Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | June 10, 2016

Today was Sam’s end of year party in her classroom. All parents were invited so Mark and I both went. Sam loves when we are at her school, especially her Daddy, since he doesn’t get there as often. It was listed for the entire day so I assumed (correctly) that it was going to be a whole day of fun and games.

The first “station” was coloring these little knapsacks the kids could take home. Sam did a lot of it but she let Mark and I help. It’s a good thing, it was a lot to color and I don’t know if she would have gotten it done!

I love the way it turned out.

They played lots of games inside, like trying to blow a ball across a table using a straw…

…and trying to carry a soda can across the table with a friend (that’s her first kindergarten friend, Adeline) by holding it up with a piece of uncooked spaghetti in their mouths.

Outside, they had races to see which team could fill their bucket with balls first (without dropping any).

This hula hoop game was my favorite. The kids had to link hands and try to move the hula hoop all the way around the circle by using their heads, shoulders, or anything really but hands. Sam forgot to step out when she got it over her head so she and her friend got stuck inside together. So cute!

Paper airplanes was the last game, trying to see who could throw theirs the furthest. Sam is not a great paper airplane flier, I must say. Poor kid needs some lessons!

The last thing was snack and then we went home. We took the opportunity to give both Mrs. Biehl and Miss Cipolloni a thank you card and a gift card. Sam really loved her teachers and I know she will miss them a lot. She kept telling me too, that she wishes Miss Marino, the student teacher was there. Sam would like her to be her first grade teacher. It was hard to explain to her that I don’t even know where Miss Marino is going to be teaching. But I am glad she loved all her teachers so much. What a wonderful kindergarten experience she has had!

That night, Mark and Sam started assembling his space Lego that he got for his birthday. Sam has been bugging him ever since he opened them. Here’s a start!

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pamelamyers | June 9, 2016

Yesterday was Kindergarten Bump Up Day. What this means is that the kindergarteners spend almost a full day at school doing things with the first graders, visiting first grade classrooms and getting an idea about what it is like to be in first grade. It is a big transition, in my view, going from half day kindergarten to first grade. They go from only spending two and a half hours at school to spending six and a half hours at school. For Sam, that will be a big deal. She has never spent that much time away from family. She was pretty excited about it though since to a kindergartener like Sam, the first graders are very grown up. Here she is ready to start her day!

From what I was told by the school, they were going to spend the whole day with the first graders and doing first grade things. When I asked Sam at the end of the day what she did with the first graders she told me they went to a first grade classroom, they got to sit at their tables while the first graders sat on the floor, and they asked the first graders questions about first grade. Sam, of course, did not ask any questions.  Sigh. I asked her what else did they do? Did they go to the cafeteria, or anything else and she said no. We had the longest discussion (argument?) about this because Sam was insistent that that is all they did. After that, they went to their regular classroom where they had lunch. That was it. Done. I knew that couldn’t be right. At least, I hoped not. The school had led us to believe that the day was to be spent learning about being in first grade. So, being that kind of parent, I emailed her teacher and asked her to tell me what exactly went on because I know Sam is not a fountain of information. Truly, based on Sam’s version of events, they spent about an hour in a first grade classroom then her day went on as usual in her kindergarten class.

I got an email back the next day telling me about the multitude of things they did including visiting the cafeteria, practicing using the pin pad they will use to buy lunch, they visited the rooftop garden, played on the first grade playground, etc. When I asked Sam about this and wanted to know why she had not told me any of these things and was so adamant about what they did at school her response was classic. She said, “You asked me what we did with the first graders. We did all that stuff without them.” OMG. She is SO LITERAL. I told her she knew what I meant, but in her defense, I guess she is right. I did ask what she did with the first graders. Sigh. At least she really did enjoy her day…

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pamelamyers | May 26, 2016

Samantha’s field day was today at school and man, it could not have been hotter! It was so sunny and hot (no, I should not be complaining after all the recent photos of us in coats and even hats), but it was not a day for everyone to be standing around on the field in the sun. Oh well. It didn’t bother Sam. She was just thrilled to be running around playing games with her friends. The kids all had special shirts to wear and here is our little girl ready to go!

All of the kindergarten kids had field day at the same time and they were grouped in teams with their classmates who share a teacher, whether they are in the a.m. or the p.m. class. She met a lot of new friends on the green team who have Miss Cipolloni in the morning. Thankfully now, she has no problem talking to kids she doesn’t know.

They did all kinds of games, this one being where each team had to fill buckets with water, one cup at a time, one teammate at a time, until they saw who won. “Winning” wasn’t really the point though. They didn’t get prizes or whatnot, it was just fun to compete.

Sam’s favorite game was the potato sack race. I knew she’d be a real pro since she practices at home with pillowcases. So many kids fell over but not our girl! She just kept on hopping!

The hula hoop game threw her a bit since they had to sort of walk while looping it over their heads and under their feet. Once she got the rhythm though, she was fine and it turned out she liked doing that game a lot.

Go Green Team!

It was such a hot day, but the kids just kept on smiling. They were having the best time.

Here is Miss Cipolloni’s whole crew, morning and afternoon.

The last event of the day was the cup stacking. It was a tough one since the cups kept falling over, but Sam persevered and got them up!

It was a fun day, and a good way for the kids to start wrapping up their year. I love attending all her little school events. I try to get into the school as much as I can, but it’s hard. There are only so many opportunities and before you know it, she will be all grown up. I can’t even stand to think about it!

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pamelamyers | April 23, 2016

One of Sam’s recent math homework assignments was to make shapes out of toothpicks and marshmallows or gumdrops. She was supposed to make both 2-D and 3-D shapes. We didn’t have marshmallows or gumdrops so we used jelly beans. Sam did a great job! I was very proud of all the 3-D shapes she made. She loved this assignment. She kept making bigger and bigger structures. She even made a house! She was allowed to bring a few to class to share. She couldn’t decide which she liked best, so she wound up bringing almost all of them. I told her not to worry, that I was sure her teacher would be very happy to see all her shapes.

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pamelamyers | April 22, 2016

I was guest reader today (which is so much fun you can’t believe it). When I go, I always look at the art outside the classroom. I saw a bunch of sea pictures, but not enough that there would have been one for each child in Sam’s class so before we left I asked her about them. They were a group effort with about 4 kids doing one drawing together. Since I doubt it will come home (who gets to take it?) I took a photo. They are some talented youngsters!

Sam wanted to make sure I noticed one particular fish (the orange one, of course), that she drew. Ready for your close up, Mr. Fish?

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