Kindergarten Year

Yesterday we celebrated Buby's last day of Kindergarten, of commuting, of spending every weekday with teachers and friends. We have a fantastic summer planned. The five and six year olds in Buby's class are all moving on next Fall, a few to the Lower Elementary building down the hill and the rest to schools in their own towns.


I kept looking to the sky for some grand finale firework or balloon launch or other remarkable sight to signify the end of this nine and a half month adventure we've been on. Ha! To me Friday was the culmination of a very long year of incredible growth and transition. To Buby it was just another good day. He got up, got dressed, brushed his teeth, ran down for his yogurt and bread, and loaded into the car for school.







Our educational goals for our children revolve around creating lifelong learners. We want them to go in, soak up the knowledge like sponges, and come out liking school at the end of the day. Not once did our boy tell us he didn't want to go, so that equaled success.


I dubbed this our "year abroad." It certainly felt like it with all of the driving we did {which I'll detail in another post}. We knew going in that it would be one year. ONE YEAR. Buby's old preschool/kindergarten closed last minute, and his elementary school {a lovely Montessori that relocated right across the street from our house} had not reopened as of decision time last summer. We were looking at one year of limbo, so we decided to give Buby a wonderful intro to the Montessori method at a school we'd liked for a long time, albeit far from home. And by chance he ended up with his best friend Grace. Hip hip!







In Kindergarten amazing things happened. It's like Buby took all the groundwork we've been laying over the past five years and just ran with it. You might say the cards were stacked going in... {new school, new friends, first year in this type of classroom, first encounter with a relentless class bully}... but he conquered all with the help of two creative teachers who took the time with each and every student. This year Buby thrived on all fronts. He worked hard and played hard and left us in awe.


Here's my takeaway from our second and final parent/teacher conference: Buby is a pleasure to have in class. He's a model student and good friend to all. He loves mathematics and quickly finished his work on fractions and dynamic addition in the hundreds. He enjoys Spanish, science, geography and history comprehension.


He takes pride in labor intensive detail projects such as push pinning. He has completed two years worth of material/workbooks in a single year. He started Kindergarten a non-reader with great pre-reading skills and finished the year an avid, fluent reader. He LOVES to read and be read to, to write and spell, to memorize facts through song.

In September Buby struggled with his pencil grip and controlled letter formation but worked diligently for months and in June won the class Penmanship Award. He learns well independently and in small groups. He has an easy time grasping complex concepts. He knows how to lead other children in an activity and stand up for himself when need be. He shows maturity, patience and empathy toward with his fellow mates.







In addition to his daily work in Mathematics {number sentences/place value/addition/subtraction/units/tens/hundreds/thousands/fractions/counting by}, Language Arts {reading/writing/complicated letter blends/grammar/parts of speech}, Sensorial and Practical Life, Buby has enjoyed some in-depth on each of the following:








The United States of America {including the use of maps, monuments, important symbols and people}; the human body {skeleton, vital organs, 5 senses, major muscle groups}; Albert Einstein; weather systems; Marc Chagall; marine life; the construction of volcanoes; the study of fish {including what they have in common and labeling the parts of a fish}; Egypt; Africa; Australia; George Seurat; Laura Numeroff; Irish music; cultural-themed artwork; insects; Martin Luther King; water in its three forms; mammals; the solar system; the people and culture on each of the seven continents.


Experimentation with ice crystals; African music and art; holidays around the world; the moon; winter solstice; Tchaikovsky; stories by Jan Brett; Native Americans; veterans; calendars; telling time three ways; plants and the root system; tadpoles; finches; pilgrims; planting bulbs outside; studying seeds developing into plants; the value of each coin; counting money; Beethoven; Jackson Pollock; Margaret Wise Brown; Picasso; Matisse; harvest season; The Magic Treehouse series.



The volcano eruption was a highlight for Buby, in addition to any talk about nutrition and taking care of our planet. Also, he came home pumped after every time another parent visited to discuss their careers as authors, dietitians, orthopedic surgeons, etc.

I must say this particular learning path suits Buby so well. It's not for every family, but it is a natural fit for ours. We will stick with it as long as we can afford our littles the opportunity and they are thriving. If and when Montessori no longer works for one of our children {1st?, 3rd?, 5th?, 8th grade?}, we will transition them out. For now we are just enjoying the ride and looking forward to Bleu starting in September.


This summer we will camp, vacation, read, paint, craft and encourage Buby to journal. I picked up a neat wide-rule composition notebook at Target with white space at the top of each page for an accompanying illustration. Next Fall Buby will continue his studies where he left off, at a schoolhouse so close to home that I can see their front door from mine. It's a wonderful thing.




P.S. Read about Montessori here, find a q&a here, a video excerpt from "Nurturing the Love of Learning" here, an article in the WSJ here, and one comparative study here.


All images from Montessori Outlet.