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.

Super Why!

So, I was thinking the other day that it’s kind of funny that we have something in common with each of our best friends: we all love “Super Why.” Yes, our kids love it too, but we as adults really love this show. We wait for it each morning, record episodes to play for the children later on, and even have the songs and quotes memorized from the show. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of watching the “Super Why” cartoon at 9am on PBS, you are definitely missing out. It’s a cute little show where the storybook characters use spelling and reading to resolve a problem in each episode. Plus, there is usually a good moral of the story that is taught in each episode too. The coolest thing about this show is that it is totally interactive and somewhat repetitive, so our kids love it and they actually read the letters and spell out words out loud while watching the show. Kolby says that he is the main character, “Super Why,” and Eli tells us that he is Alpha Pig (and he is also all of the other characters at the same time, he always adds). Camden even enjoys watching the show, and at the part where it tells the children to say their name out loud he said his name the other day (which was impressive since he doesn’t really talk much yet, even though it sounded more like “Mama” than “Camden,” but it was a good try). And Kolby has started to sound out more and more sounds lately and has even read a few short words without help, so I know it’s nice practice for him to work on the spelling and reading while watching a fun cartoon that he likes so much. But the funny thing about this show is that Super Why has been the topic of many a conversation lately between us and our friends. As our friend, Peter, said, “We wish we had a show this good when we were growing up.” When you go onto the PBS kids website, you can play a spelling game and make your own superhero. This is the one that Kolby made: