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Well DD1 went off to school without a hitch. She waved goodbye, as I hung around the door as if to say "go away mum, you're embarrassing me" :( No tears and all smiles so that was good. It's quiet here now so I probably should go and clean the house!
All went well for us today but OMG it was hard getting out of bed.
DS was worried about being a bit shy when we were walking down but he seemed pretty happy once he was settled into his room and when we walked back past the room after tea and biccies in the library he looked quite cheery.
It's a half day today so I have to go and pick him up in an hour.
How is everyone settling in after the first week/s?
We had tears this morning. His teacher warned me that often they're fine until the end of the week or the second week when the novelty is over and it seems that in our case she was spot on. I said bye-bye and hung around for notices and then when they were walking in I saw him chewing his pack-pack strap and rubbing his eyes really hard. He was trying so hard not to cry, it broke my heart. I went and held his hand into the classroom (trying not to cry myself) and his teacher took it from there. She said he's really chatty in class so I guess that he's not feeling out of place.
I might give him a half-day next week... they encourage parents to do it so I may as well take them up on it.
Oh, your poor ds Onyx, that would have been hard to see. Glad you were there to help though.
DD is home sick today (she is such a bad patient. No idea where she gets it from!) and has made it abundantly clear that she would rather be at school playing with her friends.
She had her evaluation on Wednesday, seems to be well and truly on track. The one comment that stuck in my mind was "she talks a lot, doesn't she?" had to laugh. Yes, yes she does.
we went realy well, much better then i thought!!
his first day, he was realy shy, i never had so many cuddles in one day from him! :heartbeat: it! ds2 however requested to go for doughnuts as he was feeling sick in the tummy about leaving his brother at school.
Getting him up in themornings is still a work in progress, but that is going better then bedtime! ive been asking his teacher how he is going at the end of the day, there having a few problems, but that is from his kindy letting him do as he pleased when he pleased, when they were ment to teach him to follow the teachers instructions, she said its ok tho, nothing she cant handle or fix.
we were running late the other day, and he had a mini freak as all the kids were sitting down and he couldnt see them from the door!! He seems to love sport, had it on monday and hasnt shut up about the sports teacher or how he got the goals in basketball yet!!
also loving the cuddles i get on the couch each evening when we do his nightly reader!! he is still a rough-nut, but i have started to notice him settling down a little just in this first week alone, AMAZING!
he goes full days, 9 untill 3:20 everyday except wensday, only for feburary, march he is there 5 days a week!
Sarah, he has a reader already?
DD1 seems to be settling in ok. Think she is struggling with the strictness and having to do things for herself (not just dumping it on mummy). She is loving the outdoors, which is great as she is such a coach potato at home. She is finally getting tired, getting her to bed the last few months has been hard and last night she went to sleep quite quickly. Full days start next week, which I am looking forward to (well expect for the parking) and full weeks start next term.
Readers here from the first day. Have no idea if we are doing the right thing with them. Both DH and I read with her of an evening.
Going really well here. DS has settled in with no problems. Very tired tho.. and this afternoon in the car he asked if he could have a sleep. mean mummy said no... he can go to bed straight after dinner LOL. He went to bed at 6.30 last night!!
We haven't got any readers yet. We have a parent/teacher night on Wednesday where they're going to discuss everything they're going to do this year etc, so I assume this is when things will kick into a higher gear. They've been busy settling in and starting up weekly routines like library visits and music lessons and things. DS told me he gets to be a leader next week hehe. I think that just means he gets to be at the front of the line, but I'm happy to hear he is getting involved with everything already :)
yup! had it since monday (his seccond day) each day it comes home with a new book, just a simple 4-6 words max each page, i read it to him, but the last 2 nights he has been going by the pictures and trying to work out what the words are ment to say, gets mighty pleased when he is right!:
not sure if thats how im ment to do it or not either, but after he has a little folder to fill out, he puts a smily face for how he felt reading it, then tells me his comment on it, im realy enjoying the time we spend doing it! its the first time he has EVER shown intrest in trying to do it himself!!!
we have the prep assesment on wensaday fingers crossed, i remember his kindy parent teacher interview, i was nervouse astho i was the student again!!
We've not had a reader as yet but he came home with a library book ok Monday.
There was an info night in Monday about reading with your child and they sent home a leaflet of hints and tips like pause a lot, encourage them to guess what happens next etc.
Sort of how they read the stories on playschool
No homework here yet. The whole school spends the first two weeks doing the Creating our Learning Community program. They have themes for each day like 'I learn about myself and others' and 'I establish class and school values' hmmm..... Sometimes I find it a bit hard to keep a straight face when I read the news letters they send home.
DS cheered up after I left but he decided at one point that he had had enough, so he hid his work under his table and told his teacher he was going off the the slides to play for a while lol.
first week over.
we have had readers every night except tonight. Maria was to look at the pictures and work out what was being written, I think they were remembering the words lol.
we had a parent teacher meeting today to go over our issues with our kids etc. Maria must be going ok beause she was given an award today at assembly for "a fantastic first week in kindergarten" I had no idea and we were running late and made it with about 3 minutes to spare. She did look little compared to all the other kids in the older years. We have also received our first invitation for a birthday party to be held in a few weeks time on their wednesday off, it will be a nice get together for the other parents as well.
