Ezra’s final Kindergarten Celebration of Learning happened yesterday afternoon and was wonderful just like the other two. It’s so fun to see all of his work for the trimester and see how he’s progressed.
As usual, he showed us some of the jobs he does at school.
We got to see his latest artwork.
I LOVE this watercolor. He told his teacher that it’s how he sees the ocean.
And he read us a book!
He was very proud to show off the book he chose.
His literacy teacher told me that he originally didn’t want to pick a book but then she found an Iron Man book and he was happy.
We measured him against the height chart from the beginning of the year.
And, of course, he’s grown!
He also made some words with blocks. This boy has a one-track mind.
All in all, we couldn’t be happier with Ezra’s Kindergarten experience. His teachers are kind, knowledgeable and adventurous. The activities were fun while still being educational, which made the transition from our play-based preschool relatively easy.
The other morning Ezra put together an armored Iron Man costume. We’ve been preparing for our trip to Belize, so the swim vests and sunglasses are around.
It’s hard to tell, but he has a swim vest underneath the life preserver vest. That can’t be comfortable.
Ezra (and I) got to ride on a real school bus — his first — for the Kindergarten’s first field trip last week. We went to Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark, where I’d taken him several times (with Lori, Devon and Trevor) when he was a baby and toddler, but we hadn’t been there in a few years. Here’s a picture of Ezra at 7 months the first time I took him to the farm. Check out those cheeks!!
The teachers were incredibly good at wrangling 45 very-wound-up Kindergartners; one took roll while the other briefed the chaperones on our obligations for they day. We were each assigned a few kids to keep track of — mine were Ezra and his friends, Jack and Ben. Then we shepherded everyone to the bathrooms for one last potty break before the hour-plus bus ride. Once the kids had lined up and were waiting for the bus (which was a little late), they started to get a little unruly. So Ms. Jessica had them sing their farm song. Here’s the part I caught on video. (I can’t really understand a lot of the words, but I think they are saying farm animals in English, Spanish and sign language.)
Then the bus arrived and we loaded them up. Here are my charges and the girls who sat behind them.
Once at the farm, they piled the kids and teachers onto this giant hay stack for a group picture.
After a quick snack, we moved to the outdoor classroom …
… to learn about fruits and vegetables from Farmer Kay.
Then we loaded up in wagons and went on a tractor ride through the farm. We had some picking to do.
Here’s Ezra picking some beets. He’s very choosy.
We came home with two bags filled with beets, turnips, cilantro and lettuce. Delicious.
After a break for lunch, we headed into the animal area where the kids could feed the animals. There were pigs, cows, goats, sheep, turkeys, etc., but really all the kids wanted to do was play on this thing.
Here’s Ezra coming out of the slide. It looked like a very bumpy ride to me.
Here’s Ezra in the wooden train.
And just because I’m having a nostalgic moment, here’s a shot of him playing on these wooden structures when he was two.
After that, it was time to head back to the bus for the ride home. Everyone was sufficiently hot, sweaty and tired to call it a great day and a very successful field trip.
Most days, Ezra can’t wait to get to school to share some bit of information with his best friend, Jack. For instance, when he found out you can eat squid ink, he wanted to rush home to tell Jack. They are two crazies. Here are they are on a typical morning at Aveson waiting for school to start.
Further evidence that Ezra’s having a good time in Kindergarten:
He put these on for school this morning. His hair was a bed-head disaster, his shirt was too big and these pants are stained beyond belief. I chose my battle and asked him to change his pants. Luckily, he complied so he only looked like a ragamuffin from the waist up.
Ezra has done a couple of fun projects lately — one at school and one at home. First, the one at home: Wire Vine Man.
Inspired by our beloved gardener, Vivien, and the loads and loads of merciless wire vine that she pulled out of our yard. It’s strong, hard to pull out, and strangles the plants around it. Perfect for a superhero.
Second is Blu made from potatoes, tissue paper, and feathers (among other things) at school. He told me about this project all week and couldn’t wait for take-home Friday. His teacher told me that he “stayed true to his design” throughout the whole week.
Ezra came home from school today with a lovely mother’s day card for me.
It reads: Dear Mom, I love you because you let me watch shows. He said he didn’t have room to finish — he wanted to also write “in the car.”
