Kindergarten at Canyon View

Friday, 07 September 2007

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  Emily's First Day of Kindergarten (9/6/07)

  Emily starts her first day of kindergarten at Canyonview Elementary. What an exciting day for Emily. Though she says she is a little bit nervous she says she is very excited for new school and making new friends. Here are some pictures of Emily on her very first day.
  
  This is breakfast - cinnamon toast from trader joes & eggs.
  
  
  Picture with daddy as we wait to get in line.
  
  
  
  And this is her class. Emily is so happy she got Mrs Grant. And on her first day the parents are in the classroom too.
  There are 29 kids in Mrs Grant's class. 1/2 of them will be early bird (which is Emily) and the other 1/2 are later gators. The early birds are in school from 8:10am - 11:30am.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Friday, 07 September 2007

  A Mom's Thought- our little girl is growing up.

  
  Wow! Our little girl is growing up. It seemed like just a year ago Emily was a little baby we were trying to potty train. And now she is in kindergarten. What a huge hurdle for her. I remember looking back at my old journals when I was wondering if Emily could walk and handle a "regular school". But look at her now. She has no problem carrying her backpack, her lunchbox, and walking from home to school everyday both ways. No problems standing up, sitting down, on the playground, hanging up her bags and coat, etc...You know who we have to thank for all that. And HE is probably chuckling up above and saying, "see, Esther? you had nothing to worry about...oh you are MY WEMBERLY WORRIES"!!! (That is a children's book).
  
  Emily has also been voicing and also expressing her developing personality. And the clashes are happening too. But in the midst of all that, I am trying to be patient and calm. It's not easy and I can tell you my level of patience isn't too high, but I am trying and calling out to God for help.
  
  I enjoyed my walk with Emily this morning. It takes a good 8 minutes (if we are walking at a turtle'sfrom home to school). We talked about the importance of being in kindergarten and how she is older than when she was in preschool. We also talked about having good manners and smiling to make new friends and to get to know the new teachers. There was a 6th grader boy who was holding the gate door for us. Emily said, "thank you" in the softest voice possible. She asked me what grade that boy was in. And so we asked. .He said in 6th grade. You would have thought Emily saw santa claus or something because she her mouth was wide open and her expression was in awe. WOW, mommy! When am I going to be in 6th grade? Can I hold the gate for someone when I am in 6th grade? I chuckled and said, "of course!"
  
  This walk was perfect time for me to calm down and let go of the morning chaos and impatience that abrupted in the morning. It also gave me time to give Emily a hug and tell her to have a fabulous day at school. And the walk back alone was a great time for me to have some quiet time with the Lord and ask him to take care of Emily at school today:
  
  My Prayer for Emily: Dear Lord, I hope and pray that Emily will love her kindergarten class with Mrs Grant. I pray that Mrs Grant and the other teachers and staff that come in contact with Emily will just love and embrace her. I hope and pray that the teachers and staff will have so much compassion and love for her. And I pray that Emily will take 3 wonderful friends whom she can call her best friends as she had at Creators Corner. I hope and pray she will find a " Shelby, Amanda, and Sydney" at this school. Dear God, I hope that Emily will continue to have self-confidence and positive attitude. Please protect her from getting her feelings hurt or getting frustrated. Please develop her into a beautiful little girl inside and out where anyone and everyone who comes to know her will just fall in love with her overall beauty. Lord, and please continue to build her leg muscles so that she will be able to run, hop on one leg, and just do all of the things her peers can do. Kids can be so cruel and I just pray you will surround her with your angels every second throughout the entire day. I want to protect her; but I need to let her go. She is your beautiful child and I pray that you will watch her and bless her immensely. In Jesus Name, Amen.
  
  Emily's first day @ Canyonview Elementary...
  
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• Wednesday, 10 October 2007

  Parent / Teacher Conference Today

  Today was parents teacher conference at Canyon View. Our appointment was at 9am today. We dropped off Emily at Susan/Caleb's house. And then Dave and I went to meet with Mrs Grant.
  The first thing Mrs Grant said is how delightful Emily is to be in her class. Mrs Grant also told us that Emily has already mastered all of the alphabet sounds, writing, as well as writing numbers and even doing easy addition. And she is able to read a level 5 books. We were very proud of her.
  
  Emily is also very talkative in school and has a very high self-esteem. She enjoys playing solo and doing alot of alone time at the work stations. Overall she is very smart and a very good girl.
  
  What more could we ask of Emily, right?
  
  Great job, Emily! Mommy and daddy are very very proud of you!
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• Wednesday, 24 October 2007

  Helping Emily's Class Today

  I helped out in Emily's class today. When I got to Mrs Grant's class, Emily saw me. She ran to me with such excitment, "mommy! mommy! oh mommy!". I will never forget her excitement to see me in her voice, the expression on her face, and the wide arms running to me. I was reminded how grateful to be a mommy.
  
  So I was in her class helping out at one of the stations. I was in charge of science center. As I watched Emily, I noticed how she was pretty much playing by herself. There is a group of 3 girls who pretty much play together, sit together, and talk together. A clique already... And those girls will often sit around the other girl, though this particular girl doesn't really interact with them. And then there is Emily, sorta sitting by herself, reading, or doing something at a station.
  
  I was bit sad for Emily (even though Emily looked happy and fine) because she was playing solo. I said a little prayer to God asking Him to bring friends to the Later Gator class for Emily. I was reminded at how many wonderful friends she had made in preschool and what it would be like if she went on to kindergarten with those preschool friends.
  
  So I asked Emily if she missed going to school with her preschool friends, and she said, "nope!". She said she loves kindergarten and learning from Mrs Grant. She did say how she missed early bird sometimes because she misses Alex, the girl she used to play with from early bird.
  
  When I watch and observe Emily in class, I see how much more "mature" she is and quiet in class. She enjoys learning and following the rules. And she is a very good student. I hope and pray that Emily will find a friends like she had at Creators Corner like Shelby, Amanda, Crystal, or Sydney at Canyon View Later Gator class. Emily likes few girls from Mrs Higgins class and wishes she was in the same class with them. I am hoping that I can keep Emily happy by providing playdates with those girls from Mrs Higgins class - Markie, Paige, and Sarika.
  
  In time. It's only been few months since Emily has been in kindergarten. And she'll be at Canyon View for quite some time.
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• riday, 30 November 2007

  • Emily's First School Field Trip

    Today Emily had her first Kindergarten Field Trip. Where? Home Depot!!! What made this field trip very exciting? Emily got to ride a yellow school bus! She was so so excited that she was up at 5AM.
    To make it even more special, David went to volunteer; so Emily got daddy's handy dandy skills at Home Depot building a wooden helicopter from scratch. (I will put a picture of her craftsmanship later on).
    Here are some pics:
    
    Emily gets off the school bus
    
    
    
    
    Emily listens to the Home Depot guy on what they are going to build
    
    
    Look what Emily built. Some kids from kindergarten class
    
    
    
    Emily's finished product: A Helicopter