Kinder Kamp

Last night we attended Kinder Kamp for Cooper (insert tears). This was a 1 hour meeting to take the kids to the school and talk to the parents.  We have been talking about it for a couple of days to try to get him excited.  When I got home he couldn't wait to go and wanted me to show him the school on my phone.

We drove the old neon because we were expecting bad storms.

When we walked in we saw our new friends that live down the street. I thought this would help Cooper feel comfortable but he didn't need it. When we walked in he wanted to find a seat for us. I asked him if he saw anyone he knew and right away his friend Sophia from day-care came over to say hi.  Then he started to walk away from us and I said 'where are you going.' He said 'to see if I know anyone.' And he walked around the whole room despite there being about 75 people in there.

This is a picture of the ceiling tiles in the cafeteria. I thought they were so cool. He was sitting there and said 'I love this kindergarten!'

The teachers introduced themselves and waved to us.  He stood and waved to each one of them and it was the cutest thing ever. Then they asked all the kids going to kindergarten to raise their hand and follow the teachers...And he was gone!! Kyle and I looked at each other shocked!

Sweet baby brother stayed with us and kept asking about 'pooper.'  (he wasn't sad here, just being coy)

During the presentation the teachers took the kids to the library to do an activity. Cooper came back where he had made a bus and was so excited. He said 'momma, guess what!? Bentley and Weston are at my school too!!!'  (I think those were the two names??) 

His first day of school is August 22nd and the week before will be his meet the teacher night.

We learned about things that would be good to work on this summer with them. Cooper has already done most of them, but I think I am going to make him a special box for kindergarten prep with safety scissors, a few practice books, new reading books, puzzles, colors, pencils. Then I am going to write each activity on a piece of paper and try to have him practice one thing each night.

These were some of the activities in case you want to do the same

• Read a variety of books both fiction and non-fiction. Have them read the pictures and then you read the words
• Sing and read nursery rhymes and makeup hand motions to go with it to help with coordination and creativity
• Puzzles
• Draw pictures
• Cut things with scissors (paper, grass, lettuce, different types of things)
• Play games to teach them to take turns and follow directions (board games, Simon says, outdoor games)
• Practice them getting dressed by themselves so they can handle buttons, snaps, zippers
• Pack a lunch and have them practice opening packages, putting the straw in their juice, etc
• Practice writing their own name (full name including capital letters)
• Recognize 1-20 out of order
• Recognize shapes (look for them when you are driving)
• Write upper case and lower case letters
• Recognize letters out of order both uppercase and lower case

I think this is a great list. At first it seemed overwhelming but if we do one a day then we will do them all a couple of times before school starts.  And he might find some he really enjoys and want to do them outside of the designated time.

Cooper did so great last night! Though Cooper is very talkative, he also gets intimidated easily. We fully expected him to close up and refuse to go with the other kids.  We were so proud of him and made sure to tell him. Then we celebrated with ice cream!

My baby is growing up.  We are entering a new phase of life and it is bittersweet. I love seeing him learn new things and grow, but man I want to keep him little forever.

4 Months until Kindergarten. I pray he is as excited that day as he was last night!