Today Alan and his class graduated from Mrs. Davisson’s 4-year old Pre-K class at St. Clare!

It was a beautiful day to cap off a great school year.  A picnic at Oakville Park (Alan’s favorite park) followed a very nice ceremony at the St. Clare Church.  Alan shared his special day with 9 family members, including his parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and aunt and uncle.

I commend Alan for the progress he made this year.  Going into the school year I was worried about Alan having separation anxiety and using the school bathroom alone.  But he definitely exceeded my expectations, not only by clearing those two hurdles, but also through the friendships he made and the personal growth he demonstrated in areas such as listening, sharing, coloring, cutting, and writing.

Alan ended up loving school and being a part of a great group of kids.  I loved having the opportunity to drive Alan to school and pick him up every Friday that I worked from home.  I was greeted with a running hug, a shout of “Daddy!,” and a big smile each and every time Alan saw me after school.  I looked forward to that special moment every week in the “large motor room.”

Overall Alan made great strides towards becoming more independent this school year.  Hopefully the summer passes by fast so Alan can get started on his second year of preschool!

As the school year wound to a close, Alan finished the year on a high note.

In May he went on his first class field trip, to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, and had a teddy bear picnic in the St. Clare Library.  At the Botanical Gardens, Alan visited the Glasshouse, Woodlands Garden, and the Hershey’s Children’s Garden.  He fell and scraped his knees on the field trip, but he was brave and otherwise had a great time.  For the teddy bear picnic, he brought in the teddy bear that I brought back from Thailand in 2006.

The learning themes of May included butterflies, insects, and summer.  Alan took a liking to butterflies and included some in his classroom artwork and drawings.  He also learned his address this month.

For his final show-and-tell, Alan brought in Zuma from “Paw Patrol” for the letter Z.  At the start of the year, I picked out Alan’s toys for show-and-tell for him.  But by the end of the year, Alan was able to look at the schedule himself and pick out show-and-tell toys on his own.  Another sign of his increasing independence.