Last Day of First Grade

Aiden had his last day of school as a first grader. I can't believe the year is already over! He is looking forward to playing with Legos and being outside all summer.  He'll be attending a week of art camp and a week of all day science camp (it's all about insects so he VERY EXCITED).

This past year we didn't sign him up for soccer in an attempt to keep more freedom in his schedule. This failed hilariously as he ended up doing piano lessons, signing up for Spanish class with his friend and then the school would hold various after school activities and he always begged to do them.  At certain points he had activities every night except Fridays. This year we will, once again, attempt to scale back on All The Stuff. I feel like we've always pushed to get him involved and now that he genuinely wants to join these activities it's really hard to say no. But I will try.

Things we loved about first grade:   Aiden started the year with a substitute teacher he LOVED. She was beyond amazing and was someone who genuinely understood Aiden. She knew he loved drawing and would have him make the covers for the class books. She knew how to make him feel comfortable and confident and I wish he could have had her all year.

Before Christmas his regular teacher came back from maternity leave so he had a big change just as the school work started to get harder. His new teacher was so sweet but it was hard for him to get to know her and ask for help when he needed. Despite a bumpy beginning he really grew to like her and is happy his new classroom is close to hers.

Things we are excited about for next year: We've heard great things about his second grade teachers and he found out that he will be with his core group of best friends next year. It even seems like his class might be a little bit smaller which is always nice. This has been the first year since he was three that he has no worries at all about starting a new year of school.

Now that the year is finally over we plan on keeping up with reading and math. He's got stacks of books to read and a school packet of math facts to practice. However, we also have an awful lot of sleeping in, swimming and playing outside to work on. Happy summer everyone!