-
@dolphin: We labled everything too. Bough some avery labels on Amazon that are writable and then self-sealing for her water bottles - used them all of last year during pre-k and they held up well even in the dishwasher. Then just used a sharpie on her lunchbox tupperware which I can re-do if fading. Used a fabric pen on the inside of her backpack and the flap of her lunch box.
-
@dolphin: I just bought some Avery labels - ones that will attach to clothing and then normal ones. I'm going to use a sharpie on them... hopefully that works! Otherwise I might end up ordering InchBug labels.
-
@lindseykaye: @Adira: thank you! I'm gonna look for Avery labels right now on Amazon!
-
@dolphin: I bought a label maker! I’ve actually always wanted one (I’m a dork) and I used this as an excuse.
-
We’re on our second week now and I can’t believe how many platforms of communication we have. I feel like I have the WUPHF app from The Office. We have a physical folder, district portal, weekly school emails, weekly class emails, weekly flyer email, parents’ Facebook group, school Facebook group, school text and the Bloomz app that the teacher updates daily with pictures and videos. I’m in information overload. At this point DD is spending 3.5 hours in K and 7 hours in after school care. I hear nothing from them.
-
@dolphin: I just remembered labels for containers and water a couple days ago! I ordered from NameBubbles and they came SUPER fast, even with just regular shipping.
-
@Corduroy: lol. We are using Class Dojo. Sometimes I even think the teacher is spending too much time on that but I know she just wants to keep us parents informed and happy. She definitely has her work cut out for her! She's youngish though so high energy and great so far.
Anybody else working on HOMEWORK yet? First time doing regular homework. They're packets, nothing major. I think it's more about getting them into the habit than actually reviewing. I don't love homework in general but I'm making dd be pretty thorough so hopefully we establish decent habits!
-
@Corduroy: that’s a lot of information! We just have a binder that comes home and back to school everyday that her teacher sends home whatever we need to know about. We haven’t actually had direct contact with her teacher since she started on the 13th.
@2littlepumpkins: we get weekly homework packets, too. Her preK send Home similar packets every other week or so and gave prizes for bringing them back, so DD likes doing them and so far they don’t take that long. I really had my fingers crossed that we’d get one of those teachers you see on FB who send a letter Home saying they don’t believe in homework, but no such luck
-
@2littlepumpkins: oh man, i'm not going to be ready for homework. Luckily, in K in our district they don't do homework. Not until 1st grade.... we already make our son do some workbook stuff so I'm guessing it will be similar.
-
We have a binder that goes back and forth, and the teacher has been sending out weekly e-mails. The teacher has been very responsive to e-mail (maybe a little too responsive).
We have been having DS finish unfinished worksheets, but they haven't been asking for them back.
-
I’m really not comfortable with kindergarten kids having homework! I don’t know how our school feels about that, I guess I’ll find out!
It makes me nervous that I don’t know anything about this school, what the classrooms look like or anything! I wonder if we’ll be able to see in the room at drop off on the first day? After calling approximately 20 times over a day and a half and getting the “we are closed for the summer, the office reopens Monday August 27” every time (I hope they don’t have call display!) I finally made my husband actually go to the school where he was able to confirm that B is registered, and I think have him put in the same class as our neighbour, so that’s something! Now I guess I should start thinking about packing lunches
-
@erinbaderin: Will your school have anything for kindergarten kids prior to school starting?? Ours at least is having a New Family Open House where we'll be able to see the class rooms and tour the school (and hopefully get some questions answered) the day before school starts. I'm hoping that relieves some of my anxiety!
-
@2littlepumpkins: our school doesn’t do homework in kinder. They did send home some sight words to work on with them, but just suggested pointing them out in books, playing with tub letters, etc.
Things are going well at our school! It’s been a couple of weeks, and DD has settled in well. She’s definitely emotionally exhausted by the end of each day though! It’s like having a mini teenager when she storms upstairs with a “you just wouldn’t understand!”
@erinbaderin: Is there a meet the teacher or anything? It seems like it would be in everyone’s interest for your kiddo to have at least set foot in the building!
-
So our school nurse is amazing and I already feel so much better about Xander starting school. She saw my anxiety-filled post on the PTO's FB Group page and she contacted me with a 504 Plan for Xander and is going to be calling me tomorrow to go over everything!
