Today was Porter's last day of school. On Monday of this week when I watched him walking home from school, I was struck by how quickly the year had gone. I wasn't necessarily emotional about him finishing first grade, but as I joined all the other students, parents and faculty "clapping out" the sixth grade class, I definitely became a little emotional. I'm sure it didn't help that I was standing next to Adrianne who was watching her last child graduate from elementary school. And I had just talked with Adrianne about how she was feeling about the whole experience.
Then all the sixth graders said the Pledge of Allegiance one last time.
Porter has definitely had some highs and some lows during his kindergarten year. He has made friends and lost friends. His first friend was Luci. He wrote about her near the beginning of the year, but at some point their friendship changed. According to Porter one day she said he couldn't play with her. Then there was about a month and a half where things were rough between him and Luci. He didn't want to go to school anymore. He was constantly talking about it and dissecting everything she did or said. Fortunately, he was able to move through that phase and ended up having fun at the end and making a great friend in Scotty Pickett. They both love to read and to read Harry Potter, so it seems like they bonded over this.
Throughout the year Porter lost 4 teeth, became an excellent reader, enhanced his writing skills so his writing is much for legible and developed his understanding of math concepts. Although he says he didn't learn anything at school, I can definitely see his growth over the year. We will miss his teacher, Mrs. Emily Ward. David and I have grown fond of her and her husband Davis. Hopefully we'll maintain a friendship with them.
After school today we celebrated by joining lots of friends at the Quigley's for popsicles and then heading back to our place to have water balloon/gun fights and eat more popsicles. We had several friends over to play too. We played for hours and the kids loved it. Us parents relaxed in the shade.
The Mitchell's, Zech's, Wible's, Kirry's, Brown's and a new friend, Kasey and her kids, all joined in the fun. It was the perfect last day of school.
Yesterday they had a field day in the morning. It was so much fun. There were several stations and the kids rotated through in groups. There were large blow up waterslides, slip n slides and a maze. There were "bird sprayers" (water guns in the shape of a bird), pool noodles and bean bag tosses. Mason and Jonas even joined in on some of the fun. I decided I want to rent a huge blow up water slide and invite a lot of friends over to play. Now I just have to figure out where to put it. My yard is not that big. But, the kids would have hours of fun.
Porter is excited to be a first grader. Now we just have to figure out how to get through summer and all survive!
