Wrapping Up JAM's First Year In Elementary School

Man how time flies! I remember the long late night conversations Mahal and I had about what kind of kid we thought JAM would grow up to be and how we would handle certain situations JAM would face once he started school one day. Well, that "one day" came and went in the blink of an eye. JAM is wrapping up his Kindergarten year *tear*, which means all the chaos of summer events are about to kick off, BUT one step at a time. He's having a cute little Kindergarten ceremony, and I wanted to give his teacher a nice parting gift. Volunteering in JAM's class I learned that teachers don't get the recognition they deserve, especially with budget cuts in Las Vegas causing JAM's Kindergarten class to total 34 students this year. I couldn't imagine maintaining 34 kids from 9am-3pm, 5 days a week so she definitely deserves something nice. I kept the "favorites worksheet" (more on this later) I had her fill out last month to put together a few of her favorite things.

The cup, beach towel, magazine, and ribbon was purchased from Walmart.

The "J" notepad and matching pens were found in the dollar spot at Target, and the photo album was found in the clearance area.

The "Special Teacher" card and "2 teach is 2 love" note pad was found in the teacher's corner of Dollar Tree.

I took photos of all the kids holding a dry erase board that had their favorite thing about their teacher written on it. On the front inside cover of the album I glued a poem that I found online. I printed the poem on colored cardstock and cut the edges with a fun patterned scissors. On the back cover I wrote the class info.

I also did an end of the year project with JAM's classmates. It's a parting gift they can give to their parents on the last day of school so they have a little piece of their kids frozen in time. I know I personally cherish gifts like that. I took a picture of the kids holding the dry erase board with their favorite things about Kindergarten. I also had them write their name and did some fingerpainting with them to put their handprint. The poem was from the end of the year gift JAM gave me when he finished preschool.

Well, 1 year of school down, about 16 more school years to go! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you JAM and all that you've accomplished and conquered this school year. Kindergarten was scary for all of us, but you held your head high and accomplished so many amazing things. Kindergarten is over! Bring it on 1st grade!