-
@Adira: @rattles: Not as far as I know! School starts Tuesday and I haven’t heard anything. The schools all had open houses in April, but we went to the one for the other school, as they’d all but promised us they’d have room for him there! Maybe if I drop by the school sometime this week they’d let me look at his room?
-
@erinbaderin: I'd at least call and ask! Our school is having this open house thing, but it definitely isn't really being advertised!!
-
Well, we got our teacher assignments, and B has....teacher 2. WTF! That doesn’t help me at all!
-
@erinbaderin: Ummm... WTF??
-
@erinbaderin: It's a little strange they don't have anything happening beforehand. Hilarious about "teacher 2' yikes!!
We've had two orientations, a playdate, and we have a bus practice run all before school starts. We also had a parent night in the spring to go over schedules and answer questions. It's been a little much actually --- but I guess its better than nothing.Can you reach out to the schools PTO organization? They have been a big part of our introduction to school.
-
@hellobeeboston: More complaints! I went to the school today to ask what teacher 2’s actual name is (and I had to leave work early and actually go in, because they never answer the phone and the school voicemail box is full). Then I picked B up and took him to a doctor’s appointment, and when I went back to daycare to get my little guy all the teachers kept asking B how his school was, because apparently a bunch of the other daycare kids starting kindergarten had an open house to meet the teachers today! I’m so annoyed that our school does nothing and I can’t even call to ask about it because, as I said, they never answer the phone!
Argh. Not off to a good start. I was already super frustrated but now I’m basically in tears, it seems so unfair that other kids have a transition and we get nothing.
@hellobeeboston: I assume there was an open house in the spring, but as we were planning to send him to a different school, we went to that open house. We didn’t find out we wouldn’t be able to attend there until about three weeks ago.
-
@erinbaderin: I totally feel you. My school has basically dropped off the face of the planet when it comes to communication. They gave out teacher assignments on Monday, but if I hadn't joined the PTO FB Group, I don't know how I was supposed to know about it. And when I showed up on Monday, while they COULD tell me what teacher Xander was going to have, they couldn't answer any of my other questions! I definitely had a bit of an anxiety attack after that and sobbed. This whole transition period has been so stressful! Some schools seem to do a lot more than others!
Our school IS having an open house the day before school starts, so I'm really just crossing my fingers that that helps relieve some of my anxiety!
It doesn't help that yesterday was Xander's last day at daycare with his best friend. He cried himself to sleep last night and I felt horrible.
-
So sorry so many people are going through all this drama! A word of encouragement: my daughter started school on the 15th and they didn’t have the kid’s open house/play date until the 14th, but they did such a good job and it really helped my daughter with the adjustment.
After 2.5 weeks of school things are going really well! She has developed some tears at drop off that weren’t there at first, but she is always really happy at pickup and talks positively about school when she’s home. She even has her first field trip coming up!
-
@JCCovi: That is encouraging! Thanks for the update!
-
My DS starts next week! He just got a letter from his teacher in the mail, which was so sweet! He has 7 half days and then finally goes full day mid-month! How many half days did your kids have? I find this to be a bit much, especially for working parents!
-
@JCCovi: I would be fine with last minute, but school starts Tuesday morning and Monday is a holiday, so we’re definitely not having anything. I’m glad your daughter is doing well!
@Alba4: No half days for us, they launch straight into full time.
-
@Alba4: No half-days here either. Our town has full-day Kindergarten, thankfully!
-
@Alba4: No half days here either! We started on a Wednesday though and I think the first week being short helped!
-
No half days here! I cannot believe how so many of us are getting so little communication from the schools
We start 9/6 and I am so nervous for the school bus and lunch because DD is so spacey. And so many things to remember for parents and kids! It’s going to be such a learning curve.
-
OMG, I got an e-mail today!!! It actually has some useful information. For the first three days (Sept 5-7), all the staff will be out on the playground to greet the kids and then the whole class will go in together to their class rooms. We have to arrive between 8:30 and 8:45 for that. And then NEXT week kids can start arriving at 8:15 for breakfast (which we'll be doing).
There's also a whole bunch of info about parking and where not to park if you're walking your kid to the playground. This is going to be interesting...
