Last Friday was the Kindy 500 at Ella's school. This is a tricycle race among all of the kindergartners, and the whole school cheers the kids on. Ella has been talking about it for weeks and practicing on Jack's trike. She said that Skyler was the fastest (because he was shorter?) and that she was excited for the school to cheer her on.
I had NO idea what to expect but I can tell you, I didn't expect what I saw. They had a little track with checkered flags around it. Three riders competed at a time, and then the winner moved on to the next round until there was one winner between the three Kindergarten classes. Ella looked very nervous as she was waiting for her turn and I honestly thought she might back out. I asked her later if she was nervous and she said, "No. I was just watching to see which bike was fastest."
As the riders competed in the two laps around the track, there was background sound of the Indy cars zooming by. It was hysterical!
The pictures aren't that great due to the poor lighting in the gym but it was a blast!
Ella later told me she ran to the bike that was to the right because everyone before her that got that bike won. That's my girl!
The red eye remover makes their eyes look glassy but you can still see the happy determination.
Ella won Round 1 and advanced to Round 2.
But wait, is that her friend Amanda (also in green)?
No fear though......the girl in blue (Mrs. Watterson's class) won. Ella and Amanda were satisfied losing to another girl but who knows how happy they would have been if one of them had beaten out the other.
Amanda smiled the whole time--too cute!
After the Kindy 500 we went back to Ella's classroom.
Here is the Good Character chart for the school located in the front hallway.
And there is Ella's name. She has a few stars on this chart and loves getting the nice notes home from her teacher. I know she got one for walking to Speech Class correctly :)
Each student worked on a book about an animal found at the Zoo. Ella picked the Polar Bear and when they went on a fiend trip to the zoo a few weeks ago, she had her picture taken in front of the Polar Bear.
Her book
One of my favorite pages was the Dedication Page. She dedicated this book to Nana Den (Nana Dean). It just made me smile :) Not sure why Polar Bears reminded her of Dean but I just loved it!
As we munched on cookies, the kids read to us.
I learned all kinds of facts about Polar Bears.
I love at this age that words are spelled exactly how you think they should be spelled (bekus=because).
Ella's wonderful teacher, Mrs. Walden.
The first few months were really tough for Ella. We had behavior issues and she wasn't talking much to friends or to the teacher. Fast forward 6 months and she is our social butterfly, reads slightly above grade level and loves math. Mrs. Walden stuck by her and knew she could do it!
2 comments:
How fun! Our school used to do the Kindy 500, but they haven't for several years. Of course the kids had to bring their own bikes from home and didn't get cool matching shirts. It looks like Harrison Parkway went all out--chalk another one up for public schools!!
I love how Ella was studying the bikes to determine which was the fastest. So smart!! And I love her polar bear drawing...that was really good!
She has certainly grown so much over the year. Her teachers (and you) must be so proud!
How fun! I love that schools do things like this, since the race is so important to our city. I'm sure the kids just loved it, too!
I agree with Kristy that Ella has grown up so much this year. I knew she would do well and be just fine! How great that she is reading above grade-level! I'm sure you and Jason are so proud of her. Great job, Ella!
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