DH makes DD1 read the book backwards just so she is not just reciting from memory.:
No readers or homework here & we do full days & full weeks already. DS is loving it, he has a beautiful teacher but is sooo tired at the end of the day.
I think Maria will be too when she goes to full days next week.
Huge week! DD1 had a great week, she had her assessment on Wednesday which was the day off and she did very well so that was good. The Prep teacher was amazed at how good her class has been and said that it was her best ever first week :happydance:
Yesterday DD1 turned 5 and made honey joys to give out to the class and they sung Happy Birthday - she was so chuffed!
No homework here yet but as of next week they will get a reader to take home each night to read with us.
Most NSW schools have a no homework policy for Kindergarten and won't send readers home until at least term 2. We usually like to teach them to read first LOL.
DS has been sent home with readers for the last two weeks, he got his first 2 pages of "homework" to complete over the last week, as well as a list of words he had to learn to recognise. I was a bit surprised, to say the least.
I know this sounds weird, but has anyone else noticed a change in their child since they've started school? DS has become a lot more cheeky, talking back a lot, very boisterous.. I guess I just miss the (mostly) sweet little boy I had before haha. He is also in a K/1 class, so that may be why, he's trying to fit in with the older kids. I don't know, maybe I'm imagining it lol.
He is loving school, and I am glad, I just wish he wouldn't be so obnoxious sometimes, especially to my mother with whom we live. They end up bickering and It's like having two 5 year olds in the house. I spend the day volunteering at a daycare centre, I want a break from bickering when I get home lol.
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At the info night they said we'll be getting pages of 'homework' which would review the previous weeks work or something. But it's not compulsory, just they found parents appreciate the kids getting an idea of homework.. or something like that LOL. I'd be quite happy for homework to be left til year 1!
Melly - I haven't noticed a change in general.. except for him soaking up information and telling me all this stuff.. I'm like.. How do you know about that? did you learn it at school? LOL. But when I pick him up in the afternoon I have one tired CRANKY boy on my hands.. hurls abuse my way before we're even out the gate these days! His teacher actually heard him one afternoon and DS was mortified LOL. He sheepishly turned around to see if he had been heard.. I said .. ooh I think Mr W heard that! and the teacher said yes, I did hear a big voice! DS just wanted to disappear I think.. His image was shattered haha. He calms down a bit once he's had some afternoon tea and a bit of a chat. I've learnt not to get cranky back at him.. I just calmly tell him we don't appreciate being treated like that when we haven't seen him all day. Give him a few minutes quiet time in his room if need be before he joins us again.
The first few weeks you will probably notice a change in some behaviours for a number of reasons - they are so tired from learning and the stimulation, they are also putting on all their best behaviour for the teacher so they need to let go, and they are being exposed to a huge amount of "big kid" stuff that they are trying to process it all. So don't be surprised if they muck up or misbehave at home, they will settle down (at least that's what I'm told!)
Liz, thank you for that. I will have to try those things with DS. He is also soaking up info like nothing else, he had the Life Education van visit the school last week so I've heard all sorts of stuff about that, and got to revisit my own memories of Healthy Harold the giraffe and the Life Education van lol. I have been trying to stay calm, but I have been battling with depression and anxiety a lot lately so I'm probably not as patient as I should be.
Then I have the whole issue of my mother trying to be a parent to him as well. She actually gave him what she called a tap on the bottom because of something he did the other day. Which I did not agree with. Needless to say we don't have the same ideas about parenting sometimes.
I will be doing a PPP Positive Parenting Program on Thursdays while he is at school, starting this coming week, so hopefully that will help me with other ways to react besides getting upset and cranky with him. He does run up to me with open arms when It's time to pick him up in the afternoon, which makes my heart melt lol. It's just as the afternoon wears on I think he gets tired and plays up a bit. I will also be doing a self esteem course on Wednesdays as I'm thinking maybe he's also playing off my emotions (as much as I try to keep them in check, some days are worse than others), as well as coping with the excitement and change that comes from starting school.
Edited to add: Thank you Nai, I am glad it is probably not just my imagination! Hopefully both of us can settle down soon lol.
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Homework in the Reception/First grade? what the . . . .
I'm reading this thread with interest, as my child begins school (Prep) in 2012. Wondering what to expect. As my child is pretty small for her age, i'm wondering how she will stay physically safe, in the playground, with the huge age range (prep up to Year 7). School bullying gets alot of media coverage. Would be so easy for a much older child to bully a Preppie. She gets bullied as it is at Kindy. (where the oldest child is nearly five).
