End of the school year!

Already! This school year, Natalie's first full year, really flew by! Her last day was Thursday, and that night, the school had a potluck luau to celebrate the end of the year, as well as graduate the kindergarteners! Earlier in the week, they had Zoo to You - the Phoenix zoo visited and brought four animals for the kids to see. I stayed and volunteered in Natalie's class that day, per her request. It was a lot of fun! The zoo brought a tarantula (creepy!), a Desert Box turtle named Wonka, a hedgehog named Tank (cutest thing ever!), and a really cool bird - looked like an owl, but was a Tawny Frogmouth, native to Australia. The zookeeper was very informative, great with the kids, brought the animals around to each kid so they got a close look, and everyone got to touch the turtle! When we got back to class, Mrs. Blackledge asked the kids what their favorite animal was - and all but one or two kids chose the turtle. She didn't know ahead of time which animals would be brought, but had a happy accident with the art project for the day - she had the kids paint turtles. :-)

Natalie had a nice last day of school. The afternoon class got to watch a movie with popcorn, were allowed to bring a stuffed animal, and pillow and blanket from home.

The luau was a lot of fun too. Natalie had a great time chasing her friends around, and she brought her little Fisher Price digital camera and took lots of pictures. Each class got to go up to the stage, and everyone got a certificate. Natalie got two as she was in AM and PM preschool. Her teachers gave them the most thoughtful gifts too. The morning class received a bound book of special art projects they made that year, plus a picture of the class with their teachers - the kids made frames out of popsicle sticks and glued buttons on them. The afternoon class received a CD with the 30 Bible based songs they learned this year. One of the other moms in class also made each kid an autograph book - so cute!

We're looking forward to next year at First United. We couldn't ask for a better school for Natalie. We're 90% certain we'll put her in Early Kindergarten, per her teacher's recommendations. If not, she will be in pre-K with the extended day still - she really thrives with the full day.

I'll get pictures up tomorrow, hopefully!