Foundation (Prep/Kinder) 2014 Chatter #2

Ours were pretty quick, we had them back within the fortnight of photo day which was good. DS looks adorable. I'd prefer a proper class shot though, I think thats nicer than the individual shots all put together on the page. My old school photos are quite hilarious as in every class photo there is always someone looking like a goose, its funny to look back on :)

DS is not liking wearing the winter uniform. Hates long pants with a passion, Seems to be getting used to it but has complained each morning this week. Seriously Dude - build your bridge!! ;)

Guess what ! They arrived the next day. They look good - we get a full class shot and the individual class member pictures. It's all in a book.

My dd1 won't wear the school winter tunic so she wears track suits everyday. Is there any flexibility in what he can wear or is it strictly long pants?

Ours arrived as well. DD1 is pretty good, but DD2 did not give a real smile. So a bit miffed as she really has a great smile normally and I am going to put the family one if a frame. May need to change it next year if that one is better ;)

DD's photos are at the end of the month but haven't received any information on pricing or anything as yet.
As far as I know they do a whole school photo (being so small) and then I'm assuming the normal individual photo's.

We paid upfront for kinder photo's and it's so expensive for very little, I wasn't at all happy with her pics last year but have to do them again this year for DD2.. it's $100 for the package which is such a rip off when the staff could take just as nice photo's doing the same things.

How is everyone settling back in?

I love how enthusiastic DD is about going to school and explaining what they are doing.

In two weeks she goes to another small local school (30min away) for a day where they all do the life education van and have a day there... that should be quite exciting for her.
There are 2 schools they have a sister relationship with where they do sports carnivals together, swap days at each school etc.

we got ours too!
DS looks so fake and forced. Not a great picture of him. He looks a lot better in the class one.
Not putting it up.

Settling back in well here. Miss j got a student of the week award for "learning lots of words and being awesome!" Lol - she really is a little ball of personality. She was so proud of herself too.

They have a Mother's Day stall today, DD has gone to so much trouble hiding money from daddy & telling me I can't help unpack her bag today.. DP gave her $10 and when we donated gifts I had to pretend (for her sake) that I thought it was for a raffle. So cute!

That's so cute ZF our stall is tomorrow and dh and the girls have been really cute about it too lots of giggling.

Dd us settling in well again too, she is finding it's not quite as much fun now they are doing more class work but she is trying so hard with her reading. Her teacher have her the first words before she knew the alphabet and the attitude shift is amazing she is trying to learn them rather than getting angry.

This term she is playing with the boys she has played footy the last few days her dress is covered in mud but she insists on wearing it.

Our school mothers day stall is tomorrow, DS1 gave me the note with the price list on it LOL. I am sure it will be me giving him money in the morning as DH wont think about it. Today when I was at school helping they were getting there big kid buddies to type messages for them to stick inside beautiful cards they have made.

DS2 came home from CC other day and says mummy I have made you a necklace but (((((( told me not tell you LOL ok.

Hehe DS told me he has been working on secret Mother's Day stuff which he will bring home on Friday lol
DD hasn't been to childcare this week as is sick so I might send DH in on the way home tomorrow so her craft is here on Sunday hehehehe

Mothers day stall yesterday. LOL. DS bought me a trophy with champion mum on it. It's so hilariously tacky. He was so proud. Bless him. We couldn't leave school yesterday until he'd shown me.
And today I somehow have to get from 'mothers day' at kinder to 'mothers day' at school without letting anyone down or rushing off too soon. Should be impossible! AT least at kinder they give you a scone and a cuppa! lol.

DS is not eating well at school. we have had a week of 'discussions' and I spoke with his teacher again. What she told me was very interesting and I have decided to go a bit easier on him. I want him to eat because he needs food or he'll not keep up. But it seems he really is trying. He's not a slow eater at home, but he is in his own space. It seems he tries to sit and eat alone at school and he might also be using the time to relax and have a bit of time out. And he cant eat and meditate at the same time!

So, I'm going to chill out a bit. And let him take more of the foods he loves as opposed to the foods that I want him to eat for good health. We'll save that for home.

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DS is not eating well at school.

