Kindergarten

Here's my baby getting ready to head of for his first day of Kindergarten (this was two months ago). Last night I had the privilege of attending a Kindergarten Conference with my son. This is what the teacher in our school does for the first "parent-teacher" interview. It was an interactive time for myself, my son and 3 other kids from his class, plus their parents and the teacher. We went to 5 different "centers" and made observations about our child's learning progress and capabilities. The teacher met with each parent/child group at the different centers to chat with the parents and quiz the child on their knowledge of certain things. The different areas observed were putting together a large puzzle (done together with the 3 other kids); cutting/coloring objects; matching/rhyming pictures and words; math and number skills; letter recognition/printing/"reading". We also got to check out some of the work the kids do in class and observe them in their classroom setting.

Prior to this conference, we had no real concerns about our son. And he did great! But I always find it enjoyable to watch my kids in their educational setting. This is where they are "who they really are" when mommy and daddy aren't around. My son was pretty hyper when we arrived, and was practically bouncing off the walls. The teacher informed me that he's been attentive in class and this "bouncy" boy isn't how he normally is. Thank goodness! I'm glad he was so excited to go to the conference, though. Obviously he's enjoying the school experience (aside from being away from me . . . it took him until the beginning of November to finally get over my leaving when I dropped him off for Kindergarten. There were many, many tears shed by both him and myself - not in his presence (just in the privacy of my own home)).

Hopefully once he starts his new school after Christmas he'll adjust equally as well. He's going from a class of 24 to a class of 9, so that should prove to be interesting. I think the smaller class will be better for him. It won't be as overwhelming to be with 8 new kids as it was to be with 23 new kids when he started out his new year.

Now I must go and keep working diligently on my packing. Yuck! I'm not enjoying this. . .