Backtracking- September 12th: First Day of Preschool!
September 12th- Buba and Tiny were very, very excited about their first day of preschool. Tiny assured me that it was not necessary for me to park and come into her classroom, but given the amount of things we needed to bring in, I insisted that I was going in. Still, I didn’t stay any longer than was necessary, and not a tear was shed from any of us when I said my quick good-byes. On day two, I let Tiny have her way, and I just pulled up to the curbside drop off area in front of the school. Both kids went willingly with their teacher, and I don’t think either one even said goodbye to me. Since day two, we’ve done curbside drop off every morning, as well as curbside pick up a handful of times.
I don’t get a ton of information from the kids about what they do at preschool, but I do know that Tiny is loving that she gets to cut with scissors, and Buba enjoys playing with two girls (fraternal twins) most days. Tiny is usually the one to report which of her classmates cried or made naughty choices, and Buba is usually the one who shares the new songs that they’ve learned. They’ve both loved doing art projects and have come home covered in paint and/or markers more than once.
- Buba’s artwork from the first day
- Tiny’s artwork from the first day
- using foam paint
The first week of preschool, their school days were just 2 hours long, but on the 19th, they began their usual 9am-12pm schedule. On Monday, I will have my first day as a parent helper. We are all loving this!
Backtracking- September 11th: Getting Ready for Day One
September 11th- I spent the better part of this day scrambling to get everything ready for the kids’ first day of preschool. I needed to make sure I had a bag of extra clothes for each kid, a box (shoe box size) decorated with photos of themselves and our family for each kid, as well as one framed 4 x 6 family photo. The clothing part was easy, and the framed photo wasn’t too tough, but the box decorating project took a considerable amount of time. In hindsight, it probably would have been much easier and faster to just do them myself. But I wanted the kids to be as involved as they could be. I let them help affix the tape as we wrapped the boxes with colored tissue paper (much easier said than done for a 3.5 year old), and I let them look thorough the collection of photos I’d printed and choose which ones they wanted on their own boxes. Buba was happy to let me crop and tape the photos on his box while he was off playing, but Tiny wanted to be involved every step of the way. This was especially tricky, because the photos needed to be arranged just so in order to fit them all on. It was also very tricky because she was quite resistant to my guidance. But eventually, we got the job done.
Backtracking- September 9th: Visiting Day at Preschool
September 9th- Buba and Tiny had a one hour visiting session with a few classmates and their parents in their preschool classroom the Friday before the first day of school. The visiting hours were arranged so that only 4-5 children were visiting each hour, and it was nice for our first experience to be in a small group format. Tiny was so excited and actually ran into the arms of one of her teachers as soon as the teacher opened the bright yellow door to the classroom. Both kids appeared very comfortable as they explored the classroom, and Tiny practically sat in the other teacher’s lap during circle time. She already loved her teachers wholeheartedly.
- photo op outside the preschool
Prepping For Preschool
The following is a post I wrote for How Do You Do It. Due to some technical difficulties, I was unable to post it myself. So, I’ve decided to cross post it here.
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We are now just under four weeks away from Tiny and Buba’s first day of preschool. T and I chose to send them to a local co-op school that strives to build a strong connection between the child’s home and the school. As a result, we’ve already spent a good amount of time on the school grounds, connecting with other classmates and their parents, and talking about what it will be like when they start preschool this fall.
Back in mid-June, we received the kids’ class list noting which days each student will attend. All 20 kids in the class have schedules that allow them to know all the other children in the class, even though only 12 kids attend on any given day (meaning, their schedules all overlap at some point in the week). To help them all get to know each other, optional playdates were set for Monday afternoons and Friday mornings from late June until the week just before school begins. The playdates take place on the school’s playground, helping them become familiar with the school grounds as well.
Recently, each family received a welcome letter from the teachers. The letter included photos of the two teachers to post on our refrigerator for the kids to view and talk about. The teachers are currently in the process of setting up a home visit to each family, where they’ll talk and play with their incoming students and get to know a little more about them.
Similar to many preschools in our area, Buba and Tiny will have a visiting day prior to the real first day of school. On this day parents come into the classroom and stay as the kids get their first introduction to the school and their classroom. The visiting session is just one hour long and only three other students and their parents will be with us (five kids attend each one hour time slot throughout the visiting day). The following Monday, the children begin attending school on their own, but just for two hours each day. It isn’t until the following week that the full schedule of three hours a day, three days a week kicks in.
Tiny is naturally confident and independent, and I’m sure she will have no trouble transitioning to preschool this fall. But for Buba, who has a harder time separating from T and me and who takes longer to warm up in new situations, I’m so, so glad he’s had all of these opportunities to ease into the whole preschool thing. He already knows and looks forward to seeing a handful of his classmates, and he’s confident enough now to explore different areas of the school grounds (there are four different play areas) without me right by his side. He was very shy when we happened to meet his teachers during one of the playdates, but I’m hoping the home visit will help him become a bit more comfortable with them.