Ooh, good one. Milo does the reciting thing so we might try this:
i have had a change in ds's behaviour, but he is more trying to relax at the end of the day, so there is a lot less fighting with his brother! i do have his bad attitude with bedtime still, i put him to bed at 7 lastnight he finaly gave in and went to sleep at 10!
the big thing we have is on weekends and wensdays he carrys on because there is no school! also he expects me to remember what his teacher has told him and what his friends names are as he can only remember one, so he becomes frustrated and cant understand why i dont know these things.
he had his prep assesment test last week, was told he done well (i had to wait in the hallway filling in forms) he is more of a visual hands on learner, he dosnt understand the alphabet when writen, but knows the hand signals for it! i was amazed as i dont know them and didnt know he had been taught them befor.
OH Melly i remember healthy harold!! he use to come to my school and we use to go on a bus to his "house" not sure what it was, but they had a puppet show and the room would go dark with stars, and i remember the huge goldfish in the entrance! i dont think they have it in vic as df thinks im nuts and has never heard of him :shakehead:
DD1 is feral when she gets home and sleep is still a battle. If she went on Wednesdays things would be much better, she would be more tired of an evening and have more of a routine happening. At the moment she just argues about everything when we get home.
She is having her reading assessment this Wednesday. Will be interesting to see how she goes.
Jacob is settling into school so much better then I ever could have imagined.. He is still full on energy in the afternoons but also exhausted so there is a lot of fighting amongst the boys in the afternoon and miss Olivia who has had us to herself all day gets jealous so stirs them up even more..
I'm lucky in one regard.. Bedtime is eeeeasy! In fact on fri he said he was tired and wanted to brush his teeth and go to bed! So no issues there. Just the hungry tired venting he does when I pick him up :/
Gigi - don't stress to much, homework is reading a reader with them each night - it takes a few minutes, and then some discussion. As for the ages our school has a buddy system where the preps get a grade 5/6 buddy to help them settle in. This has had the effect of really reducing any bullying incidents.
I had a very proud Mummy moment this morning as DD1 attended her first school assembly and got a 'Student of the Week Award' for contributing good ideas. I got all teary - shee looked so little and proud standing up in front of the whole school!
DS gets a homework sheet on Monday, for the whole week.
This week there are 4 tasks, things like 'colour in all the groups of 3 animals' and tracing numbers etc
He has a reader and twelve words to learn/focus on each week
We got our first homework sheet today. It's practicing writing some basic words, writing numbers and he has to cut out pictures that start with s. Due on Friday! Not compulsory but encouraged.
Home reading will start later in the term. They want to get together with parents first to teach us how to help them with their reading so we don't do it wrong hehe. Which I think is good :)
Congrats re the award! Ds got a merit certificate at assembly on Friday for 'clever origami skills' :-D
No homework for us so far & no readers yet either. He did get an award on Friday though "for helping others" soooo proud.
We went to an info night last night and had a run thru of everything they do in her class. It was very cute! They start readers in term 2 but no homework for kindy. Her teacher is lovely. DD is three ticks away from her first manners prize.
Yeah they said at our info night that kindy don't need homework.. but parents like it. What the?? LOL. I guess it doesn't hurt.. but I really don't see it as necessary.
Naawww well done to all the well behaved BB kiddies :) DS keeps getting stickers for good listening and things. He was telling me that if you play with things while Mr W is talking you get sent to sit at your desk and don't get to join in. I asked if he was sent there.. he proudly said "I never get sent to my desk!". Yeah.. I bet you don't.. perfect manners and behaviour are switched on for Mr W. Not fair.. I cop all the bad manners and behaviour when he comes home!! *jealous mummy* Still.. it's nice to know that he CAN behave LOL.
Liz, I think I prefer that they behave at school and then turn rotten at home rather than the other way around :p - the parents of the child at DD1's school who got sent home for biting another child ont he back :o would probably agree too....
Yeah true. Still jealous tho LOL.
We have parent-teacher interviews next week. Just to talk for 10 minutes about how they're settling and so on.
They do PIPS testing this week. It's like best start but in the ACT it's state wide. I wonder how my monkey will go, if it included dinosaurs he would ace it lol. He came home last week and told me he was an expert in dinosaurs. His older brother is an expert in talking pmsl.
They have a swimming carnival this Friday :o The kindys are only in the wading pool but even so I think the teachers are pretty brave to take them.
WTG on all the awards our BB kids are getting.
Swimming carnival here too but only 8yo and up can go.
Swimming carnival was week before last only grade 3 and up can go.
I was surprised that the school don't have swimming as a part of the p.e. Program they only do it in grade 1 from what I can tell.
They have a traffic light system and DS came home and told me one girl got 3 red traffic lights.
I asked if he had any and he said no I stayed on green. Well, actually, maybe 1 yellow. Lol
He has after school sport on Thursday it's lacrosse. We will see how he goes
We are on readers here already and I got my first phone call for medical reasons today from the office so proud that she had been attacked by mossies whilst doing PE. All settled in and having an assesment in the morning, hoping I wont have to be in the room as she will be destined to play up if I am around. Anyone else noticing a change in attitude..missy has aged 5 yrs in 3 weeks!!!
tHanks Nai, i am reassured by your words, it's great to hear it from the mums going thru it right now.:
congrats to Genevieve on her award, proud mummy moment absolutely.