-
I can’t get over how emotional I feel about school starting tomorrow. I just keep thinking that this is the first step in him not being a child anymore - up until now he’s been free to do what he wants, and play and explore all the time, and tomorrow is the start of “sit here, do this, concentrate, don’t fool around”.
-
@erinbaderin: im sad too, because I feel like it’s the end of an era. I know she’s going to come across bigger problems in school that I can’t fix for her. But I’m also excited to her too because I know she will love school and will thrive . I bet (hope) you will be surprised with what his day looks like - Ontario’s Kindegarren curriculum is one we always refer to here in NB as a model for child-based learning and exploratory purposeful play.
-
C has been acting SUPER WEIRD this weekend. Like asking a million times a day if it’s ok to do something: “Mom, I just touched the stairs is that okay?” or being really stressed about messes and needing to wash her hands/face over and over. Or telling on herself for really small thing “mom I just made a mad face at the TV.”
It’s exhausting because it’s every.30.seconds and so unlike her. She had her birthday party yesterday and she spent the first hour coming up to me with all those minor questions/infractions/worries before she finally relaxed enough to play and have fun
I’m hoping it’s school jitters but I don’t know??! It all started Friday afternoon when Dh picked her up from daycare (her last day) and her teachers were crying, C was crying, etc. I’m thinking it must be all related and hope it stops once she starts school tomorrow!!
-
We got our class assignment finally, and my daughter has at least 1 friend in the class from her pre-k class. My oldest is a pretty adaptable kiddo, so I'm not overly worried about her, even though she's going to a new building with new procedures/ new teacher. My husband and is totally freaked out that parents don't walk their kids to the classroom (which is what we did in pre-k). Starting in K, parents drop off at the front door and kids wait in the gym with their class. This has been similar in every school I've worked in, except in the suburbs, parents don't even get out of the car. But he still is so worried about it. The first day, he gets to go in, but after that, it's drop at the front door, kiss and go.
I also ended up signing her up for the first hour of aftercare, where you sign up for particular classes. I signed her up for French (Monday and Wednesday) and Sports (Tuesday and Thursday). But now I'm wondering if I've overachedules her, because I also signed her up for rec soccer on Saturdays and a Broadway singing/dancing class on Thursday late afternoons.
So I guess we'll see how aftercare goes, and if it seems like too much, I'll pull her. We have a sitter that will be doing morning drop off and afternoon pickup for both kids, so she can pick up DD1 right after school of aftercare is too much. She's picking up DD2 directly after school at pre-k in the same building.
-
@erinbaderin: do you know the teachers already? Is there one you're hoping for? We got our assignments the day before school and dd didn't get who she wanted but it has still been great. Even at back to school night they note that class adjustments can be made for two weeks to get the balance of the classes right.
@Charm54: aw sorry she's not herself. My dd has had some anxious tendencies about new situations in the past and that every 30 seconds behavior is frustrating for everyone involved. But maybe it'll just take a few days!
@Anagram: it does seem like a lot but if you think about it, it's only an hour for the first two and no travel time involved, so I bet it'll be ok. I think my kids extracurriculars are hardest on us, not her, with all the driving the kids around!
-
@MrsRoo: exactly!
@hellobeeboston: @rattles: nice not doing hw. I'm sure there will be much more of it as the years go on.. they are sort of workbook-like for now.
-
Sending all the love to everyone on the first day of school today! Ours was last week and the emotions were definitely high (for me - kiddo was fine!), so take care of yourselves today however you can.
-
Everything went well! His teachers seemed nice, he’s in a class with our neighbour, and he seemed a little nervous but this morning when I asked what kind of feelings he was having he said “I’m having I want a snack feelings” so I guess he wasn’t too stressed. And he happily let me take photos, which is rare!
-
I survived drop off today...her teacher had arranged a cute little scavenger hunt to get the kids used t class. DH and I saw an opportunity to sneak out after hugs and took it...I kept looking back worried she was going to run after us!
Mommy needed the heart bracelet more than K did...I cry when I look at it...#momstruggles
-
@Mrs D: Aww what a cute bracelet! It's all going to feel so much better once she gets home and you see she had a great day. Have a good one!
-
@Mrs. Carrot: Thank you!
She is home and it went great - as expected! Tomorrow she takes the bus, should be a whole new interesting experience!
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
417 comments