Gearing Up For Labor Day!

Just finished another FAB week at school and we are looking forward to a relaxing Labor Day weekend at Lake Roy with Tom's family and dear friends! Since Labor Day is all about celebrating the hard work of Americans, we knew that we wanted to honor Mrs. Fitzsimmons' dedicated work, so we made her a "Thanks A Latte" goodie bag. It's identical to the one we made Ms. Maryl last week. 

 Skyler gave it to her today and she loved it :)

We hope you all have a fantastic Labor Day weekend! Since it's a weekend celebrated as the symbolic end of summer, do make it a grand one! See you all sometime the middle of next week! xoxo

Learn + Play = PreK

Skyler continues to enjoy all the enriched learning that her PreK class has to offer. We recently had our first feedback from her teacher. A+ Happy Gram all the way! Skyler is excelling and is a delight in class. Her listening skills are top notch and she was told to keep up the good work! 

We continue to do her "homework" that is located for us in her daily home-to-school book. The vocabulary words changed this week, so it was fun focusing on something different! Sky's class is reading, "Here Are My Hands". The books teaches children to respond spontaneously and creativity as they learn the parts of the body. We have fun using the words in sentences and then we put them into action. That's the best part! Example #1...Here are my hands for throwing and catching a frisbee. It really becomes a fun game because Skyler can use her imagination and her ideas are ever so clever!

Go Fish!

Who didn't love playing the card game, "Go Fish" as a child? Well, Skyler has taken a fondness to this great classic game! We are currently using a standard 52 deck of playing cards and Daddy has taught her well. 

Recommended playing age is 5 and up, but heck, I figured our quick learning 4 year old would have no trouble grasping the concept. It's been a wonderful, educational game and we played it A LOT this weekend

 Doesn't the Princess look so grown up!

 And boy does she get excited when matching a set!

Daddy and I are surprising Sky this week with the Barbie Go Fish edition titled, "Go Shopping"! It will be a fast paced game of shopping chaos....lol  I think it will also be a wonderful reward for all her hard work in school. 

Speaking of school, when Skyler woke up Saturday morning she wanted to go! I had to explain to the Princess about the schedule and as soon as I finished, she asked if we could just drive by! 

I am tickled that she is loving her class and her teacher. Another fun thing we did together was creating a questioner for Mrs. Fitzsimmons regarding her favorite things. Definitely a great way to get to know her and gift her items she would thoroughly enjoy throughout the year! Skyler will present it to her tomorrow morning :) 

Day #5 of PreK

 And the first week of PreK is complete!

Skyler had a wonderful first week of school, smiling the entire time. Although it was a week of many changes, it was such an easy transition, especially with the many school directions. Our very dear friend, Maryl Richey, is a guidance counselor at Sky's new school and she made everything so simple for us!

We wanted to show our appreciation to Ms Maryl, so knowing that she enjoys coffee, we put together a cute gift. We grabbed a brown paper shopping bag, a box of biscottis from the Publix bakery and headed to our local Starbucks to purchase a plastic, reusable cup and of course a gift card. After gathering all our supplies from the store, we got crafty!

 Shred some of the paper bag....

 Place in cup....  

 Add the gift card....

 Place the twice baked biscuits under the tall cup...

 Wrap with plastic, add a decorative ribbon and seal it with a kiss....

WaLa!! Skyler was so excited to give it to Ms. Maryl today after school.

Check out this sweet picture of Maryl and a two week old Skyler. Told you she's know the Princess since birth!

 

Maryl enjoyed her present and Sky was eager to break open the home-to-school binder to review vocabulary words, the phonics sheet and alphabet mat. We then played Go Fish and enjoyed  craft time. Yes, Daddy has been teaching Skyler the card game.. She has a lot of fun and learns math at the same time! 

Hope everyone enjoyed their week. Mine will stay a fond memory forever. It definitely was a fantastic five days!

Day #4 of PreK

A fabulous 4th day indeed!

We started the morning off extra early, leaving for Kiwanis at 6:25. After a great meeting and enjoying a chat with Holly, the executive director of Camp Fire Boys & Girls, we cruised onto the school grounds around 8:15.

