as much as I can even after they aren’t at home with me all day. 
Jade’s kindergarten class had many opportunities for parental involvement throughout the school year.  Unfortunately, a lot of the events didn’t allow younger siblings.  I found my heart breaking that even though I am a SAHM, I still wasn’t able to be involved like I wanted to be! 
One of the times was the zoo field trip.  Lucky for Jade, she was grouped up with some of her good friends.  Lucky for me, one of my mom friends was on the trip and sent me some cute picture updates throughout the day.  Jade has a great group of girlfriends from school, as seen in the picture below (from left to right: Ava, Kayla J., Jade, Olivia, Vedika, and Kayla M.).   
 


When Jade’s class was learning about healthy eating and put on a vegetable play, my visiting teacher was kind enough to watch the boys so I could go.
 

When it was time for the end of year party, I lined up another sitter for the boys.  I had already missed field day and my heart couldn’t handle missing another one of Jade’s special days!  I didn’t tell her I was coming to help.  When she saw me, her smile grew just about as big as I’ve ever seen it.  Then she exclaimed to her friends that her mom was there, and ran to jump in my arms and give me the biggest hug!  It was such a rewarding moment.  I was happy I’d gone through the effort to be there.
The moms that were behind the planning did an incredible job.  The kids were split up into groups, taking turns going from game to game.  I was in charge of manning the basketball game, but could watch Jade as she went to each station.  It was so much fun to be there and see her in her element! 
 
 
One of the kindergartener’s dad is a volunteer fireman, so he brought his fire truck to the school.  The kids were able to climb inside the truck, try on the gear, and even shoot the fire hose!  It was awesome!
  
 

Jade came home one day after a school assembly with a student of the month certificate and shirt!  The certificate reads: “Jade Rowland is recognized for the following qualities: Doing the RIGHT THINGS both in and out of the classroom.  Making others feel good about themselves.  Treating teachers, students and staff with respect and kindness.  Demonstrating good effort, a positive attitude, and improvement.”  Jade did so well in all areas of school her kindergarten year:  she did great in her school work and made lots of friends.  We are so proud of her!

At the end of the year, the school held a kindergarten graduation for the parents to attend.  It was totally cute, complete with a processional, speakers, the classes singing, and presentation of graduates.  Absolutely unnecessary, but adorable nonetheless.
 

Jade had three wonderful teachers in her classroom.  She loved them and loved school in general.
 
Throughout the year she made comments such as, “I don’t like school.  I LOVE school!” “I wish I was going to school right now.  I wish I could live there!”  “I want to have a school birthday.  My birthday party will be at school.  My friends will come and my school friends and my teachers will be there.  We will have apples and pencils and my cake will be a school cake and on the top it will be me sitting at a desk.”  When asked if she was excited to be done with kindergarten, instead of being excited for summer, she responded, “I will miss my teachers but I am excited to go to first grade.”  We are thrilled she loves learning and are so proud of her accomplishments in kindergarten!