Hayden has “graduated” from Kindergarten (though he still has a little school left):
Rebecca has gone undercover:
Rachel? She should be dancin. (Yeah!) (RIP, Robin Gibb.)
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Tag: school
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Hayden’s writing, too!
Hayden isn’t just reading—he’s writing, too. He was rambling about putting a period at the end of a sentence, and I stopped him long enough to understand that he knows what a period is.
Then I found this in his backpack: illustrated and written by Hayden himself.
It says “I ate spagetti.” AKA “I a A.” Note the table, plate, and fork in the picture.
So I promptly sat him down at the table and had him write a sentence, using two sight words, a word from a story we’d read that afternoon, and a word he could sound out.
Then we sounded out/practiced his full name on the back and left the note for Dad on his pillow. He was pretty pleased (and surprised!) to get it.
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Hayden: cool boy, school boy
I’d post a video of Hayden reading, but I still don’t have a way to upload videos from my video camera to our newer desktop. Barring that, here is a list of words Hayden read (yes, READ) one evening last week:
| Sounding out bat black cat block cut pin pen pan cob cap cub cup pup up yup nap |
Sight words like see can no go am he and at it yes I love you |
challenge word: pumpkin
Sentence: I can see like you.
(The sight words came from a school list, and from words I know he knows already; everything else I made up. They’re working on sight words at school, which mystifies me to some extent. When I hear “sight words,” I assume you’d focus on words that aren’t phonetic, and then focus on phonics for the rest of the words. The first sight words Hayden learned [I, am, can, see, like] follow regular phonetic rules. While there’s definitely something to be said for the feeling of accomplishment at reading a whole word, it seems more worthwhile to focus on teaching broadly applicable phonetic rules. I mean, the only reason the kid can read is because I’ve been teaching him his vowel sounds. </rant>)
I’m suitably proud of him. I might be praising him a bit too much. The other night, after he put together a toy, he sighed in satisfaction and said under his breath, “I’m always a genius.” He turned to me and added more loudly, “I’m always thinkin’, Mom!”
Yep.
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Hayden’s a kindergartener!
Yesterday was Hayden’s first day!
Riding to school (It’s just a couple blocks from door to door.)
Saying bye
(The little boy behind him is the one mentioned below)
Walking in
His teacher is the woman leading the line. Ryan said the yellow-shirted man had a college ID, so he might have been a student teacher? I didn’t see him today.
Naturally, Hayden can’t give me a minute-by-minute account of the day, but I’ve gathered that he got to play with play dough, draw a picture of himself, sit criss-cross apple sauce(d) on the multi color carpet with our neighbor in his class, make a new friend (Who greeted him today by saying, “Hey! You! With glasses!” and holding out his arms as if to say “DUUUH, I’m right HERE!” [Ack, I can’t believe my son is “the one in the glasses!”]). Also, there are stars decorating the classroom. Hayden did his screening interview in this room, and at the time he asked if he could write his name on one of the stars hanging from the ceiling. He tells me he doesn’t have a desk, but a table. Tonight is his back to school night, so we’ll get a better idea of what school is really like.
But he was glad to see me at noon:
And I’m not sure when he picked this trick up, but this was the first I’d seen it:
Rachel slept the whole time. Rebecca loved having me to herself: yesterday, we played games, including one number game (the fourth one here), the entire time. I spent less than half an hour straightening up/on the computer. Today, we laid on the floor and snuggled for 2 hours while we watched Curious George and Toy Story. Every time I even sat up, she’d roll over and say in a perfectly innocent voice, “I thought you were going to duggle me.”
I think she needs a picture:
And Rachel, too. The first time she climbed up in the stroller on her own (I think):
She was very adventurous at the park after school today. She was very upset to leave!
Oh, and what you’re really wondering: how did I take it? Ryan actually took off work and we all went down together, and I teared up, but didn’t cry. My friend/neighbor (mother of Hayden’s friend) pointed out that this is kind of the beginning of the end: from here on out, our sphere of influence will only shrink in their lives. Ouch. But I still managed to keep it together. (Another friend’s son told her that “It was the worst day of my life because you left me,” so I think we all handled it pretty well, eh?)