A Through Z and a Trophy!

Another school year has come and gone. Though it is hard for me to believe, Malia has finished kindergarten. Her teacher had a super fun way for the kids to count down to the end of school. At 26 school days before the end of the year, they started an “ABC Countdown.” Each day they had an activity of some kind that started with the letter of the day. For example, A was “animal day” and each kid was able to bring a small stuffed animal to school. G was “game day,” one of Malia’s favorites. They also had ice cream day, juice day, and the previously mentioned Kaleidoscope day.  The very last day was “zoom out of school” day. Each child made a cardboard box car at home and yesterday they took their cars to school and watched a drive-in movie. Once again, I surprised by how many cars were clearly parent work rather than the child’s work. I definitely helped Malia with hers, but she did the bulk of the job and she was enormously proud of how it turned out.

Today was the last day of school for grades 1-6. I went to the school an hour before it ended to pick up Matthew and Malia’s meds from the office and Malia happened to see a few gold trophies on the counter in the school office. She asked what they were for and of course, I had no idea. But a few minutes later the head secretary came over and congratulated Malia. We were flummoxed so she told us that the awards assembly had been earlier that morning and Malia had won an award for having perfect attendance. And guess what? The trophies were for the perfect attendance winners! Since the kindergarteners had already finished the school year, Matthew claimed Malia’s trophy for her which meant she had to wait a while hour and a half before he got home and she could see her trophy! But it was worth the wait!

So kindergarten ended with a vroom and an award. Malia has had a very successful year. She has learned a lot. She has made some friends. She has gained confidence and independence. She has loved school and her teacher. She has learned to read and is very prepared for the next big adventure: 1st grade!