Penny, our Kazoo Prodigy

I wonder if there's a teacher in the area...

First Day of School

Well, I think I heard more about school today than I did the entire year last year!  It was only a half-day worth of school but Bethany talked about it almost the entire ride home!  When we walked in, the room was so quiet and Bethany went right in.  What a great fit for her.  

For those of you who haven't been here in awhile, because of some last-minute "shake-ups" at her school last year, they ended up with one class of 3-year-olds with two teacher's assistants and 30+ kids!  We really wanted her to be in school last year for some socialization (she just went 3 mornings a week) and this is a good school (also one of the cheapest) so we stuck with it.  The kids were only all together for a few activities (the pledges, snack and playground) but the rest of the time they split them into smaller groups (since there were a few extra rooms in their part of the building).  But it was always a chore to get B into the classroom.  It was so noisy and she always had to take about 10 minutes to assess the situation before choosing something to do.  By the time I picked her up she was fine, but didn't talk about what happened that day much.  

So this year (upon recommendation of her 3-year-old teacher and her current teacher) we put her in the 4-year-old enrichment class.  The basic idea is that everything they learn is "enriched" by deeper study, field trips, projects, etc.  We thought that for her quiet (most of the time!) and thoughtful personality she would really benefit from this class.  When we walked in this morning, she said hi to the teacher's assistant, we found her backpack hook, said hi to the teacher and then her teacher showed B her cubby with her pencil box.  She showed B to her seat and got her a coloring sheet, introduced her to the other kids at the table and B said hi to them, too!  Then Mrs. H started showing B how to color the sheet (based on the color the objects are outlined with) and B said sweetly, "I know how to color a giraffe!"  So she really got off to a good start today.  

B told me what she is to do when she comes in in the morning and what they had for snack (I never could get her to tell me what snack was last year!) and basically gave me the whole rundown of the day.  What a difference!  I'm really looking forward to hearing about school this year!