Starting School in 2011

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.

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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.

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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).

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DH makes DD1 read the book backwards just so she is not just reciting from memory.

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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!