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@Pancakes: @lamariniere: thanks!
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@Mamaof2: What a great pic! Hope she has a wonderful first day.
Back to School Night is tonight, and I'm hoping to learn a little more about our teacher. When I ask my son how school was, all he replies is "fine." Then I ask "what did you do?" and he replies, "a lot of stuff." I thought this happens during the teenage years, not now.
I'm just happy that his after-school daycare (which is the same place as his pre-school) picks him up, and he gets to meet up with all of his old friends. The teacher has a private Instagram and posts pics for us. It's like an afternoon kindergarten (his school is from 8:15 to 11:39) with homework time, crafts, reading, and science experiments. I hope Back to School Night will be informative.
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@Mamaof2: Hope it goes well!
We're done with orientation. We all survived, I made some friends, lol. My son seemed to like the class and the teacher, but this isn't the real deal, if you know what I mean. That will be after Labor Day.
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I'm loving these updates and pics of your adorable kids!!
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We don't start till after Labor Day but orientation went fine. One of her friends is in her class so that was a nice surprise.
Does your K classes take into account age ranges? I think my daughters class is fine but one of our friends is in a really skewed class. Her dd is 2 months prior to the cutoff (so on the younger side) and there's at least 3 kids that are over a year older and at 75% of the class is at least 7 months older. They don't do academic placement at our school for K so I guess it was just bad luck.
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@Maysprout: I am not sure of the ages in DD's class but I am sure its spread out - you have to be 5 before August 31 - So there could be a brand new 5 yr old and a few days old 6yr old in the same class
Well the 1st week is over and DD LOVES Kindergarten!!!
She keeps begging for homework!
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Back to School Night was on Wednesday, and it was nice to meet the PTO and the teachers. No homework in kindergarten. The teacher felt that it overwhelmed them last year. She will keep us updated with an online Haiku app with pictures and videos, which is nice.
Lots of fundraising information though. However, the money does pay for PE teachers, aides, and arts/music class, which the State and Federal does not pay for. They're also building a STEAM lab for the kids, which I guess is where the future is going.
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We also don't start until after Labor Day. We had Open House the other night, and met her teacher and the aide that will work full-time in her classroom. I completely forgot to write my questions down before I went, so oops! I'm trying to wait until I have a few and then can email the teacher all at once. They had a little popsicle social on the playground at the end and I got to chat with a couple of moms. We're new to the area so DD doesn't really know anyone, but I guess that will change soon! It doesn't sound like they have anything for parents on the first day, but I think that would be nice, so maybe I can take charge of planning that for next year!
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We had a "new families" orientation today. They presented the directors and talked a bit about the school and the two PTA groups introduced themselves. We also got a tour of the school. I still have a lot of questions and we didn't meet the teachers, so all of that will wait until Monday when school officially starts. We did see the class lists and found out the teacher's name and saw that there is one other boy with DS's name in his class. They also mentioned that they have a real "chef" in the kitchen AND a pastry chef (!!!) and everyone was raving about how good the food is. I'm so excited for my son to start!
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My son started school today! They had a delayed start for the first year kids and we got to meet the teacher and walk with the kids into the classroom and settle the kids in. We are also allowed to walk them into their classroom tomorrow, but after that, they wait in the courtyard and go in with everyone else. My first impression of the teacher is that she is very warm and welcoming and positive, so that's great! I also appreciate that she asked which languages are spoken at home since there are a number of different nationalities in the class. There's a parent's info session next week so they will fill us in with a lot of details then. I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon and see how it all went!
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@lamariniere: that's wonderful! Running to IG to see a picture I hope!
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@T.H.O.U.:
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First day tomorrow...backpack's all packed, lunch is made, and everything's labelled!
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@tinyperson: same for us! good luck to S!
i haven't been on this thread much, but came to see if anyone is as anxious as i am! i am not sure if i will get any sleep tonight!!
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@DisneyBee: so excited about the steam lab! our app sounds very similar but it is called Seesaw.
@lamariniere: Yes, I like that the teacher is very interested in learning about home factors more right away. Glad your DS is having a good launch!
@mamaof2: begging for more homework!! awesome! lol!
LO first fell in love with her teacher the other week and has now declared she loves kindergarten and it might be her best grade ever!! -
Also another update...LO happily circled a majority of school lunches on last month's menu which let the pressure off of us but turned out she didn't like the food afterall and preferred home lunch so we completely switched and are making home lunch all month. DH gets the water/snacks/breakfast ready and I am doing home lunch and hair duty. This is our new normal. LO's job is brushing her teeth and getting her clothes, socks and shoes on. Sounds so easy....lol...but I have been making it to school with only a few minutes to spare lately. Looking forward to hearing more updates!
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LO got her first "note" home today. "OOps, I didn't follow directions". She had a full on meltdown when I asked her to tell me what happened. When she finally calmed she made up a story that didn't seem believable. At shower time, I took of her necklace and DH mentioned the necklace was in her hand when he picked her up and perhaps that's what the note was about. DD explained that "oops it was an accident she didn't tell the truth earlier". UGH! Lying makes me crazy.
We've tried to tell her that lying only makes the consequences worse. That when she's afraid of the consequence she shouldn't lie. It makes us disappointed that we can't trust her.
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@MamaG: Awww. Sorry for the rough day. I know last time u said she was kind of tired and still adjusting her sleep. LO sometimes couldn't tell me a sensitive -I got in trouble-story right away (to my angst) and I had to wait until bedtime while I laid in bed next to her to get the full story. You'll get the full story eventually. Hugs!!
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@808love: Yup, I get the most information at bedtime. I really wish that I could unlock what's making her lie to us. I try really hard to stay calm and talk through issues with her rather than be explosive. But this hiding/lying business has been around for a year or so now. We've been consistent with making sure there is a consequence to lying to try to get it to stop
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@808love: we need a better routine in the morning too! Now that baby 3 is here, I need her to be in charge of getting dressed and doing a few of her chores. Some mornings she's great. Other mornings we have complete meltdowns saying I need Help.
@MamaG: lying is so hard. We are dealing with made up stories too. Did you ever get the truth? I struggle with double consequences. Like when do we assume the action was punished enough at school (time out, lost recess etc) versus when the action requires additional punishment at home.
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Today was the first day the kids had to go in alone (the first 2 days the parents could go all the way to the classroom and settle them in). My son was looking for a specific girl from his class and we actually found her in the morning mob! Turns out, she had been looking specifically for him too! They went into the courtyard together holding hands.
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@lamariniere: aww glad he found a friend!
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@californiadreams: @tinyperson: how did it go?
@MamaG: oh man, lying drives me crazy too! I like to play truth or lie with my kids to help them understand it better - so tell her something and ask if its a truth or a lie and then talk about why the lie was a lie
@T.H.O.U.: I know this wasn't directed at me but DS had sooo many emails sent home last year in 1st grade - my philosophy was that if it happened at school then the school handles it, we don't punish at home as well. If the school didn't do anything then I would do something at home. For instance one day DS was being disrespectful to his teacher so I had him write her a note of apology.
@lamariniere: yay!
DD asked me this morning if she had K and I told her yes and she did a happy dance! She loves school so much and she is sooo close to having the entire Pledge of Allegiance memorized!!
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Gosh, the morning routine! I am struggling big time. I have so many plans but then I execute very little.
There were a ton of kids crying this morning, I think it's settled in for them that they have to keep going back to school. It majorly messed up the drop off line when parents thought their kids would be fine to get out alone, but then needed to be escorted into the building by the principal or another teacher. I know how hard it is to be that parent, so it's not intended to be a criticism, but rather an acknowledgement that other families are struggling too.
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@MamaG: Also, the lying. I did that as a child and my son has a tendency to make up stories. If you find any magic solutions, please share!
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@looch: that's how it was with DS - so for DD to love K and just walk away at drop off its pretty amazing!!!!!
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@Mamaof2: isn't it amazing that kids from the same parents can be so different?
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@looch: yes! I tell myself that everyday - they are sooo different!
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@T.H.O.U.: I got another version of the story this morning
So I have one story that's unbelievable and two that are plausible.We don't necessarily have consequences at home for school behavior. But we will always have a conversation about it. What happened, why it happened, what would have been a better choice, etc. Sometimes I will have her react with an apology the next day if appropriate.
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@MamaG: yes. And so hard when you don't know the truth!
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@Mamaof2: it's been going well thanks. first day was easy because he had a friend there. second day harder because his friend was absent, and today was better than yesterday with minimal clinginess at drop off.
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C had music class yesterday for the first time at this school. She declared her music teacher has the most beautiful voice in the whole world. And C claims she has the most beautiful voice in the whole school, other than the music teacher of course.
Since I can't hold a tune to save my soul, I'd be pleased if this little one could sing.
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Curious if anyone else is finding K a bit stressful? I knew it was more academic now but they really aren't messing around. My son has a summer birthday, so he's among the youngest in his class, and while he's big for his age, articulate and creative, that doesn't seem to matter much! His writing isn't that great yet and he's constantly getting critical notes about it and the fact that he's not coloring in the lines (which is apparently super important?)
I am seeing him improve and he mostly seems to like K, so I guess that's the crucial thing.
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Y'all, I'm so frustrated and don't know what to do. After a very long time of no bathroom accidents we had a couple right before school started and now two at school. She went all of pre k where the process was the same of needing to ask permission without a single accident. When I push her on why it's happening she says she's not allowed to interrupt the teacher. I know that's not true. The only thing that's changed is they now have a water bottle available to them all day long. I just don't know what to do.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: yes. We had open house last night and I was asking if the do any theme weeks or them units. She said no because they have to work through the curriculum (ask lesson and a worksheets). Very sad to hear especially because a lot of the worksheets is just letter tracing and such.
A lot of parents were concerned about differentiation. Apparently one boy just turned six and can already read and do addition. Poor kid is going to be really bored tracing letters this first semester.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: We are only six days in, but after hearing some friends and family say their kindergarteners have no homework, I was a bit surprised to see my DD come home with a binder with daily homework. They have a math calendar with one question or activity to do per day ("color the square yellow") for each day of the month, they are supposed to practice reading, writing, and spelling their "Buzz Words" daily, they're getting some poetry thing on Thursday...etc etc., and then we have to sign a paper that shows that we saw what their homework is and return on Friday. Her school is also following the "7 Habits of Happy Kids" which includes habits like, "Be proactive," and "think win-win." Supposedly they will get a note home if they didn't follow one of the habits. Seems heavy for kindergarten! Public K is a bit of a rude awakening after our play-based co-op preschool experience.
@T.H.O.U.: I'm sad about the worksheets too. Our Back to School night isn't for another couple of weeks, but I'm looking forward to a chance to talk to the teacher. I asked the principal over the summer about differentiation, and she was like, oh of course we differentiate, but as a former teacher I know that it can be hard to implement in real life. My girl is a voracious reader and I do worry about her being bored, but so far she says she likes K (but her favorite parts are riding the bus and lunch
).
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@MamaG: No advice, but commiseration. My DD hasn't had an accident yet but she refuses to use the bathroom at school. She says the self-flushing toilets scare her and that the bathroom smells. I would definitely talk to the teacher about how the all-day availability of water might be a problem. I think for my DD, just telling her not to drink so much water or that she has to use the bathroom wouldn't really work.
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We have a strong reader too and she is having some boredom issues and we are into week 4. We have 50 sight words to master by the end of the year (check, done). We got a monthly math calendar for September (check, done). This week's homework is a sheet of random letters that she's to read for one minute and see how many she can get with a goal of 30 letters (night 1 = 50 letters, night 2 = 57 letters). I'm seeing errors on some of her in class worksheets, but when I ask her about it she's dismissive. She's either in a hurry to be first done or bored and coloring everything while she waits (instead of only what she was supposed to).
They are starting reading assessments this week and I'll be very curious to see what level they put her at and how they start to differentiate. Areas that I don't feel like she's excelling are writing (b, d issues and many of her numbers are backwards) and staying focused on the task. Tonight when I told her to write "57" she wrote 50 7
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@Pancakes: I emailed the teacher and she's responded. She offered to take her water bottle and wait to give it until mid-morning as well as remind her to use the restroom before lunch. She also made mention of that there are 23 students and one restroom and they all seem to need to go at the same time.
It also made me think, in our Pre-K I think they had "scheduled" breaks. Like they would stop to use the hallway restroom on the way to music class. I don't get the impression they are doing that now. I know the teacher specifically mentioned they don't "allow" restroom use during lunch/recess from a supervision/safety perspective.
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@MamaG: we had an accident last week too -'and then again yesterday. Yesterday's actually got him sent home because it was diarrhea
m He says sometimes he is afraid to ask to go because he doesn't want to move his clip (behavior chart). Sigh.
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