Friday, July 02, 2010

Final Project

For the last week of Kindergarten Michael was given an assignment that would hopefully get him ready for big kid first grade assignments. So his teacher gave him a packet and with questions about the animal of his choosing throughout. He was given free reign over the project. He was to answer the questions in his own words, and then he could either, draw, clip and paste from a magazine, find pictures on the Internet and do the whole thing on the computer, really just do anything he wanted to do.

I sat down with him to figure it out and quickly realized he knew just what he wanted. I was just not sure how we would pull it off. We spent time over at Michael's, the library and then Borders for the right magazine. We worked VERY hard and in the end even fought a little over our ability to do it. But it was so cute and, in the end, just what he wanted it to be.... SO here it is.
Made out of foam paper he began. He picked bears because he liked that they ate fish and were fishermen like his dad.
Different bears eat different things. Some like honey, some like fish, and some eat baby seals.
Bears live almost (he was so particular about that word it was funny!!) all over the world. American Black bears live in the forest.
Grizzly bears can run as fast as 30 miles per hour. Polar bears sometimes have to swim in freezing cold water.

People are a bears greatest enemy. In New Delhi people capture the Asiatic black bear and teach them tricks. Moon Bears are killed so their bones can be used as magic charms.
I hate to brag (okay that is a lie) but, he is so stinking cute! This was all him. It came from his brain. I wish I could take credit but, I cannot. He is such a Smarty! He even did the sentences without much help from me.

He did it!!


Michael is my Smarty pants! When he turned three years old I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he told me very seriously that he wanted to learn to read. He was so thrilled to go into Kindergarten I thought he would burst at the seams the day I dropped him off.

Turns out that Smart cookie thing kind of bit him in the rear int he end. He got left behind (or ahead I guess really) BIG TIME!!

His teacher did her best to keep him interested but, with so many kids in her class he ended up working with other kids and helping them rather than moving forward and learning all he could have learned. By then end he was kind of bored and he is ready to go on to first grade and Maybe... second if when we move I decide to test him up! ( all input on that topic would be appreciated)

All in all he had a great year. He only disliked about the last month or so. In then end he was happy to move on and proud of the work he did in the year.