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Gah, DS has just had a few days of barely eating, luckily he has a huge breakfast and dinner - usually at least 2 bowls of cereal and some toast which is much more than I eat. However today most of his lunchbox came home untouched. ONE bite out of his sandwich, did eat his fruit and some of his recess. He's too busy being a social butterfly. We had a chat and we'll see how he goes moving forward. They have supervised fruit time and 10 minutes of lunch is supervised eating. Recess is up to them.

All the bullying stuff seems well behind us now. I have seen a leap of confidence in my little man this term. School is definitely agreeing with him. We have started readers this week which is great. DS loves it and I'm blown away by how quickly he is learning.

I've managed to negotiate a later start on one of my days which means we are only using OHSC two mornings, this is working well as keeping the long days to a minimum

That is really good to hear MN! So nice that he is thriving. Dd is too, although since the new baby was born, she has wanted to stay home more. We let her the first week, but now we are telling her she needs to go. I am gonna talk to her teachers about whether she would benefit from staying home one day a week this term, to help her adjust.

So we are almost at the end of Term 2! Unbelievable!! How are all our little ones going?

My preppie is going ok. We have had a bit of a set back in terms of clingyness at drop off - she's started crying when I leave. The teacher and I aren't sure why, I've tried talking to her about it and am no wiser. She says she is just so sad that she can't have just one more cuddle. She knows that I will be back. I've never been late. She doesn't do after school care or get picked up by anyone else ever, apart from DH, her dad that is.

Teacher has been handling it by giving her a cuddle and letting her cuddle the class stuffed dog toy for comfort. She tells me DD is fine after about five mins.

DD has also been telling me she doesn't want to go, that she wants to stay home with me and the boys.

I wonder if part of it is that the shine of school as something new and exciting is wearing off and she's realized that life goes on while she's at school. Maybe? Dunno.

But I'm returning to work Monday and I can just see its going to get a bit worse. Maybe.

Plus I don't think she's making friends. She's friendly with lots of kids but I don't think she's building friendships, ITMS?

She's still super young to be forming solid friendships, I think.
In DSs class the girls are friends because half of them were in kinder together last year and some even the year before.

DS doesn't have any favourite friends. Seems fine to spend his lunchtimes with whoever happens to be doing what he wants to do. And he's 6 already.

Thankfully he still wants to go everyday! He gets annoyed when he realises that ds2 and I might have done something he wanted to do during the day, but he still loves school. I'm lucky.

Parent teacher interviews week after next. That should be funny. I can't imagine what they could possibly say.
And then school finishes for us for 5 weeks while we go on holiday! It'll be interesting to see if DS is ok about going back to school after that. He should be. DH will be returning to work and DS2 will be returning to kinder so I'm sure everyone will just slot back in.

Mine is tired! One more week to go, and we have parent teacher interviews tomorrow night. Then it's four weeks off for us and boy do we need it here!

In my immediate group of friends we have 25 kids between 6 of us so between that and preschool, DS didn't really have to worry about making friends, however I have discovered he has made two great little mates separate to all that. My big girl however was just like your Miss I, OP and she was everybody's friend for ages with no particular alliance. Because she's so 'even', now 3 years later, everybody wants to be her best friend, but she just doesn't see the value in a ranking system lol.

Lenny you are absolutely right, she is still little. I just worry for her. I guess that's standard hey??

Only two weeks til holidays. My ILs have offered to take the boys down to the beach house for the days that I'm working in the first week of hols - they would normally be looking after them anyway so they said they could take then down and then we all go down on the weekend. I'm putting DD into a school holiday program at church for those days so she can stay home and travel down with us.

I'm looking forward to a bit of one on one time with just her.

Kim do you really get four weeks off??

Yep, four weeks, but we only get one week in the autumn and spring breaks. It's so hot for so long, that many people like to travel.

Sorry I've been MIA everyone, got a bit of catching up to do.

We had our first day off with nits yesterday :( DD1 was shattered, I found 1 single solitary nit and about 4 eggs so kept both the girls home from school & kinder and treated them.. She is back at school today and extremely happy.

I am really looking forward to her very first school report and hoping the school photo's come in soon too.

Her attitude at the moment is a bit off and she seems tired so I'm hoping it's just an end of term thing, she's really pushing the boundaries at home (but is a perfect angel at school).

How is everyone else going, being tired seems to be a general theme.

