Friday, September 09, 2011

Kindergarten!

Luca had his much anticipated first day of kindergarten on Wednesday morning.  The school here does staggered entry for kindergarten, so on Wednesday only have of the class went until 10am (they normally will go til 11:30) and they did an orientation. 

We started our day with Luca excited to wear his new school clothes. Before I let him get dressed though, he needed to eat. I was sure that if he ate after getting dressed he would spill and then a major meltdown would ensue. (sometimes us moms have foresight!)

My mom arrived just in time to have breakfast of fried eggs and toast. She was coming to stay with Levi while I took Luca to his first day.  The boys were both so excited to see her so early in the morning and Luca was smiling from ear to ear when he told her that he was going to school that day.

We got dressed and began the short walk to school (about 6 blocks or so).  About half way to school, we stopped at Adelynn's house to walk with them as well. Luca and Adelynn posed for some first day of school photos and then we were off, full of excitement.

We arrived at the school and headed down to the classroom to "meet" the teacher. Of course, we already know her, so Luca just said a quick hello and then went off exploring.  After spending a few minutes exploring the classroom with our children, the parents then went next door to the library to have an informational meeting with the principal.  It didn't faze Luca in the least when I told him I was going to be leaving to go to the meeting. He was thrilled to have found some toys, costumes and familiar faces.

I thought I was totally prepared for him to go to school and was excited for him, so I was a bit surprised at the teary eyes and lump in my throat that appeared when we were exploring the classroom.  I AM excited for him, I think it was just the emotional aspect of my biggest baby growing up.

After the meeting, the parents snuck back into the classroom to see all the children sitting on the carpet listening to a story.  When the story was done, Luca was eager to show me the poem with his handprint on it that he made as well as his "I survived the first day of kindergarten" badge he was proudly wearing!

He was disappointed to find out that not only were we leaving but that he wouldn't be returning the next day.

As part of the staggered entry process, their first few days are spaced out. Luca was in group 'A', so his group went on Wednesday morning, with group 'B' going Thursday morning. On Monday, group 'A' will go again but this time until 11:30, and group 'B' on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, the entire class (both groups) will go and that is their "official" first day. From then on, he will go Monday to Thursday, every morning and alternating Friday mornings.

I've already been asked to sub in Luca's class on September 20th. I will try it once and see how it goes. I don't want it to be weird for either Luca or myself and I don't want to interfere in any way with his kindergarten experience.  So, we'll see how that goes....

For now, I'm wearing my "mom" hat and being equally excited and sad for this big milestone in our lives.

1 comment:

CanadianMama said...

Luca looks so excited in the pictures! I think when I first met Luca he was about 2.5 WOW! I love that he gets to go with his buddy Adelynn and that they get to walk together - so cute! I also think it's neat that you will get to teach him, even if it may only be one time! Wishing him a wonderful year of kindie!!