Last Day of TK

What a school year it has been!

We went from enrolling Samantha in preschool, then to whatever the mystery program of Transitional Kindergarten (TK) was, then back to preschool because TK was canceled, then back to TK with several weeks of tears every time I left her.  Which then turned into tears every time I kept her home because taking her every day to school didn't fit in my schedule!

After completing the school year, (yes we had awful attendance but I PROMISE we will do better in REAL kindergarten), I am 100% confident we made the right choice.  We ADORED Samantha's teacher.  We loved all that she learned and she is definitely prepared for kindergarten which I've decided is a little more intense than it was back in the day.  I mean, homework four nights a week for a five-year old?!  (Which in turn means homework for the parents...).

Last day of school party! 

Saying goodbye to Miss Trainor. 

Receiving her TK medal of completion. 

Saying good-bye to friends (Samantha is 1 of 5 kids transitioning to a new school)

Playing the last of games together

You would need an extra room to save all the worksheets/homework Samantha brought home and on the last day of school she brought home a HUGE bag of it.  I took pictures of some and recycled the rest which honestly were recycled several times because once in a while she would find her school work in the trash and pull it out.  I know that happens to other parents ;)   

I love this one because it has her signature sentence on it, "I see the cat."  I think this is the first sentence she learned how to write and we find it written all over the place by her. 

Translation: "I can not wait to see my friend Angelina."  Angelina is an old preschool friend who went off to Kindergarten a year before Sam but the two will be meeting up at the same school next year.  

Daddy was always sending notes to school in Sam's lunch and backpack. :)

Last day of school

2nd day school 

1st day of school with Mrs. Alzina, the principal 

I received a sweet gift from Ms. Trainor and the kids for being the Room Mom for the year.  The card had an awful lot of "I Love You's" on it.  Very sweet!

Samantha is happy enjoying the summer with no school, a few camps and more one on one time with me since Thatcher is in preschool 2 days a week.  Until Kindergarten...... 

Preschool and TK Update

Tierney and Thatcher 

(on a side note, I worked with Tierney's mom many years ago and I am so glad we've reconnected by having children at the same school).

Thatch reading Tierney a story. 

It's all about insects this month at preschool.

And planting seeds.

And finger painting.

And bug projects.

And snakes too!

In the past month they have had visits from rescue dogs and

the police department and not pictured were visits from the fire department, a trip to the duck pond and one of the teachers brought her horses to school. 

Of course Thatch was sent home with an accident report.  If we filled one of these out every time he had an accident out of school, his file would be pretty thick ;)

Happy notes!

And this is what Sam does...

Lots and lots of worksheets....

I'd say preschool is a lot more fun ;)  And with that being said, Sam skipped half the week last week.  She definitely wasn't feeling 100% but I also could tell she needed a break. So we took one.  My idea of what Transitional Kindergarten should be is a little bit preschool/a little bit Kindergarten.  Too bad my idea is not the same as the school district..... And with that, Samantha sure doesn't have the best attendance but there will be plenty of time for that in the coming years ;)

TK Open House

Samantha's school had an open house a few weeks ago.  She was so excited to show us her classroom and the work she has been doing.

Each student did a book about themselves and had to "spell" on their own ;)

We are so thankful for Ms. Trainor and all she has done for Samantha and the rest of the children in the TK classroom this year. 

TK Update

Samantha is still doing great in TK.  She loves her teacher and has made some really sweet friends, many that will go on to her new school for kindergarten.

I help out once a week in Samantha's class and it amazes me to see how much all of the students have improved.  It also amazes me the conversations they have.  I help with morning rotations so the students are broken up into small groups which rotate to different stations.  Samantha's group happens to be all girls and let me tell you, they are a CHATTY group of 5-year-olds.  While trying to keep them on task the other day of cutting/coloring/pasting a zebra print-out (they are working on the letter Z), my head was spinning with conversations between five girls that went something like this:

"I've been to San Francisco before."

"Oh, my grandparents live there."

"They have a zoo there."

"Our zoo has a zebra."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does!"

"Samantha, your skirt looks like a zebra."

"Yeah, my mom likes to dress me like a zebra." (no, I don't...)

"I wear makeup at home"

"I wear makeup to school."

"No you don't, you are not allowed to."

"Yes I do, I can do whatever I want."

"I was born in 2007."
"How old are you Mrs. Fallon?"
"35."
"I think my grandma is 35 too."
Gee thanks....

And then cue the music, they all burst into singing the song Yankee Doodle Dandy..... (which I later learned they are singing in music class which helped make sense of the song because I was wondering who even sings that song anymore?!).

Here is a recent note sent home with Samantha.  

She has plenty of time to learn how to do addition but we are proud of her for getting a head start on it and trying.  :)

And here is the most recent TK newsletter from Ms. Trainor:

Dear Parents,

                  I hope this letter finds you all doing well.  I would like to inform you on what your children have been working on in class as well as let you know of important dates and events that we have coming up.  This week your child has been working on the –at and –an word families.  Students have been decoding consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words with these word endings in addition to coming up with their own words with the –at and –an endings.  Next week we will be working on –am and –ap word families.  We are almost finished with our alphabet (as we have been working on one letter a week since school started).  Ww is the letter of the week and we only have three more letters to go before the students finish their alphabet books, which will be one of the pieces of work showcased at Open House.  The students are also working on recognizing their sight words and have been building their own sentences with sight words and CVC words.  In math, now that the students have gained number sense, they are beginning to understand the concept of addition.  I have introduced the concept of subtraction and we will continue to work on both adding and subtracting for the rest of the school year. 

                  I am excited to let you know that I am beginning a unit on springtime and gardening.  We will be making many art pieces in class to build our garden (an art piece that will be on the wall).  We will be spending time in the garden outside to discuss the different plants and the process of how plants grow.  We will be reading many stories about plants, how they are grown, and how much of our food comes from plants.  We will also be reading many stories about springtime and we will be creating art to go along with the stories.  I am working on putting together a fieldtrip to the Fairview Gardens.  They have a great education tour/program: The Urban Seeds Program.  I am hoping that we will be able to go on this fieldtrip in April.  I will keep you all posted! 

                  One of my friends who is a 5^th grade teacher at Franklin Elementary School (here in Santa Barbara) is coming next Friday afternoon to read Peter Cottontail to the students and create an art project with them where they are going to make their own bunnies (and bunny stories too!).  Please let me know if any of you or any of your family members would like to be a special guest in our class and do a project with the kids.  If any of you have expertise in certain area that you would like to share with the kids or if you have an idea of a project that you would like to do with them, please let me know! 

                  Our Open House is on Thursday March 21^st.  On this night your children will show you the fabulous work that they have created at school.  I know that they are all excited to share what they have done with you.

*****Lastly, please remember tomorrow is early release.  The students will be dismissed at noon.

Thank you so much for all of your support!

Warm Regards,

Ms. Trainor