Open House
pamelamyers | October 16, 2013
Tonight we had Sam’s open house at her school. Sam was so cute – we told her we were going to her school and she offered to give me her tote bag, and we had to “play school” before we left, where she walked us through what we were supposed to do. She even reassured me that there is a potty there if I need it. I thought it was so adorable because it was pretty clear she thought we were actually going to school like she does, as in, going to class. I guess she doesn’t really understand the concept of parent’s night.
It was our first real chance to see what was going on since she started there and Mark and I were anxious to go. It is a weird thing, like I mentioned in a previous post. She has this whole little life full of activities and people that we don’t really know anything about. I am so used to being part of every single tiny thing that ever happens to her. To sharing everything, to seeing everything. And now I don’t really have that anymore. It is only going to get worse, I suppose, as she gets older, but it is hard to think about sometimes because in so many ways, as big as she gets, she is still my baby.
We looked around her classroom quite a bit to see what was there for them to do. We had seen a lot of it, of course, when we first went to school for orientation, but it was nice to see things with her name on them — her own little cubby, her art, and the books she talks about when she comes home.
There were stations set up with signs to let you know what things were, but the most helpful one just simply described their day. First, the kids put folders in a basket, then they hang up their coats and tote bags, then they find name on the name board and on their carpet square. They sit on the carpet squares for circle time, which starts their day. While in circle time, the daily jobs are given out (who gets to do the calendar and dress the frog for the weather) and they are told the number of the day, who will be pray leader (they say grace before snack time) and who will be line leader. They also review the letter they are currently working on and discuss the things to do that day. It helped a lot to know what they do on a regular basis since Sam talks about things but sometimes it is hard to figure out what she means. Sam gets frustrated sometimes when we don’t understand, so this all definitely helped.
Most days, Sam comes home with a bunch of her daily artwork and class work in her folder, but occasionally they work on projects that she tells me they left at school. This was one of them. There was this really nice board full of pumpkins the kids drew faces on. Sam’s is near the middle, one up from the bottom. The teachers took pictures of the kids to put next to their pumpkins.
Here is a close up of our girl’s masterpiece.
All around the room were these adorable trees that the kids made by using artichokes that had paint on the leaves. It amazes me the things that these preschool teachers will do with a class full of 4 year olds. I can’t imagine the mess of paint and artichokes, but they manage to do it. Maybe I am not adventurous enough, but I would never attempt something like this at home! And somehow, I give them credit, she comes home completely clean.
After seeing her class, we had the chance to talk to Mrs. McCann, her teacher. We discussed how we are not really concerned at all about her learning, because we are confident that she is, and we can see it every day, but we are more concerned about her social development. Mrs. McCann understood where we were coming from (it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Sam is a bit reserved) but it made my entire day when she told us that, just that very day, Sam had such a breakthrough, for lack of a better word. Mrs. McCann said that she and Mrs. Curran, the assistant, kept looking at each other like, “what happened here?” Sam was finally talking, laughing, and being engaged. She even came up to Mrs. McCann and commented that she liked her necklace.
That was exactly what I wanted to hear. It was such a relief to know that she is starting to relax and enjoy her days. I know she likes school, but I do worry about my girl. I want her to have friends and I want her to feel included. That is a hard thing to accomplish when you are shy. But she is getting there. Mark always tells me not to worry, that she will be just fine, and I know in my heart she will be, but…she is my girl. And her happiness is paramount to me. And anything that threatens that happiness, even herself, frightens me. It always will. That’s just part of being her mom, I guess. I am so proud of her. And I love her so much. And I do know, most of the time, that she will be more than fine, she will be great. She is great. She is phenomenal.