Until September ...

Both Brayden and Sydney had great teachers this year. Brayden's teacher was perfect for him and made this classroom into this great learning center with different areas to help the students find what helps them concentrate. For example, I was a pencil chewer where I would squish out the eraser. Then as I got older I chewed pen lids. Fixation stuck at the oral stage I suppose. Anyway, to counter this habit Brayden's teacher would allow those students to chew on sugar free gum with parent permission. She did quite a few different things to help direct little 6/7 year old energy into work and gave them a place to retreat and calm down while reading a book if they became frustrated with learning. It was perfect for Brayden. When there was a small problem between Brayden and some of the other boys in the class during the break playing soccer (competitiveness turning mean) it was dealt with quickly and perfectly without it becoming more then boys being boys. I made cards for the teachers and extra hands in kindergarten and I let Brayden pick first which card he'd like to give his teacher and I hope she enjoyed Brayden as much as he enjoyed being in her class!

Kindergarten is one wild ride. There were about 23 students in Sydney's class. That is a lot of energy and unedited thoughts. Every time it was my turn to be the parent helper I laughed out loud at the crazy random thoughts that would pop into those minds and how they could blurt them out no matter the situation. Question time for show and tell was pretty much 5 kids asking the same question but question time after a story was every child needing to share something personal unrelated to anything in the book. When you're a baby 2 months can really make quite the difference in development but by the time you're out of school, what's a few years? Well, kindergarten had quite the mix. I'd say there was an average but at Sydney's table (where she sat with 4 others) had one boy who had already lost 6+ teeth and they had already grown in where Sydney has yet to have a loose tooth. It's the start of exploring your wonderful personality without your parent there with you all day long and WOW, is kindergarten the place to people watch! It was very, very entertaining. I think being a kindergarten teacher takes someone extra special and that was Syds teacher. She was patient, calm, creative, and best of all never laughed once in a childs face when they blurted out something outrageous while I tried to hide my face and not snort. As far as cards go, Sydney picked my favorite. I saw it on pinterest and knew I had to try to make it. It was only a picture so I played with dimensions, colours and this is what I got. I loved it. On the inside was a black interior on the front side with white butterflies embossed on it. It was also my first time using my sewing machine on a card and I loved the look. Yay me.

There were two extra hands in Sydney's kindergarten class and they were both very busy every time I was in there so I couldn't forget about them. I hope everyone gets to enjoy a bit of the summer weather before worrying about starting a new year in September!