Oh no. Nits suck. ATM I am the nit queen....I just wish that other parents had to fork out the money I have had to for treatments. I've been through 3 bottles already this year! Then they might actually treat their infested kids....sorry rant over. It's a real problem within the community kids :(

First parent teacher interview for DS yesterday. Actually went really well. I was surprised (yes I know, have a bit of faith). His teacher is just so lovely. I had hoped he would have gotten dd1s transition teacher, but this one is a much better fit for him.

Today the poor kid was playing after school though and walked into a pole. The egg is still horrendous, hours later. Hope he doesn't get a black eye....

Interviews tonight. Got their reports yesterday. DD1 has done very well and DD2 is pretty standard, but I do suspect the first report is, looking back on DD1's is had her as pretty standard as well.

Enjoying being on school council and one of the sub committees. Very interesting being involved at that level, as opposed to just the standard helping out and fundraising. Most parents are pretty good, except for the one who I just want to throttle (judgemental, involved in everything and snappy at other parents, she is so bad many parents refuse to be on P&F due to her), I suppose that is fairly typical.

How did interviews go Astrid?

Hi everyone.

Just wondering how you guys go about give out bday invites?
If I drop him at school in the mornings then I can't hang around until other kids get there cause I have to get to work. I can do pickup in the afternoon.

Just confused at how to hand the invites out.

Btw, sorry I have been very MIA. Just super super busy.

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How did interviews go Astrid?

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Very well. DD1's was fantastic, her teacher would be happy to have more students like her.
DD2's was great as well. She is finally grasping reading, was getting concerned for awhile, so a relief to know she is "getting it". Her teacher is the same one that DD1 had for her first 2 years, so I am pretty trusting of her and know she will do what she needs to do and tell us when we need to know something.

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Hi everyone.

Just wondering how you guys go about give out bday invites?
If I drop him at school in the mornings then I can't hang around until other kids get there cause I have to get to work. I can do pickup in the afternoon.

Just confused at how to hand the invites out.

Btw, sorry I have been very MIA. Just super super busy.

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Hi Jewel. I give them to the teacher and hands them out. From what I can gather they don't make a big thing of it, just hand them over with other notes going home.

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Hi everyone.

Just wondering how you guys go about give out bday invites?
If I drop him at school in the mornings then I can't hang around until other kids get there cause I have to get to work. I can do pickup in the afternoon.

Just confused at how to hand the invites out.

Btw, sorry I have been very MIA. Just super super busy.

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Yes, give them to the teacher. Ours prefers this as some children get quite upset if they dont get an invite so the teacher will give them out at the end of the day with anything else that needs to come home. While yes, kids need to understand and cope with the rejection of not getting invites, as preppies kids dont necessarily understand not to make a big fuss of it so others dont feel left out. This seems to work well

We don't really do interviews as such at our school but I'm actually really excited to receive Miss A's first report... How sad am I.

Got her school photo's, she loves them and I am happy with the pack.

Not long until holidays!

We have interviews at the start of next term. School reports come home this week and then 2 weeks off. It's so cold at the moment I think we will be hanging inside a lot!

OP, dd1 is in grade 3 and still has fluid friendships, dd2 plays with different people but she's got a preferred group that she rotates through. They were all her kinder buddies though. She doesn't seem to have picked up any new friends though.

We gave invites to the teacher too, made it much easier.

We have our reports dd's was really good we knew she has a couple of areas to work on mostly her stubbornness when faced with new things. Interviews are tomorrow. We have had 9 days of swimming ending tomorrow it's been exhausting for her so we are looking forward to the holidays. She asked to stop dancing today but will hold off until she has had a rest before asking her again. We are stopping swimming after school though as both girls find it a long night.

Been reading bits slowly but had a feral awful few weeks so DS1 has missed some days of school for personal reasons. DS1 report I was very happy with he was at expected level for this time of year in every section and always try's hard, only issue is behaviour which we know about as he has poor concentration skills and tends to fidget and not sit still and pay attention. Missed parent teacher interviews due to above reasons but his teacher said will catch up early next term to do it then with me.

I took party invites to school other day and gave to teacher who put in respective children's school bags.

Report comes out tomorrow. Attitude is phenomenal. We've both been sick too. Can't wait for a break.

Teacher won't give out invites unless we invite all of one gender or the entire class. I skipped the party this year, I'm not in a position to pay for 15 - 30 kids. Too hard basket.

