Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | October 9, 2015

Today was the Cougar Challenge Walk-A-Thon at Sam’s school. It is the one big fundraiser the school has so that the kids don’t have to sell things throughout the year. They ask for pledges and then walk two times around the middle school field, which is right next door. Sam was so excited the day of the event. When I dropped her off, she was thrilled by the large cougar prints in front of the school, leading the way to the walk.

We all stood on the field and watched the kids go. They all were so excited. There was loud music and lots of people cheering them on.

To make it interesting, there were fun events along the way like the limbo station…

And the hula hoops!

I was a parent volunteer and part of the official cheering section, complete with pom poms.

Thankfully, Mark was there camera in hand. Sam’s teacher, Ms. Cipolloni, noticed and thanked us later. All the teachers love having pictures of their class.

The Springfield Cougar was on hand to cheer the kids on too.

Here is Sam’s class, Ms. Cipolloni’s p.m. kindergarten!

$15,000 was the goal, and they made it. In fact, we actually found out later, they raised over $26,000 for their school! Way to go, Little Cougars!

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pamelamyers | September 10, 2015

Sam came home from her first full day of school today full of smiles. I wasn’t sure how it would go. It is so different than preschool. Whereas last year at St. Matt’s I used to walk her inside and wait with all the other parents for the teacher to take them up to class, this year, we simply get in the car line and an aide comes and opens the car doors and off each kid goes.  I thought it was possible she’d be upset, but she gave me a million hugs and kisses, we did kissing and hugging hands, and she zoomed off to the door.

Mark and I asked her how her day was and she laughed and laughed telling us about “Mrs. W” who came into her class yelling, “What are all you kids doing in here? How did you get in here?” Then when she left she ran right into the glass walls of the classroom. I am so glad that they have teachers who are silly and try to make the kids feel at ease. Sam must have told us that story a million times, and she laughed just as loud every time.

When I was putting her to bed, she told me, “Mom, I love kindergarten.” She told me about the friends she made on the playground, about the girl she shares her locker with (name unknown at this point) and everything they do. She quickly made a friend, Adeline. She always seems to make fast friends with someone, first Julia, then Ava. I am so happy she always finds a friend right away and that she loves her teacher and everything about her school. I have no doubt she is going to have a great year!

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pamelamyers | September 9, 2015

Today was Sam’s first day of Kindergarten! How is this day here? I look at her and just think, where did this so very grown up girl come from? As I mentioned before, she got afternoon kindergarten, which is not ideal, but we will figure out our routine. She is an early riser, but I have a feeling she is going to be hard to get moving once she spends so many hours at home.

Anyway, the big day has finally arrived! Kindergarten in our school district is half day, which means two and one half hours. But for the first day of school, she only goes for one and one half hours, it’s only half her class, and a parent stays the whole time. I suppose it’s a good thing. It will help the kids not be so scared, and it is nice to be able to see her classroom for more than five minutes. Sam’s teacher is Ms. Cipolloni. She is young, and smiley, and seems like a kindergarten teacher, if you know what I mean. I think Sam is going to love her. I hope.

Here is Sam in her first day of school outfit that she picked out herself.

She has a Frozen backpack, also selected by her. It looks so big on her, but the school specifically requested a backpack big enough to fit a folder so full size it is.

Mark and I both dressed nicely as well, to show her that we know how important the day is to her. Sam definitely attributes nice clothes with important things.

Here were are! Sam is officially a Springfield Cougar!

We all waited in the library until it was time to move on to her classroom. Sam loves all the books!

As time passed, you could see the excitement give way to nervousness. She kept clinging to me more and more.

All in all, it went well. I think she would have actually been freaked if I had left, but since I stayed, she had a great time. The teacher had them all sit in a circle with us behind them while we introduced our kids to each other. Then we all had a scavenger hunt around the classroom looking for different stations and doing different activities. We found her locker (#12), the drinking fountain, the bathroom, her mailbox, and all kinds of different things in her room. The last activities after various art and writing projects were snack and playground. Sam was thrilled that cheddar Goldfish were the snack, and she was super excited to finally use a drinking fountain for the first time.

After the playground, I took Sam to see the alphabet walk. I knew she would love it and she did. Thankfully, Sam seems to love her school. Other than the obvious fact of her getting a good education, it’s the only other thing I can really ask. That she is happy.

On the way home, we stopped at Vera’s for a first day of school treat – ice cream!

Sam seemed to have a wonderful first day of school. I didn’t see her whole class, only half, and none of the kids I saw were in her preschool. Hopefully, she will find someone she knows, but if not, I am sure she will make friends quickly. She is so different than she was a year ago. She finds it so much easier to talk to people she doesn’t know and opens up much more readily.

First order of business when we got home is giving her kitties some hugs!

We tried to take them outside, but Zach is not having it! Penelope loves it though and I know Sam will love walking her kitty!

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pamelamyers | June 15, 2015

Today we took Sam to kindergarten for Kinder Kub Hub. It is a day when the kids enrolled in kindergarten get to come and visit the school and the parents get a bit of information. Sam was nervous and excited at the same time. I think she wants to go to kindergarten really badly, but she is scared too because it’s a new school and she doesn’t know what to expect. She got very comfortable at St. Matt’s not only with the people, but the building in general. She felt at home there and the prospect of starting that all over is daunting.

That morning, I took her to the gym with me and dropped her in the Kid Club care area while I worked out. She loves it there – but, honestly, what kid wouldn’t – it’s full of toys, games, crafts and whatnot to keep them amused. She loves seeing all the other kids who are there and chatting up a storm. On this particular day, she left telling me that the little girl she was playing with said she was going to see her new kindergarten today too. I told Sam that she may not see her there since there were a number of Kub Hub sessions that day, but you never know.

When we arrived, sure enough, there was her new little friend! Ashley was her name and Sam was so happy to see her. Not long after that, Toby, a boy from her St. Matt’s class, came in with his mom. I was glad that Sam saw some familiar faces to ease the experience. It was funny. She wanted to show Ashley some of the things she found in the library (where we were all assembled) but Ashley was being shy and scared and wouldn’t separate from her mom. Sam didn’t understand why. It was not that long ago that Sam would have been the one clinging to me, and now she was the adventurous one. I was quite proud of her and how far she has come.

We took some picture of Sam in the library of her new school! She picked out her outfit herself. I think she looks amazing!

Sam loved seeing so many books, and the tiny little chairs. There are a number of stuffed animals that are book characters on the shelves and Sam loved seeing Splat the Cat, one of her favorites!

We also found Pigeon, of the Mo Willems books. Sam recently discovered those when they read one at St. Matt’s. We have all of the Pigeon books now.

Soon enough, it was time for the kids to be led off to their classroom while the parents went to another. We got a lot of information from the principal about their philosophy, teaching style, and such as well as some practical info about pick up and drop off, school supplies and the home and school association. One thing they made sure to tell us is the answer to the question they say they get most often – what does my child have to know to be ready for kindergarten? According to the principal – they have to be 5 years old by the cutoff date, that’s it. Well…it was reassuring to some extent, since I am always worried that Sam is not ready yet, but I couldn’t help but think, let’s be serious, some kids are clearly more ready than others intellectually. But Sam will be fine, I know it.

At the end, the kids were led out onto the playground where we picked them up. Sam sees the playground when we drive past the school all the time so she was happy to finally get to play on it. When we got home I asked her how it was and she said it was great. I asked her what they did and she told me about the hearing test and some sort of eye test, as well as when they asked her to cut things out and color. All these things were obviously some sort of quick evaluations but all Sam knew is she had fun. Which is just perfect. Now, we wait until the end of August to see what class she is in (a.m. or p.m.) and who her teacher is. Hopefully, some kids from St. Matt’s will be in her class, but if not, Sam will do great, I have no doubt.

 

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pamelamyers | May 20, 2015

Sam may have had graduation a few days ago, but today is her official last day of preschool. After graduation day, they had a “fun day” (where the whole day was full of games and fun) and then her pizza party today.  I can’t believe it was her last day. As we went to school, it was very bittersweet. I am happy she is moving on, but sad too, that our routine of going to St. Matthew’s is over. You get quickly used to the other mom’s, the kids, the routine. Sam will miss her friends a lot. It was so hard for her this year having only one kid (a boy!) in her class who she knew from last year. She did make new friends, of course, but now she is worried again about who will be in kindergarten with her. Her best friend this year, Ava, doesn’t live in Springfield and is going to a different Kindergarten so that makes Sam sad. Last year, her best friend, Julia, went on to Kindergarten so there was that too. Every year she has to make a new “best friend” which is hard for her. She has gotten so much better at talking to kids and opening up though, that I have no doubt she will be just fine.

Her school pictures from this year finally showed up and here it is! So different from last year. She looks so grown up!

Here is her class picture. Hopefully, she will see lots of her friends her Kindergarten class next year. With so many classes though (12 a.m. and 12 p.m., I think), you just never know.

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