Braylei's Last Day of Kindergarten - May 25, 2011

Bray on her last day of Kindergarten

Bray on her first day of Kindergarten

I can't believe how fast the year has flown by and that I now have a 1st Grader!!  Braylei has learned a lot this year and matured in many ways.  She has loved school and been able to be involved in many activities and with several friends.  Her teachers continually said what a good example she was to the other students and that because she was one of the best readers in the class, she was often paired up with other students to help them with their reading and writing.  They also commented on her positive attitude and ability to see the world through "rose colored" glasses.  Throughout this year, Braylei has not only learned to count money in coins and dollars, but also syllables in words, addition and subtraction facts, place value, how to put words in alphabetical order, read and complete math story problems, how to measure objects with a ruler, all of the continents and oceans by filling in a blank map, how to write a report, and greater/lesser than math concepts.  Her favorite thing, though, has been reading chapter books and then answering essay questions about the books (which she was always so proud to tell me is what high school kids do)!  She loved playing on the bars and digging in the sand at recess, as well as singing and dancing during music time.

For an end of the year gift for her teachers, Braylei made each of them a book.  She wrote each one all by herself about each teacher and came up with the titles of the books too.  One was called "Mrs. Flowers: My Amazing Teacher" and the other was called "Mrs. Thomas: My Cool Teacher".  She also made a bookmark to go inside each one, which I laminated for her, and picked out a gift card to Barnes and Noble to go in the front of the book too.  She did such a great job writing and illustrating the books (they were 10 pages long) and her teachers absolutely loved them!

Bookmark

Gift card in holder in front of book

 Braylei's last day of school ended at 11:00 am and immediately following, she had a swimming and pizza party at her friend Ella's home with her other classmates.  She had a great time celebrating and swimming with her friends.  They even got to have a special "giant" congratulatory cookie and ice cream for dessert!  All in all, this has been a wonderful first year of school for Braylei, with lots of growing experiences for us all.  Congrats on graduating to first grade Bray!  We are so proud of all your accomplishments and love you so much!