First Grade Creations

Kip is a budding little artist. It's funny to look back on all of this and recall just a couple of years ago his absolute refusal to even attempt to draw a stick figure. Now he makes all kinds of fun creations.

There was a little art show at the school near the end of the year and a couple of Kip's creations from art class were hanging up.

Here are the other art class projects he worked on in First Grade:

This one is inspired by The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

Last year Kip did a lot of creative activities in his classroom and not just art class. I shared those back here: Kindy Creations

I still need to sort through the bin of classwork and projects Kip brought home this year to purge and save, but here is my post about how I manage the flood of paper that comes home:

Tips for managing sentimental hoarding 

Oh and I forgot to share this awhile back. Kip entered a drawing contest at the local library to create his on superhero. He made a fire flame dragon and won a free book!

Fun Day

Continuing the end of the school year wrap-up, a couple of weeks ago Kip had his Fun Day at school. For the last two years I got to help with the event as a class parent. This year, since I was not the class parent for his class, I did not get to follow his class around and participate in all the activities. Instead, I arrived the the school yard early the morning and help with set-up and then I was put in charge of the monitoring the bounce houses for the rest of the day. 

Fortunately, the bounce houses are everyone's favorite and luckily for me, no one got seriously hurt on my watch. 

And I was able to see Kip and his friends throughout the day and snagged some photos for myself. 

Another mom friend shared some photos with me. 

Kip had a blast and I did too. I think it may have been more fun getting to see all the kids instead of just his class. Many of Kip's former classmates from kinder and pre-k remembered me and said hi. That was sweet.

First Grade Wrap-up

Kip completed First Grade last week!

The rest of this week on the blog, I'm recapping the last bit of his school memories from 2024-2025.

It was a WILD year with many ups and downs. Some things we loved and some things were not so great. Kip excelled academically and really blew us away with his progress in reading and in math. The tough part of the year was in his classroom dynamics. There were several kids with behavioral issues and consequently Kip's teacher was constantly disciplining and trying her best to manage the environment. Unfortunately, Kip's teacher had very little to no support in the classroom. It was often very stressful for Kip (and others) to be around kids misbehaving and the teacher yelling. Annoying behavior. Missed opportunities for the whole class because of a few kids being unable to handle it. It was hard. Kip often came home frustrated or on-edge, emotional, etc. I'm sad Kip had to experience so much of that this year but I also think it was a tough yet valuable life lesson. So much of living in the real world is having to deal with difficult people and difficult behavior and learning how to stay focused on yourself and your work and not letting others drag you into their "mess." But still, not something I wanted my 6 year old to have to manage already.

Anyways, onward to second grade!

Kip's interests shifted a lot this year. We've moved on from dreams of becoming a train driver and now he is talking about being a Scientist (sintiste). His best friend has remained the same since Pre-k, despite the fact that they were not in the same classroom this year. I think that's super sweet.

One of the last days of school Kip had a substitute (he had a lot of subs this year) and she gave them busy work worksheets to do all day. One of them was a farewell first grade survey. It's pretty cute.

Note the answer to the question "I hope next year..." He said, "there are no bad kids." 

I've talked with him about how kids aren't "bad" they just might be having a hard time for reasons we cannot see or know. But, after some of the stuff he witnessed this year...I don't think he believes that anymore. Sigh.

The last day of school I had to work in the city, so Dan took the kids for a summer kick-off treat at Rita's. Kip is ready for a much deserved break and already thoroughly enjoying summer.

Weekening it

Summer is starting strong. We packed a lot into our weekend.

On Fridays during the summer, I get off work early. Mandy and I try to plan adventures for Friday afternoons. We've had some HOT weather here but Friday was cool so we took the kids to a petting zoo farm and playground since it was pleasant outside.

Dan's birthday is TODAY!! Yay, Dan you're 24!! We celebrated a lot this weekend with adventures of his choice. He picked mini golf again this year. Kip, Mandy, and Dan each got a hole in one! Dan got two, in fact!! Birthday luck.

In the evening, Mandy stayed with the kids and Dan and I went on an evening date. We went to Red Bank, walked around, enjoyed dinner al fresco, played at the retro arcades, and got ice cream. It was a really nice evening.

On Sunday we went to church, did shopping, and chores, and squeezed in our first visit to the pool for the season! They redid the pavers and landscaping this past spring so everything felt fresh. This is the first year Kip can "touch" the bottom and is able to swim (doggy paddle) well enough to not require a floaty. It's a bit more stressful since both kids have a lot more courage in the water but neither are competent swimmers just yet. Hopefully this summer will change that. 

Today is just a regular Monday. Dan and I both have work and Kip starts a little 3-day spy camp. But in the evening we will celebrate Dan with cake and presents. Happy July!!!