Piper completed Kindergarten

WOW! LOTS OF WORK THIS YEAR!

From tracing numbers and her name in August, to writing books and one page stories, Piper's writing skills have improved amazingly.  From reading one sight word in a bedtime story, to reading 1st grade level books, Piper's reading skills are impressive.  From adding with fingers, to adding and subtracting with 1 or 2 digits, Piper's math is unbelievable.  Mrs. Hobson kept her class excited about working and learning.


FIRST and LAST Days:

Here's beginning and end of year writing samples.  From backwards letters and learning spacing, to a seven sentence page spelling words on her own phonetically.   It was fun to pull out the name and letter tracing from September to the self-authored books she was so proud of sharing with us at home.

Class books were the thing that I think really brought words to life for this class.  For the first half of the year, the kids authored and took turns taking home spiral bound books that they made together in class.  Each kid wrote and colored one identical page, then bound them together so that when they read them, there was lots of repetition, 24 pages of repetition.  They were so proud to have ownership of it, and were able to read (sometimes memorize) it to us on their day to take it home.  There was a class roster taped inside the back cover of each one so they could cross their name off and make sure everyone got a turn to take home one day.  This one: "____ likes ____ apples" was the first book.

Another favorite book was in November when they had more writing skills and after reading a book called "Stone Soup." Their "Stone Soup" book had pages cut out in a big pot shape, and each child wrote one page about what item they brought in to class to make soup.  Mrs. Hobson had each child bring in a zippy bag of their item and place it in a plastic black pot, of which the contents were transferred to crock pots in the back of the room, and the kids got to eat their soup that afternoon.  Piper's page said, "Piper put yellow squash in the soup."

Mrs. Hobson also saved writing samples throughout the year and had them organized in folders by type of writing to give to parents at the end of the year.  Here are a few samples of these...  I had fun translating phonetic spelling to something understandable, and seeing how she is implementing writing strategies at this beginner level.

Translation: "Dear mom and dad, I want a dog. Please if you don't please can I have a cat?  I will help pay. I will clean my room more often"

Translation: Title "When it was Mother's Day" "I jumped on my moms bed. I said Happy Mother's Day. Then I had a coop. It was the first time for the chickens to sleep at our house."

A lot of these type of writing samples were date stamped--what a good idea!  I think I'll use my date stamp at home...so we can compare progress of the girls' work over the course of time.  Especially now, I have trouble keeping track of what year things were made. (I used to be good at writing month/year on the backs of preschool art, but I haven't been so good at keeping up on that lately!)

For many Science and Social Studies, Mrs. Hobson had great units and a book or activity that tied it all together.  They did units on force, weather, magnets, government, and mapping.

This clouds activity effectively blended writing with art and science:

Mrs. Turchin (Ella's mom) was a great volunteer Art Docent and helped the class with some nice art lessons.

Fingertip painting

"Circles"

In math, they did a lot of conceptual number work, like this worksheet on "making 5", which they did with numbers up to early teens.  They used 10-frames, patterns, and simple addition and subtraction.

Kindergarten classes took two field trips this year, to the Natural History Museum in February and Birch Aquarium in May.  Piper had the most profound statement the evening before her second field trip; as she was excitedly getting ready she said, "Mom, I just figured something out!  Field trips are for LEARNING!"

Exploring on a field trip to the Natural History Museum.(Photo credit: Mrs. Hobson)

Jog-a-Thon and Field Day:  Piper was so excited to have a neon Fuerte shirt like her big sister.  I helped her and her sister set goals for Jog-a-thon and make calls for donations.  She made a goal of 13 laps, which was challenging, but with encouragement she did it!  She was red-cheeked and proud! She also loved the games and slides/inflatables at Field Day.

Mrs. Hobson took this picture of Piper's cheering section at Jog-a-Thon in June.

ICE CREAM party on (almost) last day with Marissa and friends Aranza and Madison.  This was a fun celebration after a small performance for parents and extensive slideshow.  Kids sang a Kindergarten acronym song and a rhyming song (since rhyming was a big part of the language curriculum standards).

While writing this blog, Piper came to sit next to me and reminisce, so I asked her a few questions:
Who did you play with on the playground?  "I swing with Brooke on the playground, and walk the curb with Jane"
Who did you sit with or work with in class? "Carter, Morgan, Brooke"
Who else was in your class?  "Hunter, Aranza, Madison, Isa (Alisa), Nate, Jane, Morgan, Ryan, Will, Piper, Finley, Ella, Carter, Connor, Mario, Ava, Israel, Rowan, Jacob, Dillon, Enzo" (Answer started slow, but became easier after looking at some of Mrs. Hobson's slideshow pictures online, and yes, she made me write her name too.]

Who is the craziest? "Will"

Who is the best behaved? "Me" (Hilarious! Though I did hear lots of commendations from her teacher at afternoon pick ups.)
What jobs did you do in the classroom? "calendar, point at numbers [counting days of school]"


Piper made lots of friends and was eager to help and participate.  She loved being "Helper of the day" so much that a few days before school got out she snuck in the room after dismissal and moved her name card up in the rotation so she would get to have the job one last time before school got out.  (We had to discuss the issue of fairness and integrity, because she explained to me that it was okay since no one else would know.  I helped her confess to her teacher and thanked her for her honesty.)

All in all, Piper enjoyed kindergarten and learned a lot.  On various occasions her teacher told me Piper was a go-getter, good help, and role model in class.  Mrs. Hobson was a great teacher who loved taking pictures, always appeared composed, and was great with thank you notes.  This was Mrs. Hobson's first year at Fuerte, but had taught this level for over a decade.  She had some transitions to make to the culture at Fuerte (including getting used to lots of parent participation), but was a happy move for her since she has children attending Fuerte too.

Enjoying her work at school (Photo credit: Mrs. Hobson)

"Twins Day"-- Piper, Jane, Brooke, Morgan

Piper is so proud and excited about being able to read.  Here she is in June reading her Father's day note to Chris.

REPORT CARD:

Consistent "E" for excellent effort scores and Habits of Success.  

Consistent 3's and 4's (met and exceeded grade level expectations) on all math and language areas.

The best teacher comments--  

    Progress Report: "Responds well to redirection." "Demonstrates behaviors that set the standards for our class."  and... "Piper is such a sweet, well behaved part of our classroom.  She is very sensitive to others and what is happening around her.  Penmanship and writing are challenging, but she always does her best."

    Final Report:  "Making steady progress."  "Eager to learn." and...  "I'm so proud of Piper.  She is so much less easily frustrated and willing to work outside her comfort zone.  She tries her best every day and loves her friends at school."

Thank you Mrs. Hobson for making kindergarten such a fabulous experience for Piper!

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