Kindergarten Recap

I cannot believe the school year is already over! It has been a couple of busy weeks with Myles finishing kindergarten last week. Overall, he had a great first year of elementary school. Of course nothing is perfect, but he made a lot of progress and his teacher, the other staff members, and his classmates all embraced him as a valuable part of his class and school. We, and he, received the support we needed, and he was a part of his general ed classroom full time. At the start of the second semester, Myles began attending the after school program twice a week until Gilby or I got off of work, and that went great as well. Without having to ask, they requested extra funding from the district to have an additional staff member available. Knowing that Myles has some extra needs, they felt it was important to keep the ratio of staff to students lower to make the program a success for everyone. It is these types of things that I am so grateful for. There has never been a question this year as to whether Myles will participate in anything, it's just about how we are going to make it work best for everyone.

Denver Zoo
On the Wednesday of the week before school ended, the kindergarteners went on an all day field trip to the Denver Zoo with their fourth grade buddies. We were told that Myles did great all day and had a lot of fun with his buddy, Reece. This fall, I was lucky to be volunteering in Myles' class on a day when their fourth grade buddies came in for a project, and was able to watch Reece and Myles interact. Reece is a very sweet, mature young boy and engaged with Myles really well. On that particular day, they were making gingerbread houses, and when Myles lost interest before most of the kids were done, Reece followed him to the rug and read stories to him out of the Lion King book Myles had chosen from the library. Reece wasn't fussed that they hadn't completed the project as thoroughly or as well as most of the other groups, but took his responsibility as Myles' buddy seriously and stayed right on track with him without any prompting from the adults. Here is the letter Reece wrote Myles at the end of this year, which for some reason makes me tear up when I read it -

 

Field Day

Field Day was the Friday before school ended. Myles doesn't typically go to school on Fridays as he was in the 2.5 day program this year, but his class was invited to come for the morning to participate with all of the other kindergarten classes. Friday is also a day off for me, so Sydney, Ryker, and I were able to go too. As with a lot of things, I wasn't sure what to expect from Myles, but he did really well! The games were fun and well organized, and it was laid back enough so that the kiddos could have fun messing around too. Myles made it through the first four activities before getting a bit tired, but after a bathroom and water break inside, he was able to rejoin for the end. It was a gorgeous morning and I'm so glad I was able to be there!

Birthday Celebration!

With Myles having a July birthday, they celebrated it in his class during the last week of school. I was scheduled to volunteer the same day and so happy to join. For each student's birthday, one of the centers on that day includes a worksheet where the other kids write what they want to give the birthday boy/girl and draw a picture to go with it. At the end of the day, they sing Happy Birthday and Mrs. Babbs reads what each kid wrote. Myles was so tickled to be celebrated by his class. We brought a bottle of bubbles for each classmate, which Myles got to hand out afterward.

Kindergarten Concert

My favorite part of the end-of-the-year festivities was the kindergarten concert. Not only was it super cute overall, but Myles did awesome and we were so proud of him!! Again, I wasn't sure how he would do (stuff like this hasn't always gone well in the past), and didn't know anything about the program. He had had a really long day with appointments and school already, and I knew he was exhausted. I was hoping he would at least stay with the group, but didn't want to expect much more. Not only did he stand with his class for the whole 35 minutes they were up there, but he did the actions to all of the songs and even sung a lot of the words (pretty great for a kid who's still not very verbal)! He had fun and was really proud of himself. So were we!

Myles and his teacher, Mrs. Babbs. She was the perfect fit for him this year and he truly loved her!