So proud.

Mason is growing up so fast. The things he says, the questions he has ... his mannerisms, his curiosity ... where did my baby go?

As his kindergarten year comes to a close, I am seeing just how hard he has worked. Earlier in the year I was concerned that he was falling behind in phonics. We have worked hard on site words, letter sounds and reading ... and it has paid off.

Mason's teacher just let me know that he passed the PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) screening with flying colors. The screening consists of several tasks relating to letter, sound, and print knowledge:

Rhyme: The student is asked to identify a picture that rhymes with the first picture in a row.

Beginning sounds: The student is asked to identify a picture that has the same beginning sound as the first picture in a row.

ABC Lower: The student is asked to name the 26 lower-case letters of the alphabet.

Sounds: The student is asked to produce the letter sounds of 23 upper-case letters of the alphabet, as well as three digraphs (sh, ch and th).

Spelling: The student is asked to spell five words that have consonant-vowel-consonant patterns. The student receives credit for sounds represented correctly.

Concept of Word (COW): The student is asked to point to words in a familiar poem while reading, identify target words in the familiar poem, and read some words in isolation from the poem.

We will continue to work on all of these things over the summer so that Mason retains this going into first grade. And I love having to go through all of this with Mason, so that I know what to work with Payton on before she heads to kindergarten.

So proud!