Jake's School End of Year Review

Jake's last year of preschool is coming to an end. He only has about a week & a half left and I am trying to soak it all up (I still have no idea what we are doing for the summer). This has been another great year at Westwood and we are going to miss not having to be at school until 9:00 it so much when he goes to Kindergarten next year! They've sent home the last of their school projects and the projects they've been working on all year long. They also sent home Skills List Review. So I've recapped everything in this post, for my memory bank.

Jake's Fall Picture
(Either they didn't have Spring pictures, or I missed them!)

Class Picture

 Their year long project was to create a booked titled "My Bible Story Book". Each week, they learned a different story from the Bible. Then the following week, their teacher would ask them to retell what they learned/remembered and draw a picture that represents it. I immediately got nervous when I received Jake's Bible Story Book. Jake has a big imagination, loves to tell an extremely long stories and has no problem inserting untrue events into the story to make it more interesting in his opinion. Jake also sometimes completely just doesn't listen.  I present to you Jake's recollection of the Bible (and my comments in blue): 

A squirrel climbed up and fell off the tree. He landed on the ground.
He didn't get hurt, he just got dead.

 I do not remember where the Bible mentioned squirrels dying.

He wanted to take something to have some gold. He built a giant boat
and then it turned into a hot dog. And then the sea monster ate it.
And then there was a rainbow.

 I asked Jake who the 3 people were in the picture (because his picture obviously has nothing to do with his recollection of that Bible story (which included a boat turning into a hot dog & a sea monster)). He said it was Maddox, Marrell & himself. 

Jesus was in a barn and the animals was there too. He was born!

 Finally! One he was paying attention!

Jesus was at church. He was big but was lost. His mom was crying
but they found him with his teachers. they were so happy.

 Again, I can follow this Bible story.

Jesus liked the kids and the wise men told Him he did not have time for them,
but Jesus did have time for them and the wise men were not so wise.
But then the men got their fire and glow sticks after the kids
and Jesus hid them under His coat and they were safe.

 And we are back to making no sense. Story started off reasonable, but I'm pretty sure the Bible story Mrs. Mandy told did not include glow sticks.

Jesus washed his face with mud and then after that the man was okay and
could see and after that he could ride a boat so he did in the dark.
That made him wise and he was a good guy to protect the people.

 I'm kind of following this one. 

Jesus saw the waves crashing around the boat and
then Peter was scared just like I am.
Jesus said "don't be scared you silly boys" and it was over.

 What? You don't remember the part of the Bible in which Jesus addressed people as silly boys?

He ate bugs & honey. He was helping his friend in the water so he wouldn't sink.
Well, then that flying thing (dove) was on his shoulder. God was very happy. 

 This must have been the cookbook part of the Bible where Jesus gave his recipe for bugs & honey.

Jesus told his friends, Josiah, Miller, that boy and that girl from Mrs. Jocelyn's class, to go get a donkey and they did but it was a stick with a horse head and crazy googly eyes that went round and round.

 This must be that well known Bible story about the donkey with the horse's head. And who doesn't remember Jesus' friend Miller (& 2 kids from Mrs. Jocelyn's class).

Jesus died on the cross. Some girls went to check on Him
and He was gone. They were very happy!

So that's Jake's version of the Bible. It's not perfect, and I know he made up some parts just to be funny (or just wasn't listening), but I think it was a precious project and one I will treasure. 

Skills List for Four Year Olds

Part of Jake's end of year review, was to go through a skills list checklist. There were about 50 different development skills, that there were marked as Not Yet, In the Process or Proficient. Jake was proficient in all except 7. Here are the 7 he was not proficient in:

1) Follows classroom rules & directions. (in the process) Jake's teacher & I have talked about this one. Jake is good at this, when it's just him. But he also tends to be a follower. So if another child is up running around the room, Jake sees no problem in joining them. 

2) Manages transitions. (in the process)

3) Manages changes in routine. (in the process). Both of these kind of surprised me. I would have thought Jake was very go with the flow. We tend to follow a "flexible routine" at home, and Jake does fine. So I would have thought he would be okay with changes in routine at school. I guess not always!

4) Completes easy tasks independently. (in the process) This one did not surprise me. Jake does not think outside the box when asked to complete a task. He wants you to tell him exactly what to do & how. 

5) Tell telephone number. (not yet) To be honest, I never thought to teach him our phone number. We don't have a home phone, so it will have to be one of our cell phones. Heck, I couldn't even tell you Robbie's cell phone number off the top of my head. It's programmed in my contacts, so I just push a button. I guess Jake & I both have some learning to do this summer.

6) Tell address. (not yet) Again, it never crossed my mind to teach Jake our address. He knows we live in Birmingham, but that's about it. Truth be told, it's probably better Jake doesn't know our address. Jake has never met a stranger, and tends to just rattle off useless information to anyone that will listen. I'm sure if he knew our address, he'd tell it to every person who probably didn't need to know it. 

7) Cut neatly on lines. (in the process) No surprises here.

Everything else, Jake was proficient in. He can count to 100 and write all of the letters of the alphabet. He follows directions that involve a two-step sequence of actions and can recite the pledge. He identifies shapes and understands positional words. Lots of things along those lines. But the skills I'm most proud of him for being proficient in are:

1) Interacts with all children, not just one

2) Participates in group events

3) Shows eagerness and curiosity as a learner

4) Listens with interest to stories read aloud

5) Spiritual development

One part of the skills assessment that made me laugh, was a part under language development. The kids were given 3 words and told to name a word that rhymes with it. After reading Jake's answers, I realize he has no idea what rhyme means. Here are the words & his answers:

1) Cake Jake's answer: Birthday

2) Bug Jake's answer: Ant

3) Ten Jake's answer: Huh?

We didn't choose to send Jake to Westwood because we wanted to him to read before Kindergarten or know how to add & subtract at age 4. That's not the type of school Westwood is. We wanted him in a loving Christian environment. We wanted him to learn to play well & respect classmates. Listen & follow what the teacher says. To learn about the Bible, and being kind to others. To learn to share, be polite & be a friend to all. Jake has 13 years of school (+ college) to learn all of the academics. At the age of 4/5, I wanted him to enjoy being a 4/5 year old and learn the basics of just being a kind, considerate human being. And I feel like we've accomplished that this year, so in my book, we can close out this school year as a great success.