We're about two months into preschool (four-year-old school, as Benji calls it) and Benji is loving it. Class is 2 3/4 hours a day, Monday to Thursday, which seems to be just right. There are 15 kids in his class with one teacher and one teacher's aide. They also have two special classes — music and gym — where the teachers from the big kids' part of the school come down to the preschool. Benji is particularly fond of gym class and gets so excited when he thinks it's gym day (and disappointed when class isn't on the day he expected). I think he also likes music class since he can actually tell you the teacher's name (Mrs. Cantagallo) although he gets very shy when you ask him to sing one of the songs he's learned.
Thankfully Mrs. Snell sends home a weekly newsletter to tell us what the kids have done each week since it can sometimes be difficult to get Benji (or any preschool kid) to tell you about his day. I know they say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning and I think they say prayers, but Benji seems to think they don't do prayers and claims there is no cross in the room (admittedly the cross is kind of small). They have Circle Time with a story most days as well as open play most days. They do the Weekly Reader most weeks and a religion leaflet about once a month. They do lots of art projects to practice cutting, coloring in the lines, and drawing. We still don't get many drawings home from Benji, but we do get things he's colored which are getting better. I'm just happy he's apparently coloring without an argument since we all know that he would rather do a maze than color. I think his favorites, though, are the things that require cutting and gluing. I also get the impression he prefers painting to crayons.
I know they've done the basic color mixing with finger paints as well as related books and other activities (one week it was red and yellow, etc.). The newsletter says they did a leaf walk two weeks ago, but Benji doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about. Last week they spent most of the week doing Halloween-themed projects such as a ghost and a pumpkin. Earlier in the year they did projects with the book "Click Clack Moo Cows That Type" and I think they read a lot of Clifford books. The newsletter says they're working on a shapes book, but I haven't seen that yet. They also spent two weeks on apples, including making applesauce from scratch, doing a family tree, and making apple hats.
At the beginning of October they started weekly show-and-tell. They each have a little flannel bag and whatever they bring has to fit in the bad and not be alive. So far Benji has brought the paper fishing game my mom made for Benji's birthday party, the Double Shutter game Matthew's parents gave him for his birthday, and the Bop-It game that Josh and Beth gave him for his birthday. Are we sensing a trend here? The kid really can't get enough of games. Every Sunday we pick something out and do a little bit of practice — what is this? why is it important? how does it work? Benji gets nervous about talking in the group, but I think the practice helps him feel more comfortable and the fact that he's showing off games gives him something built-in to show. I know that he refuses to raise his hand during Circle Time (he claims he's scared) but as far as I know show-and-tell has been successful.
Parent-Teacher conferences are at the end of November, so we'll have to see what his teacher has to say. In the meantime, here are some photos from the first day of school.
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