Skyler had another super day and after school we worked on a list of vocabulary words and reviewed the I-Care Rules for little kids. She even had to sign the back, acknowledging that she understood each rule. Yes, Skyler still writes side ways! Oh well, at least she can write her name :) She wrote her name in green crayon so it's a bit difficult to see.

The vocabulary words are listed in this week's reading, Hurray for Pre-K! We read and discussed each word. More gold stars earned for the Princess! 

Day #3 of PreK

 Same excitement different day!

The Princess had another successful day at PreK. After school, Skyler wanted to open her home-to-school binder immediately and begin her afternoon homework assignments. We spent another hour reviewing yesterday's alphabet mat and ended our study session going over a phonics sheet. I would call out each letter, randomly, and Sky would point to it, not missing one letter. Another passing grade in the A+ colomn.

After Skyler finished up her school work, we were invited over to Reesey's house for swimming and dinner. It was good to see these two buddies get in some extra curriculum time outside of school. They swam for almost two hours and we all dined on yummy hamburgers and hot dogs, hot off the grill. Thanks, Mr Jim!

We packed up our belongings by 6:30 and headed home to get ready for another great day at school. Skyler has been given permission to attend Kiwanis with me tomorrow morning, so we'll be about 45 minutes late to school. I was very pleased that Mrs. Fitzsimmons understood our passion for volunteering. In fact, she told me she thought it was amazing that Skyler is learning to give back to her community at an early age. 

Day #2 of PreK

Another jubilant day for the Princess! Skyler was pretty much dancing out the door for day#2, just like she was in this picture below :)

Sky definitely enjoyed her 2nd school day. Daddy picked her up and once she got home, she quickly got out her home-to-school binder to show me her homework assignment. Little Miss Eager and I got straight to work! We spent an hour playing the alpha mat (below) and reviewing vocabulary words. Sky breezed through the exercise and had fun at the same time. We continued the exercise over and over and over again, because it's my job to foster a positive learning environment. After all, I was blessed to have interactive parents and boy did I love school! Skyler's learning skills are quite impressive! Not only can she tell you the letter of each object, but she can sound it out. Every time we randomly picked "P", she would remind me that P is for her Papa.

I was excited to receive my very first PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) membership card. My background check came back squeaky clean so I'm can officially start volunteering and get connected to ensure  a positive growing future for Skyler! 

Each day this week, I will do a small blog, highlighting Skyler's first 5 days. Thank you for all your prayers and phone calls. I appreciate your interest during this transition. I'm still undecided who's more excited...Sky or Me?

First Day of PreK!

What a GRAND Day!

The BIG day at the NEW school finally arrived and the Princess was overfilled with excitement. In fact, she came into our bedroom at 4AM yesterday morning, asking if it was time to see Mrs. Fitzsimmons. :)

To celebrate the special day, Daddy and I bought her some new school dresses. Skyler is still all girl and does not like to wear shorts. She surprisingly choose the blue dress for day #1!

My heart did a little happy dance knowing that Skyler gets to share her beautiful heart and mind with new children.

It was so touching to see Daddy and his little girl walk up, hand in hand, to the gates by her classroom.

Waiting for the gates to open at 7:25AM

Besties and school pals....

Skyler quickly found her seat and was ready to begin this new adventure. She looked into my eyes, told me she loved me and with a sweet kiss, I leaned her head onto me and breathed her in. I love that little girl with every bit of my soul. I walked away feeling proud of her independence and confidence. She was ready. She was  r.e.a.d.y.  

I just adore the picture above. I shared it with my Kiwanis family and they all agreed it would be a great "Skyler For President" student government poster!

After last week's orientation, our parent homework involved a group photo and a message for the Princess. Mrs. Fitzsimmons incorporated each little hand while reading the book, The Kissing Hand" A perfect first day story! It's about a little raccoon named Chester ready to start school. He talks to his Mommy about the variety of emotions he is feeling. The Mommy raccoon reminds him that by kissing his hand she will be with him. 

While all the children were in a circle, Mrs. Fitzsimmons spoke to each child about their "kissing" hand. Skyler saw her purple hand (that she picked out during orientation) with our picture on it and enjoyed our message written on the back.

It was a fabulous first day! Although I will miss those afternoons we used to have, just her and I, I know with an end of a new chapter comes a new one and I certainly will be cheering her on. The Sky's the limit for our outgoing preK student and I'm her biggest fan!