Do you see these yellow pieces of paper? I know, I know. You’re wondering what they are—garbage? No, they’re special memories. Kennedy pulled them out the other day during a day of dress up with one of her besties, and I just started crying.
At the end of Kennedy’s kindergarten year, she wanted to make a duck mask. The backstory is that she had the MOST AMAZING kindergarten teacher who encouraged Kennedy’s creativity. Kennedy was constantly drawing beautiful pictures, writing stories with fun phonetic spellings, and making projects. Her teacher was the epitome is what a kindergarten teacher should be. And no, Kennedy did not leave kindergarten reading on a 3rd grade level, but she did leave kindergarten reading sight words and sounding out words. She was more than ready to read in 1st grade, and yes, she did leave 1st grade reading on a 3rd grade level. A lot of that success is thanks to her kindergarten teacher! So, it was the end of her kindergarten year, and all I wanted to do was get everything ready for the close of the school year. But, Kennedy had a vision, and when she has a vision, she will start on it with or without your help. And if she messes up, she will NOT be happy! That day she wanted to make a duck mask, so I put my school stuff aside, and I helped her to make the cutest kindergartener-made duck mask in the history of the world. She played with it for a bit, and we put it in the top of her closet. It had been there for a little over a year when she pulled it out a few weeks ago. When I saw it, I thought of her little five year old hands making each piece of the mask. I thought of how much she has grown up in a year’s time. And I thought of how happy I am that I took the time with her to make the duck mask because we had fun doing it. We have been best friends since the day she was born, and I will do whatever it takes for us to remain best friends. I can’t believe my baby girl is in 2nd grade now. After her orientation a few weeks ago, I was in my classroom crying about her being on the verge of adulthood, and our new principal walked in. Just my luck! Well, at least he knows I have a heart for children!
Kennedy's First Day of 2nd Grade
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