Got DD's report yesterday, couldn't be prouder of her efforts & the comments from her teacher.
I didn't realise until after reading it that it's against a national standard which made me even prouder.
2 B's and the rest C's with her spots on the graph just ahead of the yellow line... Super super proud mummy!

Well, final day of Term 2. How fast has this term flown? Although DD is really feeling the tiredness I think and is really looking forward to a bit of rest over the holidays. As are we all ;) She gets teary really easily (last night's tears were because I closed the door before she'd said goodnight???!!?) and is spending much more time in quiet play than chasing her brothers around. The rest will do her well.

Report was excellent - academically she sounds just like your DD1 ZF, slightly above the "normal" but pretty much exactly where she needs to be at this point in Prep. The comments on her attitude and behaviours were wonderful. She is polite, kind and caring, according to the report ;) Just kidding. We see that, we just get the other side of it - the bossy big sister, 5 going on 15 and learning her place in the world.

Things she had to work on were listening to instructions first time (LOL :lol: ) and some academic things - she's writing some numbers backwards, needs to work on counting in tens, counting backwards, start spelling words.

We also had a "three way" conversation, which was a chance for her to show off her portfolio of work and talk about how she is finding school. NOT a parent-teacher conference. 15 mins only. So I booked a proper conference with the teacher, which lasted almost an hour :)

Anway I'm glad I did - reaffirmed what I'd read in the report, plus the teacher got to tell us all about how lovely DD is. The first to comfort someome who is hurt or upset. Kind, caring with impeccable manners. Really good to hear.

We don't have much planned for the hols. School holiday program at our church Wed, Thu, Fri, then we might go to our beachhouse for a long weekend, that's about it. I really want her to have a break and a relax.

We gave learning conversations again next week, looking forward to it. DSs report was lovely to read. I love that they mark them on thing like empathy, resilience and kindness etc, great life skills and good things to constantly develop. No standout issues and he's doing well across all areas - yay!

DS has his first school Disco in a few weeks, he's so excited and he's asked if he can have some new 'flashy' shoes (the ones that light up lol). I'm volunteering on the night. Also volunteering next week on his first excursion, it's to a chocolate factory (omg!!)

How's everyone else traveling?

All going well here could not be prouder!! Had DS1 parent teacher interview today as due to personal issues could not attend end of last term when held. He is doing so well, teachers are all happy with him and say he is trying very very hard and very keen to please.

We had a school disco last term was lots of fun and a great fundraiser! Last friday night had a school movie night, kids all had a ball 1 movie for P-2 and different 3-6.

They had a prep breakfast today and he was so so excited to be going. I am going on excursion to zoo in a few weeks can't wait!! They have an incursion soon a hands on science thing sounds great!

DS1 proudly told neighbour other day I am nearly in grade 1 LOL keen much LOL

Birthday party went well in hols. Still having som friendship issues with some kids being a bit rude and boisterous, school is managing that and last few days DS1 has played with some quieter kids and has enjoyed himself, still seems keen to play with the other kids but they are not always including him and 1 in particular is being mean to him.

Can you all believe we are over half way thru grade prep!!!

MN that sounds like a great excursion to go on! Dd is going to a farm next week and is excited as it's the first one they have had.

We are starting to have playdates and she has a party too so she is having a ball.

She loves maths like her sister and her reading is getting better as long as she is in the mood to read!

Hi Guys...mind if i join in? My little boy is in prep this year and it has been a loooooooooong year. anyones little boys not adapting so well?

Of course you can join in PP - how are things going?

Been a bit MIA lately but hoping to spend a bit more time back on BB.

DD1 is going really well at the moment, got another reading award at school at assembly last week and her teacher is very impressed with how she is tracking.
We can organise a parent teacher interview so going to see if DP wants to come or if I can just organise to go in and have a proper official chat.

The whole school is going to see The King & I tomorrow in the city, DD is beside herself - they catch the train in, walk around a bit and catch a tram, have lunch in there then don't get back into town until a little after 6pm so it's going to be a very long day but an amazing opportunity for them. another benefit of such a small school I guess.

How is everyone else going?

We had book week this week, so dress ups and a book swap. It's been a fun but tiring week. Dd is doing well and is getting an award tomorrow!