Well, I’ll start here with the photo of Theo on his first day of school at P.S. 130, The Parkside School.
Transitioning into Kindergarten took a little bit of time. Warming up to a new teacher, new classmates, new routines. Getting up and out of the house every morning by 8:00am. It’s all a lot for Theo (and us!). Theo is very much a creature of habit. Needless to say, we have hit our stride. Theo loves school and he loves to learn. He is thriving there and I truly love the school, his teacher and the community. The curriculum is wonderful in my opinion. He’s doing music and puppetry, both of which he loves. Also math, art, reading and writing. They are beginning a bread unit this month, where they will read and learn about many different types of bread, as well explore recipes and baking. They learn new sight words all the time and Theo can sound out words and write simple sentences. He is really beginning to read and it’s all very exciting. We had his first parent/teacher conference last week and he got a pretty great review.
“Theo is making a comfortable and smooth adjustment to kindergarten. He is creative, energetic and shows an excitement for learning and exploring. He arrives to school each day with a smile and ready to learn. Theo is developing strong friendships in the classroom and is a great helper. He loves to take care of the classroom and the materials and assist his friends when needed. Theo demonstrates a strong creativity, which he shows through his drawings, writings, stories and dramatic play. Theo has shown a real liking to our puppetry unit and I have so enjoyed watching him express himself through new mediums. His natural curiosity makes learning exciting. Theo has many insightful ideas and feels comfortable sharing them with the class. He expresses himself well and enjoys communicating with his peers. Theo actively participates in shared reading activities and is working on reading the pictures and sounding out the words. He engages in independent as well as partner reading. Theo loves exploring new books and returning to old favorites as well as telling stories through detailed and colorful drawings. He has been working hard at labeling his work and puts evident effort into his desire to turn his labels into sentences. Theo also demonstrates that he can use finger spaces between words when writing. In math, Theo is a strong counter, is developing a good number sense, recognizes most two-digit numbers and can count backwards from 10 – 1. When counting, Theo practices a good one-to-one correspondence. With prompting Theo is always careful to double check his work and make corrections as needed. Theo is working on keeping his hands and feet to himself, especially when frustrated, and we are also learning new skills to handle disappointment and to let other people have their turn.”