School's Out!

It's hard to believe that Duncan's first year of school has come and gone. Kindergarten is over, and he is now a first-grader. At left is a photo of him on the first day of school, back in August. We walked to school that day, and I think he was kind of nervous, though I only guess that because he was pretty quiet. We walked him up the steps of Horace Mann Elementary, with his brand-new X-men backpack to Mrs. Hlavacek's class. That's where we left him, but we can presume that his shyness didn't last too long. I think Duncan loved every single day of kindergarten. He didn't like to give up too many details about how he spent his days, but I was able to figure out that he really like art, "centers", computer class, "number sentences", Eric Carle and Dr. Suess. And of course I loved hearing about all of his friends. Dontae, Ryan, and Alim just to name a few. And even some girls: Sarah, Alyssa, Sydney and Katie. I can't believe how much he grew in learned in just one school year. He can read on his own and write words and sentences. He can do math (he is constantly quizzing me with math questions, like I'm "Rainman" or something). Mrs. Hlavacek said he was like a sponge, "he just soaks it up". In her 'end of year letter' to the kids, she wrote why she loves every student the best. To Duncan, she wrote, "Duncan, I love you the best because you are so intelligent beyond your age, but you are 100% little boy!" Isn't that the truth! This was Mrs. Hlavacek's last year of teaching kindergarten before retirement. We are so glad we got to have her as a teacher! She has such a way with the kids. To honor her, Joe and I helped the class plant a tree in the playground. Joe went out the night before to dig the hole (and about a hundred rocks!) and the next day the class went out and each student got to shovel some dirt in. Later on in the day, the principal rounded up all of the students in school who had had her as a teacher and they took a group photo out aroung the tree! I don't have that picture, but I would like to see it! The last day of school was June 7, 2007. The class celebrated by having a picnic outside and then they got to leave early. We walked home, and after about an hour of summer vacation, Duncan commented that there was nothing to do and nothing to watch on TV. It's going to be a long summer! On the days that I work he will be going to Summer Shenanigans at Cox. They will be doing something fun every day. Today, his first day, they went to a rock climbing gym and tomorrow they are going swimming. So, hopefully, that will keep him from getting too bored this summer!