Fingers crossed that all this leads to an easy and smooth transition once that first day of school finally rolls around!
celebrations Family Time field trips preschool Tiny & Buba: Father's Day fire truck wash gymnastics playdate strawberry picking zoo
by reanbean
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Wednesday to Wednesday
It’s been a bit of a challenge to sit down and write up all the fun things we’ve been up to. Here are some highlights from the last week…
Last Wednesday: We returned to the zoo for the first time since last summer. We went with some friends, and the kids had a great time running around and reacquainting themselves with all the animals around the park. It was our first visit without the double stroller, and both Tiny and Buba did a great job walking through the zoo like big kids. (I did take a single umbrella stroller in case anyone was unable to handle the privilege of walking, but we didn’t end up needing it.)
Thursday: We went for a playdate with some twin friends who live about 20 minutes north of us. We hadn’t seen them in a while, so it was fun connecting with them again. The kids played mostly in the back yard. There was a water table and a kiddie pool, and Buba and Tiny had the best time playing with both. They stayed outside almost 15 minutes longer than the other kids, because they just didn’t want to stop all the fun. We’ll definitely be needing a kiddie pool of our own in the near future.
Friday: Tiny and Buba had their last mommy and me gymnastics class in the morning and spent the afternoon playing outside and riding their tricycles.
Saturday: We got an early start on our spring/summer tradition of Saturday yard sale shopping to be sure we’d have plenty of time to wash the fire trucks in town.
That night we had a delicious Indian food dinner to celebrate our beloved Daddy (we let him choose a special dinner on Saturday, because we had plans to celebrate with Grandpa on Sunday).
Sunday: Buba, Tiny and I got up and ready and snuck out of the house while T was still sleeping. We went and picked up a dozen donuts and a coffee for Daddy, and then snuck back in as quietly as we could. When T woke up, we presented him with his coffee, the Sunday paper, and the gift the kids had made (a picture frame that they painted and decorated with sparkly jewels). Later that day, we went to Grandpa’s house and give him the same gift. The kids rode bikes around the circle, and then we all had a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill.
Monday: We went back to the zoo with another set of friends. Even though we had just been there a few days ago, the kids were just as excited as the first time we went. After our zoo visit, we headed back to our town for a popsicle party at the playground. It was technically for kids headed to kindergarten in the fall, but since I was in charge of the event (I am now the special events planner for my town’s family organization), my kids got to go and have popsicles too.
Tuesday: Tiny and Buba had their first day of summer gymnastics. They were in a class with kids who were all younger than them, and the level of gymnastics was definitely lower than the class they had just completed. So, we dropped the weekly mommy and me class and signed them up for two days of gymnastics camp (one in July and one in August). In camp, they’ll go for 3.5 hours at a time and ALL BY THEMSELVES. Tiny can’t wait. Hopefully Buba will be okay with this. We also switched their classes for the fall, so Tiny will definitely be going in the more advanced class, and Buba will be in an all boys class. Lots of changes coming up for them.
After gymnastics, we headed to a playground where T’s class was having an end of the year celebration. Buba and Tiny were treated like kings and queens, with all those big kids carrying them around, pushing them on the swings, and just doing whatever it was that they wanted. They were in heaven.
Wednesday (Today): The weather wasn’t great today. It sprinkled on and off all morning, and then poured all afternoon. But that didn’t keep us from getting out and having some fun. We headed out early to go pick Strawberries at a nearby farm. Tiny was all about getting the biggest, red-est berries she could find. Buba spent his time picking all the tiny, white ones and then throwing them across the field (which I may have done once when I told him to only pick the red ones). Either way, they both had a good time.
Then we headed back down to a playdate at the kids’ preschool. Over the summer, regular playdates are scheduled on the school’s playground so the kids (and parents) can get to know each other before the school year begins. And, hopefully, this will lead to a smoother transition when September rolls around. Buba and Tiny had a great time playing on the structures and in the massive sandbox. Even when it started to rain, they didn’t want to leave. We stayed until the very end. They left soaking wet, filthy, and begging to go back.
Preschool Fair
It’s been almost six months since I last wrote about preschool. Although there was a bit of drama surrounding the final decision, by early February we had sent in our deposits to a Reggio Emilia co-op school. Both T and I are very happy with this decision and are confident that our kids will have a great experience there.
This past Saturday, the preschool had it’s annual fair- an event that is lots of fun for the little ones and a great fundraiser for the school. After spending $40 on tickets for the games, the only thing Tiny and Buba wanted to do was play on the playground. So, we headed there first, and when they grew tired of that, I convinced them to try some of the activities. They walked the plank (a balance beam), threw bean bags through some holes, fished for yellow ducks, pulled lollipops, played mini-golf, rode the plasma cars, decorated small canvas bags, and jumped their hearts out in the bouncy house. (Sadly, I did not remember the camera.)
Needless to say, Buba and Tiny had a blast! They both have already asked when they can go to the fair again (next year!), and I’ve been doing my best to explain to them that, no, there will not be a bouncy house there when the start preschool in the fall. Fortunately, there are parents who organize playdates at the school’s playground throughout the summer, so we’ll have several chances to go back and see the school as it will be when they join the three-year-old class in September.