All About Kindergarten

What happened to my little girl? She's adorable as ever, but she's a whole new person it seems! At first it was hard to not know every single detail of her day, and she didn't feel like sharing with me all the details that I wanted to know about: "what did you talk about?" "what story did Mrs. Nelson read?" "who did you play with at recess?" "what did you play" "what did you eat for lunch?"... I'm starting to just deal with it, but I was THRILLED when parents were able to come to an open house at the school in October. It was great to have her show us around and see all the fun things she has done this year!

Sitting at her desk, with her science journal

Showing Mom what she is learning

Showing my Nana the blue carpet, where they read stories and have learning time

The helper chart. Her favorite job is the line leader. She also likes wiping the tables after lunch

My Nana was also excited to see her school library (she was an elementary school librarian for many years)

Erin was excited about the huge Clifford dog sitting in the story corner at the school library!
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I am constantly amused by all the funny things that she has said since starting kindergarten. It's funny to recognize other influences in her life that didn't originate at home:

One night Elaina was imparting her wisdom and couldn't be challenged by parents who might be older, wiser, and a little more knowledgable. I sarcastically said to Mike, "Elaina knows everything because she's in kindergarten." Apparently this just reaffirmed what she already knew because whenever we disagree she insists "uh-huh! I know that because I'm in kindergarten!" Something in me tells me that she will continue to be smarter & wiser than us until she has children of her own. At least it was that way for me, I believe.

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We learned at parent-teacher conference that Elaina likes to be noticed when she walks into her classroom. Mrs Nelson told us that Elaina usually comes into the classroom after the bus-rush, and stands at the doorway until Mrs. Nelson acknowledges her and invites her in by saying "well hello Elaina, come on it." And then she enters. But until she is singled out and recognized personally, she will wait in the doorway and wait for the type of welcome that she wants. Some things never change with this girl - as long as people notice her, she is happy. She has a little bit of diva in her! :)

Elaina and Mrs. Nelson

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Elaina came home one day and announced,
"Hailey is my BBE."
Me: "Huh? Oh, do you mean BFF?"
"Oh, ya, BFF. Hailey is my BFF"
"What does BFF mean Elaina?"
She shrugs, "I dunno."

I've since learned that a best friend in kindergarten can be determined simply by who happens to have the exact same water bottle as you. Because a week later Becky was her BFF...because they have the same pink towel for rest time.

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She blares her music in her room, while dancing and singing along. The thing that has changed this year is that it's not Mickey Mouse or Wheels on the Bus anymore :( We've got teeny-bopper music coming from her room! Who is old enough to listen to that stuff??
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No wonder people talk about Texas pride! I used to laugh at BYU because the only people that would hang flags in their windows were the Canadians and the Texans. I am a proud Canadian, and seem to be raising a proud Texan :) And she's learning the meaning of Texas pride in kindergarten! She has been learning lots of songs about Texas (for all my Texan friends, I do think it's great, just amusing), but the other day she came home and asked,

"Mom, do you know what? Texas is the best place in the whole world. Do you want to know why?"

Um, yes, Elaina, I definitely want to know why you think this.

"Well, in other places kids can't go to school. And in some places girls can't go to school, and in some places boys can't go to school, but in Texas, everyone can go to school!"

Wow! I realize it was probably a huge misunderstanding on her part, so we had a big conversation to clear things up, and I unsuccessfully tried to explain that most places allow children to go to school, but that she can certainly be excited for the opportunity that she has to attend school.

She insisted that Texas is particularly unique in that ALL children have the opportunity to attend school, and other places are not like this.

I explained that I got a great education in Calgary, and Venezuela, and Daddy got a great education in California, and we both got a great education in Utah.

She still wasn't convinced. She insisted that this is one thing that is really special about Texas, and Texas alone. We still don't agree on the issue. I will, however, become particularly worried when she comes home in fourth grade insisting that Texas is part of the Confederacy, or even worse...that the USA won the War of 1812 against Canada/Britain. But even I don't want to open up that can of worms with my American friends & family, so forget I even said it!

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In Elaina's class she comes home with a folder each day which details her homework assignment. Her teacher also indicates how her behavior was that day by giving a happy face (good day), a straight face (ok behavior, with a few problems), or a sad face (a pretty bad day). Now it seems that behavior in the home is being measured (by the kids) with happy faces, straight faces, or sad faces. If Elaina is upset at Erin she says, "Erin! I'm mad that you ruined my picture. I'm going to draw you a sad face!" And so she finds a piece of paper, draws a sad face, and hands it to Erin. If I'm upset at her for something she'll draw me a straight face or a sad face so let me know that my behavior is unacceptable! This is intended to be the worst possible punishment. Erin is also catching on. Mike just told Erin to stop doing something, and so Erin went to get a piece of paper, drew a sad face and handed it to him as his punishment for disciplining her.

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Here she is on pajama day. It was pajama day because the letter of the week was P, and pajamas start with the letter P! A perfect opportunity to wear pajamas to school! :) I love the way kindergarten teachers think! She was so excited to wear her pajamas and bath robe to school!!
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A few days after kindergarten started, Elaina blessed the food at dinnertime. This was part of her prayer:

"Please bless me that I can get all the wrinkles out of my mat at rest time, and please bless the-girl-who-can-tie-shoelaces that she can stop talking during rest time and that she can whisper."

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She's doing really well in kindergarten and we couldn't be happier for her. She loves the social interaction with friends everyday, she loves to tell us all about the things she is learning, and she loves all the activities she is participating in. She wasn't really into arts and crafts before kindergarten, but now she loves it, and she comes home and draws pictures all day, and also brings home lots of great artwork.

Showing off her fireman (notice how pink he is?)
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She often returns to school with cards and pictures for her friends and teacher. She loves to write Mrs. Nelson notes. Last night she realized that she left a gift bag at school (a gift she was bringing home for her family). She determined that she would talk to Mrs. Nelson about it in the morning. This morning I found a card in her backpack:

The front was addressed: "To Mrs. Nelson"
The inside read: "I lost mi gif bag. from Elaina"
Oh, I love how she solves her own problems. Apparently a discussion was not enough, and she needed to write a note to explain the situation in detail.

She is also loving to read. She recently entered a challenge at school to read 250 pages in three weeks. If she completed the challenge, she won 2 tickets to an A&M basketball game in January. We are really excited for that, and love that she is excited about reading and books!

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She of course loves music time (she has always loved to sing!). Here she is with Mrs. Simpson, her music teacher:

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Mrs. Nelson said Elaina spends all of her center time either in art or the home center (I think my Kindergarten teacher also once asked my Mom how she could pull me away from the craft center, and home center...oh, we are so alike!... although my crafty skills seemed to have stayed back in kindergarten, and apparently my homemaking skills too, if you were to see the state of my house right now).
I love that she is enjoying kindergarten so much. I am really glad, however, that I get to have her home for 2 weeks over Christmas break. I love her so much and miss her when she's gone.