Conner's Five!

Looking back on this week, I realized it was all about Conner! With it being the last week of Kindergarten, each day had a new fun adventure for him. Here are his top five events to remember:
Five: Reading Rewards Party!
I am so proud of Conner and the great little reader he is becoming. When we sit down to family scriptures each night, he can hold his own as good as the rest of us! We are amazed by his skills. Of course, he was encouraged to develop his reading skills all year long with our school reading rewards program. Each month Conner brought home a reading calendar where we kept track of his minutes reading. He had to rack up enough minutes to be able to attend a fun reading party at the end of each month but also, to earn the grand, daddy prize at the end of the year. That prize is the opportunity to put his hand print on the "Reading Hall of Fame" wall in our school. This is really a big deal for the kids. You really have to be diligent in your reading to be able to earn the right to immortalize your hand print forever on the school wall. Conner worked very hard and was able to attend a really fun party and put his hand on the wall. He chose red and he points it out to everyone that walks by it now. He is so proud. I am too.
Four: Happy Un-Birthday Party!
Birthdays are a HUGE deal for the Hispanic culture. I never knew this until this year, but a child's birthday is an important event! When they bring in a "treat to share with the class" for their birthday, it is usually a full out party with cake, ice-cream and balloons! I had to set aside a full hour to celebrate each child's birthday this year! It was crazy. Needless to say, I always feel bad for the summer birthday kids, but this year, I especially wanted them to experience the same excitement that the rest of their classmates did. So, we had the traditional "un-birthday party" that I always do, but I pulled out all the stops this year! We had a TON of summer birthdays to celebrate too, 8 in all! Conner was one of them. We treated each kid like we did any of the other birthdays we celebrated throughout the year. All the kids made birthday cards for each birthday kid and we sang to them. I bought one of those giant cookies that I had sliced into twenty four slices and that was Conner's treat to share. We put the birthday cards into a special bag for each kid that included a pack of Starbursts and a book from their teacher. Toward the end of the day, I let the birthday kids pass out their birthday treats. We had so much junk, cake, ice-cream, punch, cookies etc., etc.! It took a good portion of our day to celebrate these special birthdays but it was a blast! Conner had so much fun and even shared his Starbursts with his friends. Cute kid that Conner!
Three: Kindergarten Water Party!
To be quite honest, I was DREADING this experience. I am not a huge fan of water days. They are a hassle and truthfully, my kids were so wound up about it, I was tempted to keep them inside. They finally simmered down when they saw Mrs. Gardner's class already outside playing. I said, "We will go out in ten minutes if I can see everyone of you acting like first graders!" They obliged and we headed out, but not without a million kids needing help with sunscreen and swimsuits first. It was pretty fun once we got out there. It was CRAZY windy and those kids were just SHIVERING with that freezing water and the wind mixture.
They were loving the huge water slide set up by our P.T.O. as well as the slip n' slide. Conner, of course, was fearless when it came to dare devilish tricks on both the slip n' slide and the other slide, but he has always been that way and so, I couldn't really do much about it. I just prayed that he would be safe and kind of tried to redirect my attention elsewhere. I saw some pretty cute things as I walked around the playground and just enjoyed "hangin'" with the kids. Lots of little girls were spreading out their towels and sunning themselves. One little girl was putting sunscreen on the bottoms of her friend's feet! I said to her, "Wouldn't want her feet to get burned huh?" she said, "No way, she wouldn't be able to walk!" How funny! And because it was so windy, there were some kids letting their towels blow in the wind and get stuck on the fence. They did it over and over again and would stand further and further away each time. Conner saw it going on and turned it into a little contest, of course! So competitive that one! Overall, it ended up being pretty relaxing and even a little fun. I'll try to have a better attitude next year.
Two: "Kindergarten Celebration of Learning!"I know it is traditionally called a "graduation" but I like how this school calls the event the "Kindergarten Celebration of Learning". It has a nice ring to it. Especially because both Mrs. G. and I have one student who will not be able to move forward to first grade next year. A little bit sad, but we were still able to have those kids be involved in our celebration. We did the tried and true, "Everything I Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten." We chose some students to do speaking parts, Conner got to do the biggest line, "All we really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be we learned in kindergarten." I can just hear his sweet little voice saying those words and it is adorable! The kids sang some of their favorite songs and recited some nursery rhymes. They also did a cute hula dance that I will be attaching to a post soon. It is so sweet! Anyway, I can't believe these little kindergartners who came to me not knowing a lick of English (some of them) are now moving on to first grade with very good READING and writing skills in place (not to mention speaking! Man I had a chatty class)! Anyway, it has been amazing to watch! Kindergarten is a huge learning year and I am so proud of all the students. I will miss them dearly! Most of all, I will miss being Conner's teacher. I wonder if I can just keep moving up a grade each year?
Here is a picture of us on Dress Rehearsal Day. Conner is third from the left on the front row. It isn't the best picture (it is a little blury), but unfortunately, it is the BEST of the bunch and one of the only photos of our whole event! If you want something done right...
One: Conner wins the RACE!!!!
We have the cutest lunch lady on the planet at our school. She used to be a banquet chef too, so the food aint half bad! But, the best thing about her is how AWESOME she is with the kids. She just loves them to pieces! She has really taken a liking to Conner this year because he gets her jokes and likes to tease her. Well, a while back Conner was bragging about what a fast runner he is (he really is fast, so you can't blame him for wanting to share it with the world)! Mrs. Burch made a deal with him. She challenged him to a race and if he lost, he had to give her one Pokemon card. However; if he WON, she said she'd buy him a whole pack of Pokemon cards! Well, for weeks Conner was just stoked about this race. Every time Conner would see Mrs. Burch she would stop whatever she was doing and start stretching! Conner thought that was hilarious! She'd say, "I'm getting all warmed up for that race! You better be ready!" Well, finally this Friday the two of them went out and had their race. I told Mrs. Burch that I needed her to win because that kid did not need another pack of cards. She said she'd try her best! Well, of course, Conner won! By a long shot! He is fast and sooo fun to watch (one of my favorite things to do is watch him run. It's been great entertainment ever since he was really little). Anyway, he was sooo excited and can't wait for that new pack of cards! Way to go Conner!
So, as you can see, this was definitely the week of Conner! I have a feeling next week will be Lewis' big week since it is his last week. I am looking forward to the summer, but I must admit, I am a little sad to see this school year end. It's been a fun one!