Leading up to Open House, Shelby was pretty nervous about school. But after attending her Open House last Friday, she has been SO excited!! Her school is just precious. Everything I learned in my undergrad program & my master's that is developmentally appropriate & idyllic for an early childhood classroom--Shelby's school has all of that & more. It is seriously a teacher's dream school! The school has a lot of Montesorri aspects to it. They have 3 classes--three year olds, four year olds, and Kindergarten. The Kindergarten class does their own thing, but the 3s & 4s are allowed to choose their workspace/activities for the first 75 minutes of their morning. There are 4 classrooms they are allowed to move between--an art studio, the construction room, "the big room" (which has the snack tables, journal table, bugs--Shelby's favorites!, and MUCH more!), and the garden area outside (sandbox, rice table, and other various activities in addition to the garden). The school also has about 8-10 pets housed in cages in each of the rooms--bunnies, a bearded dragon, & hermit crabs to name a couple! I think the fact that Shelby got to choose where she would be working was what really got her excited about the first day! The two different age groups work together for the first 75 minutes & kids can come and go as they please as well as stop for potty and/or snack breaks whenever they want. The snack area seriously blew me away! The kids get real plates/glasses to use, they pour their own glass of water from a pitcher (this delighted Shelby to no end!), and they serve themselves their snack using tongs. It's the cutest thing! They also go to the bathroom independently whenever they need to. After their 75 minutes of working in their interest areas, they have music & gathering time as a large group. Shelby loved this time b/c they have a teacher that leads the kids in songs/finger plays with her guitar. Next up is outside time followed by "table time" with your group teacher. Shelby interacts with all of the teachers & all of the 3 & 4 year old kids at the school as she moves through the various interest areas in the morning & in large group/outdoor time, but she'll have the same teacher (Ms. Melinda)& same 7 kids every day for her small group time. Then it's time to pick her up! They walk the kids out of the school down to the little picket fence for pick-up, and the look on Shelby's face when she saw us waiting for her outside the gate just about melted my heart! She was so excited to see us & tell us all about her day!!
After we dropped Shelby off this morning, Hadley and I went to the Boohoo/Woohoo Room--the church serves breakfast & has a time for fellowhip for the parents of the kiddos on their first day whether you are "boohooing" after dropping your baby or if you're cheering "woohoo!" The sweet ladies from the church will also go back in & check on your child if he/she was upset to give you an update on how they're doing. I loved the concept of the Boohoo/Woohoo Room, such a fun idea! After our visit to the Boohoo/Woohoo Room, it was time for errands! Hadley thought she was big stuff riding in the cart where Shelby usually sits. ;) We had three errands to run--Target, Michael's, & Old Navy--and we completed them in a record fifty minutes! It never ceases to amaze me how quickly you can accomplish errands when you're only having to get one kid in & out of their carseat. Of course, I did NOT have that perspective when I just Shelby. ;)
After our errands, we came home to play for a while before heading back up to school for pick-up. Shelby was all smiles after school & came home with lots of stories to share! She is anxious to go back on Thursday!! I'm so thankful we found such a wonderful school for Shelby. I know she is going to have a blast this year!! I'm so excited for her!!
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