Transitional Kindergarten Graduate

Nine months has come and gone since William first boarded the tag-a-long bike behind dad and road off to his first day of Transitional Kindergarten. August 20, 2018; he wasn't yet five years old--still such a little boy. This would be his first experience with an all day school program. His preschool experiences being only 2-4 hours a few times a week. This TK program was everyday for 6 hours.

But so much growing and learning has happened since that very first day. He loved it from the start. He made instant friends who would eventually introduce him to TY beanie baby toys, Pokemon cards, and join him in daily pretend fighting games. His teacher was a very sweet woman dedicated to pouring knowledge of numbers, letters, words and writing into these little sponge-like brains.

It didn't take long for William to come home and count to 100 (they had put it to music so he just sang the whole song on the way home one day). He practiced writing numbers nearly everyday -- some are still backwards but much improved from that first attempt. He knows all the site words appropriate for this level and can now read a few level 1 books from the library all on his own. 

His favorite areas of the classroom during "exploration time" (free play) were the block area and the art table. His drawings are much more detailed and he enjoys it so much more now. He even started writing his own version of his favorite "Who Would Win" books written and illustrated by Will -- complete with facts and a battle between the animals just like the actual books. So far he has 20 editions!

They went on field trips throughout the year to an art museum, and Asian art museum, the zoo, a pumpkin patch and the symphony. He loved them all. Stephen and I got to join him on most of them.

The school held a small graduation ceremony for the two TK classes as they will all go to different schools for Kindergarten in the Fall. It was sweet and I felt more sentimental and proud than I thought I would. Something about seeing my little man in a cap and gown just brought tears to my eyes.

We are very proud of all the learning our son did this year and are very excited for the years to come. He'll be attending a Spanish Immersion school in the Fall.

Nine months has come and gone since William first boarded the tag-a-long bike behind dad and road off to his first day of Transitional Kindergarten. August 20, 2018; he wasn't yet five years old--still such a little boy. This would be his first experience with an all day school program. His preschool experiences being only 2-4 hours a few times a week. This TK program was everyday for 6 hours.

But so much growing and learning has happened since that very first day. He loved it from the start. He made instant friends who would eventually introduce him to TY beanie baby toys, Pokemon cards, and join him in daily pretend fighting games. His teacher was a very sweet woman dedicated to pouring knowledge of numbers, letters, words and writing into these little sponge-like brains.

It didn't take long for William to come home and count to 100 (they had put it to music so he just sang the whole song on the way home one day). He practiced writing numbers nearly everyday -- some are still backwards but much improved from that first attempt. He knows all the site words appropriate for this level and can now read a few level 1 books from the library all on his own. 

His favorite areas of the classroom during "exploration time" (free play) were the block area and the art table. His drawings are much more detailed and he enjoys it so much more now. He even started writing his own version of his favorite "Who Would Win" books written and illustrated by Will -- complete with facts and a battle between the animals just like the actual books. So far he has 20 editions!

They went on field trips throughout the year to an art museum, and Asian art museum, the zoo, a pumpkin patch and the symphony. He loved them all. Stephen and I got to join him on most of them.

The school held a small graduation ceremony for the two TK classes as they will all go to different schools for Kindergarten in the Fall. It was sweet and I felt more sentimental and proud than I thought I would. Something about seeing my little man in a cap and gown just brought tears to my eyes.

We are very proud of all the learning our son did this year and are very excited for the years to come. He'll be attending a Spanish Immersion school in the Fall.