First Day of Preschool

So, the boys had preschool this morning and loved it – I had a hard time getting them to go at the end of the class time. Since it was just an orientation day to meet the teacher, the parents all stayed while the kids got to explore the classroom for an hour this morning. They liked their teacher, Ms. Dora, and they enjoyed the classroom. There are places with each child's name to hang their backpack, a cubby for art work with each child's name, and there is a water table where they used magnetic fishing poles to fish, a little wooden kitchen set, an area with a road map rug and cars and blocks, tables and little chairs where they can color or do puzzles, a “quiet corner” (we didn’t check that part out – I assume it is a reading area), a computer with an animal alphabet game, a drinking fountain inside the classroom (Eli was especially excited about that), and a big rug for all the kids to sit on when they start and end the class for with songs. The boys loved it! At one point today they were coloring on the board, and Kolby showed his teacher that he could write and read several words, and she told me that they have a special reading program for preschoolers who have started to read (that 2 kids in her class last year were able to be in it), and that once the kids get tested in a couple months to see what levels they are at, Kolby will probably be in the reading program. She said that it is fun because they often have the kids who can read help read out loud to the other kids during reading time in class. She also told me that if Kolby seemed to be getting bored this year, she would get some materials from the kindergarten class for him to work on. So I thought that was great, because I had heard bad stories from parents about some other teachers in the area not being willing to do anything extra at all for kids who were a little bit ahead, because of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ act. I am glad that Ms. Dora seems to care a lot about actually teaching the kids, and that it seems like this year will be more like real school than a glorified daycare (which I think some preschool programs are). We took lots of pictures this morning – of the boys’ new backpacks and their folders, the boys walking to school, and doing different activities in the classroom. Kolby is excited to go again tomorrow, and to get to stay longer than just an hour. And Eli did great today too, so I think he will really enjoy preschool also.



I'll have to post the photos later, since it is not allowing me to upload any photos right now for some reason.