Preschool Graduation

Rachel graduated from her first year of preschool last week from the Carole Billings' Preschool.  She'll attend preschool again next year, but it will be with a different teacher.  Rachel and I really enjoyed Miss Carole as her teacher!  She learned a lot this past year - like writing her name (first letter caps, the rest small letters), reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and lots of other new songs, cutting with scissors, address & phone number (still working on a couple numbers), counting to 25 (I know that's not that impressive, but I like that there's a stopping point - I've heard one too many kids count to 100 and that's too long to recite!), and learned more about rhyming and patterns, drawing her shapes and writing letters and learning all of their sounds.  Preschool has also helped her to follow directions, learn some wonderful safety tips and manners, and has given her chances to wait for her turn (in jobs, talking, sharing stories/ideas, etc.).  

It was a darling program - short and sweet and to the point.  They wore the graduation hats, sang a few songs, and got a little diploma from teacher.  Rachel did great, and my favorite part was when I stopped recording momentarily (because they were singing "Wheels on the Bus" and it was dragging on and on), and Rachel whispered loudly in the middle of her song so that everyone could hear, "MOM!  The song's not over yet, keep recording!"  Right - I'll get right on that!  She knew it was important because I was recording it for Grandma & Nana ... if only I had been doing my job correctly!  

Preschool Graduate 2012

Her biggest supporters!

Miss Carole

Sidenote stories about Rachel and these last two pictures:  Rachel had some wonderful friends from our ward in her preschool class.  Elise was her carpool buddy, and they got to know each other a lot better on our 15 minute car rides.  And Sami and Mason's moms I both adore, and Rachel gets along great with their kids.  It was nice to have built-in friends already in preschool.  Towards the end of the school year, she kept telling me about Julia in her class, and that she had talked to Julia and her mom and they really wanted to have a playdate.  All I knew about Julia is that she is so super shy - this was just my take from watching her at field trips and programs.  So it kind of surprised me that Rachel was being so adamant about having her over.  So I got her mom's phone number from Miss Carole and cold-called this poor mother, asking her if our girls could get together (and depending on comfort level, I gave her the option of meeting somewhere for lunch), but she was happy to let her come over and play at our house.  The cute mom dropped her off, and the girls played really well together.  She was over for about three hours, and I didn't hear from them for the first two hours - it was one of my easiest playdates ever.  I was happy she made a new friend in addition to her other good friends in preschool.  (Tangent, but I also loved when she would tell me stories about when other kids were not following the rules - mostly it was stories about Sabian, but it totally made me giggle and just be grateful that it wasn't Rachel!)

The next picture is her as some made up character - like Super Zucchini girl or something silly like that.  By the end of the year, she FINALLY got into the daily themes, when SHE wanted to make sure her show-and-tell and outfit matched (before then it was complete mommy manipulation or convincing on my part, and oftentimes she would win and dress in the wrong color or bring an unrelated show-and-tell item).  She particularly loved pajama day and learning about the different countries.  The last day of preschool was the letter Z and all about superheroes, so we snapped a picture of her all ready in a superman shirt and she wanted to take a zucchini as her show and tell.

Rachel and her new friend, Julia

For all you die-hard readers ... come back later for a video presentation of the glorious occasion!  My favorite song is at 1:50 for those that don't want to watch the whole thing (and I don't blame you!).

The password is:  cap