Family Life

Tee’s First Year of Preschool in Review

June Update

Tee was out sick for a week this month and the last day of school was the 18th, so I don’t think a lot of new stuff happened in June. She mostly worked on her reading, practiced cutting and pin pushing, and did some practical life exercises like mixing colours and pouring. She did do a unit on summer and bees.

beehive activity

The kids also coloured maps of Canada and the provinces and practiced our national anthem in preparation for Canada Day. Tee’s looking forward to standing up and proudly singing “O Canada” on Tuesday!

Tee’s last journal entry was a portrait of her family. Here we all are together! (Her teacher wrote down what Tee dictated, then Tee traced over the letters.)

June journal entry - Our family!

Her last day of school ended with a fun celebration party. We had originally planned to go to the waterpark, but rain got in the way so instead the whole group of kids and parents descended on a local indoor play centre and went bananas. Keira got to come along, and they both had a fantastic time!

From September to June

 
Tee's first and last day of preschool

Wow! It’s hard to believe a whole school year has come and gone. From two afternoons a week and plenty of tears, we’ve progressed to four afternoons and even registered for full days starting in September. Back when Tee first started preschool, I had to carry her down the stairs to the door. Now she kisses me and Keira goodbye and cheerfully trots down the stairs to knock on the door all by herself. She wouldn’t talk to anybody back in September, and now she fits right in with her peer group and plays every day with all the other kids. I can see the difference in her self-confidence and ability to make friends in other situations.

She finishes her first year of school having learned so much! She can:

  • Count to 100 (gleefully, at the top of her lungs, every time she gets in the car)
  • (Almost) write her numbers from 0-10.
  • Do single digit addition and subtraction (like 5 + 7 or 6 – 3).
  • Write and sound out all the letters of the alphabet.
  • Read three and four letter words.
  • Draw recognizable people with heads, all 4 limbs, faces, and hair. Sometimes they even have torsos!
  • Colour inside the lines.
  • Sort multiple items according to size, length, colour, and sound.
  • Shake hands and use appropriate manners.
  • Perform a whole host of gross and fine motor skills – pouring, using tongs, using tweezers, cutting fruit, folding, sweeping, sewing, sorting, etc.
  • Make friends and play cooperatively.

We want to extend our special thanks and gratitude to Ms. Ranj for all her help, guidance, and support this year. Tee’s looking forward to seeing you and all the other children again in September!

thank you Tulips” by Liz West is licensed under CC BY 2.0
 
What successes are you celebrating this school year?
 

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16 Comments

  • It’s amazing, all the things they’ve accomplished/learned in a school year…so much growing up! Love the family portrait….frame it! 🙂

  • Wow, that is a lot to learn in preschool! That’s more like kindergarten here, but even then not that many skills. I really like the idea of a picture at the end of the year as well.

  • What a great post! I love the first and last day photos- I must remember to do this for my daughter. The drawing of her family is precious. 🙂

  • That is amazing! Do you take some or most of the credit for her achievements? I mean, do you find the time to work on reading and math often or is it all thanks to the school?
    My son has finished JK this year and while he is learning 3 languages and can do a lot of things too, but we haven’t gone too far with reading (in either of them) or additions and subtractions. And I’m certain that if I could sit and read with him more than a couple times a week, the results would be different. Unfortunately, our school wasn’t much help, hopefully we will get lucky with the new one in September, but I don’t count much on it…

    • We do read together every day and play with numbers as it comes up in real life, but she’s always been a motivated learner. She goes to a Montessori preschool where they do as much learning as the kids are up for, and she’s learned a lot there. She’s like a little sponge most days. 🙂

  • So cute, I love how you took a pic of the first and last day of preschool, I never thought of that!

  • Aw, she is cute! And you can tell she grew over the year! My daughter starts her first year of middle school this year. Ugh.

  • I love the pictures from the first and last day. Love the last day pic clothes. I am impressed with all she learned.

  • I’m celebrating the first year of University completed by one of my granddaughters, the completion of grade five by my youngest granddaughter; the graduation of two of my grandchildren with their first degree and the return of a grandson to higher education. All together, it was a great year for our students, their parents and grandparents.–Our eldest great grandson passed kingergarten and that was wonderful too.