He loves the new minivan with its sliding doors and, more importantly, DVD system. This morning he got to watch a show on the way to school, mainly because I didn’t know how to turn it off and we were already late so I couldn’t stop to figure it out.
The kids in Ezra’s class were invited to prepare presentations about any traveling they did over Spring Break. Ezra was very excited about this project and this morning I got to stay and watch him present pictures and information about our Anza Borrego trip to his class. Finn got to come, too, and sit on the rug with the rest of the kindergartners. Here they are patiently waiting as Ms. Jessica takes attendance.
Then it was Ezra’s turn. He read the title: Anza Borrego.
And talked about the different pictures.
And he told them about the Desert Threadsnake we saw.
He’s totally in his element up in front of the class.
Here’s a video of part of the presentation.
After Ezra was done, Ms. Jessica led a discussion about Earth Day and the children gave their ideas about recycling, cleaning up the earth, etc. It was all very cute. Here is Ezra talking about picking up trash and Finn waiting for his turn with his hand up.
I thought my heart was going to burst with pride this morning. Not only was Ezra so confident and adorable up there, but Finn was also extremely well-behaved and cute as a button. (I apologize for my indulgent moment of bragging.)
The other night just before bath time Ezra asked me if we could get some new bath toys. Since we already have two bins of bath toys, I said no and explained that we have enough. Then he disappeared into his room for a little while. When he emerged he had with him a boat/jet/submarine made of Lego.
He made me take pictures of it from every angle, but I’ll just post the one.
After bath a couple of the pieces fell off and rather than put them back together, he drew instructions for me to do it.
Ezra’s two-week Spring break ended and he went back to school on Monday. Here he is all ready to go Monday morning. (It was drizzling, thus the hoodie.)
Yesterday after school he worked on a project to share with his class about our camping trip to Anza Borrego. It includes pictures from the trip as well as some information on the scorpion and snake we saw.
Finn wanted to do a project, too, so he cut out some pictures.
Good to know that our big dining room table is good for something!
A few weeks ago we instituted a chores policy for the boys — more to help them get used to the idea than to make sure they do every chore everyday. Ezra, being six and having gotten used to putting things away at school, is much more consistent than Finn, who often says, “I’ll do it later!” Here’s their list of chores:
And here’s how Ezra fulfilled his duty this morning:
Ezra’s second book was included in the packet of materials we got to take home from Celebration of Learning. Here are my favorite pages.
Belize. I asked him about the picture and he told me that the two people on the right are him and Finn and the third figure is a hermit crab.
The Iron Giant from the book and movie we have.
A hotdog with its bun on. For some reason, he finds this hysterical.
Iron Man 2 still playing a huge part in his life. Note the “mechanical” 2.
Me and my dad at Toys R Us. Clearly, a memorable trip.
Me and my family. He explained that Bruce and I are at the bottom, and he and Finn are up on the balcony. (Interesting … because in real life they aren’t allowed to be up there without a grownup.)
Bombs and dynamite. Just in case there was too much sweetness in the previous pages.
I went to Disneyland. The picture is It’s a Small World — his favorite ride.
I made pumpkin cookies. That’s me with both boys up on the ladder making cookies.
I found a baby squirrel and my brother found a black cat. That’s Bruce making the “tsst” sound to scare away the cat.
This last one he got to present to the class from the “Author’s Chair” and he was very proud. His teacher reported that presenting projects and ideas is “where Ezra shines.” It makes me so proud that my once painfully anxious and shy boy has come so far.
Last night was Aveson’s second Celebration of Learning and we were lucky enough to share it with Jamma, who couldn’t wait to see Ezra’s school. First up, he had some “jobs” (do NOT call them games, trust me) to show us. Pattern match-up:
Beaded stairs:
Note Ezra’s self-portrait on the folder.
Addition match-up:
Then, he took us around the room to show us some of his work. Color mixing:
Snowy trees:
Ezra’s is the one on the right that reaches over the paper. Creative license.
Here’s the tile he made in their ceramics program:
Afterwards we had a celebratory dinner at La Grande Orange (Ezra’s pick because of the super sundae for dessert). Ezra made his name out of the Wiki Stix they give the kids.
The boys fooled around with spoons.
And finally, the boys got to dig into their dessert.
