Joshua's Preschool Memories

On Joshua's last day of preschool, he brought home his "Preschool Memories" book, which I thought was too dear not to share. While many of his crafts I have to throw away (an entire house would not be big enough to keep them all), this is another one that I will keep through the years. I love how his teacher was able to capture pictures of him with his closest friends. In the picture below, Joshua is in the middle next to his good friend Spencer (to his right in the blond hair) and his good friend Connor (in the red shirt on the left). On the outskirts are Tommy (next to Spencer) and Samuel (next to Connor). They were all good friends, but Joshua's favorites from the year were Spencer, Sarah and Connor in order.

 On the inside was a picture of Joshua with Mrs. Zimmerman and Mrs. Perez. I went into preschool one day and took pictures of each child with their teachers. I loved how Mrs. Zimmerman used them. And there was a note to him that read "Joshua, your bright and friendly smile brightens up the classroom. You are a kind boy who plays well with others. During circle time, you are a good listener who follows directions. We enjoyed being your teachers. Love, Mrs. Zimmerman and Mrs. Perez" 

 The next page was from our first visit to preschool. I'm wearing Ryan next to Joshua at the Open House. So much has changed this year!

On the next "Watch Me Grow" page, she placed a picture of Joshua standing by himself that she had taken that same first morning, and she noted his height and weight at the beginning of the year, which was 3'7.5" tall and 38.2 lbs. Then she documented what his ending stats were at 3'9" tall and 39lbs. The hand print and fingerprints were also cute!

 The next two pages showed how vastly improved his handwriting has gotten from how he signed his name at the beginning of the year to the end of the year:

 The next page was from farm week at the beginning of preschool. This page says (with his answers filled in) My favorite farm animal is "a chicken" because "it lays eggs." On the farm I would "feed the pigs."

Here he is in his chicken costume from the farm day party. I was the one who took the class picture. Love it! Joshua in that chicken costume is serious cuteness!

 The next picture was his artwork from the Community Days at Calvary Preschool. He notes that his favorite part of the day was the police car. When he grows up, he said he wants to be a fireman.

Also from the fall, this is his artwork and it says I like fall because "I like playing in the leaves" - that is a fun family tradition!

Here is the picture Mrs. Zimmerman took of him at Cherry Crest Adventure Farm (one of his field trips). He said his favorite activity that day was going down the slide. I loved being there with him and going down the slide together! :)

Here he is at the fall party, where they were allowed to dress up as a favorite story book character (or hero) or a community service person. He went as a fireman in a borrowed costume, but I love that he's standing next to his two best friends from the preschool year. When you would ask him his favorite people, he'd always say "Spencer and Sarah" followed by his friend Connor. I love that his teacher was able to capture him with them!

The next page is titled "All About Me." It has his self-portrait and hand tracing, and it has some funny things he wrote in it as well as his stats. He's five years old, his height and weight again (same as above) and it says "I like to...PLAY," "Favorite color...PURPLE," "I like to go to...DUNKIN DONUTS" (is this not random? Haaa! I love it!), "I am special because...GOD MADE ME," "Favorite foods...ORANGES & GRAPES." The bottom has the verse Psalm 139:14 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful and I know that full well."

 The next page is "My Family." It says "I live with...MOM, DAD, CALEB, RYAN...in...A HOUSE. With my family, I like to...PLAY MEMORY AND DOMINOES. My family is...SPECIAL." I love his picture of the five of us. Ryan is tiny, and the pictures are relatively to scale with Daddy being the tallest and the boys being progressively smaller by age. I also cracked up that all the boys are in yellow and I'm in green and blue.

 The next page is about the Thanksgiving story. I went in that morning and asked the questions. He told me how the pilgrims came over on "a ship" and the Indians taught them how to "grow corn." My favorite, though, was when he told me that this Thanksgiving he was thankful for "my Mommy." He had an Indian feather hat and he's sitting next to Laura in her pilgrim hat.

And, who could forget that Joshua is thankful for Joshua with his self-portrait? Haaa!!!

Joshua drew a picture of Brayden as his friend and said that they like to play cars. I know that sometimes he sees his friend Brayden at church. The verse at the bottom is 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

Here is his Christmas craft, and the bottom verse is Isaiah 9:6. He was asked what he would give Jesus and his answer was "GOLD."

 Here is his winter craft - love the snow on the mittens!

They had dental health week, and the craft with the bean teeth kind of skeeved me out a bit, but it was cute. It says "To take care of my teeth I use...A TOOTHBRUSH. A healthy snack I like to eat is...STRAWBERRIES."

 The next page was about the Five Senses. Joshua's answers to this one are "With my eyes, I see...TREES. With my ears, I hear...A ROOSTER. With my nose, I smell...DIRT. With my mouth, I taste...PIZZA. With my hands, I touch...TOYS. I am very special." I howled at this one. I don't think he's ever heard a rooster, and how does dirt smell? Haaa!!! He cracks me up!

 The next craft was from spring. It says "In the spring, I see...BIRDS, hear...BIRDS CHIRPING and touch...FLOWERS."

 The next page was from Transportation Days. It says, "My favorite type of transportation is...A CAR...because...IT GOES FAST. With my family, I like to ride...AN AIRPLANE...and go to...FLORIDA."

 This craft was from Easter. He said that "We celebrate Easter because...JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN. On Easter I like to...DO EASTER EGG HUNTS."

 Here is a picture of him from their field trip to the Lancaster Science Factory.

And here's a picture of him as a flower with his friends Sarah and Brayden. He said how sweet he thought his friend Sarah was. She'll go to Warwick this fall, but I'm friends with her mom, so hopefully they'll get to see each other again.

 The last two pages were autographed from all his preschool friends.

 I loved the book with all the memories from the school year. What a great idea! :)