Mar 02 2012
Annada’s First Day of School!
Showing off her lunch box before her test day at Montessori.
Today was Annada’s first official day of school. Wednesday she went to Montessori for 3 hours so her teacher could decide if she was a good fit for the classroom. Thursday we met with her teacher and school director. They offered us a spot! :). She did great and literally ran away from Marc into the building when it was time for class to begin. And in the morning, when we told her it was time to go she called out, “Hip hip hooray!”
Playing at Montessori Way Learning Center.
I am really impressed by the Montessori School. The classroom is very calm and the students were being respectful to each other and the teachers. Absolutely everything was thought through and the teachers were very kind. The theory is that if you give children a good environment and follow their lead they will work hard to learn. I was a bit of a skeptic until I went and saw even the young 3-year-olds happily working math puzzles and tracing letters for an hour.
Breakfast on her first day of school.
I love the Montessori classroom. However, it has five drawbacks – it is 5 days a week, it is way more expensive, Annada would have to quit Kindermusik, it is father away and it is not a Christian school.
Last week I found out our church’s preschool did not have room for Annada. That started us on a preschool hunt. Just when it felt like all the preschools were full (or not very good) one of the moms in Kindermusik told the class her son started school the day before. I called the school as soon as class was over and set up a tour for the next morning at Atonement Lutheran, which is the preschool our church recommends once they are full.
Atonement just opened a new classroom this week! They are full for next year, but would give us a spot if we put Annada in this year. Atonement is 3 days a week and close to our home. Plus they choose to have very small classes. There are only 5 kids in Annada’s classroom (there are 6 total but only 5 each day because 3 kids take one day off a week) and her teacher has a bachelor’s in childhood education.
Annada has been begging to go to school since last fall when her friends started school. So I already knew it was time to let her go (sniff sniff).
We have decided to put Annada in Atonement this year and over the summer do summer camp at both schools. Then we can decide where to put her next year. We have paid to reserve a spot in both. We are leaning toward Montessori next year, but it is wonderful to know we have two great options!
Annada's teacher, Mrs. Jamie.
Annada’s teacher at Atonement is fun and kind. Several times yesterday Annada flung her arms around me and said, “Oh, thank you for letting me go to school, Mommy!” This morning I thought I would have to wake her up, but when I walked in her room she was lying on her back with a big smile. I laid out her clothes (Annada’s one requirement was that they HAD to be pink) and she got dressed so fast we had time to spare.
Dropping Annada off.
Annada loves to sing a girl scouts song I taught her about making new friends and keeping old ones. So this morning she asked if she could bring stickers to school to give her new friends. “I’m going to make new friends and then come home to my old ones,” she told me.
Mrs. Jamie let Annada give out her stickers during circle time and then Annada even got to be line leader. When I picked her up, she ran away from me and started in running in circles of joy.
Then Annada came over and motioned between our hearts. “There’s the invisible string of love,” she said. Mrs. Jamie asked Annada what she meant and Annada told her my loves reaches her even when I am far away because of the invisible string between our hearts. (Thank you for the book recommendation, Dr. Nielsen!)
Mrs. Jamie said Annada did great today and fits in the class well.
Ice cream for lunch.
To celebrate Annada’s big day we ate ice cream for lunch and then went to the library. As we were driving Annada asked to call Daddy. When he asked her how school went she happily said – almost in one breath: “There were just kids. No Mommies and No Daddies. No anyones except little children. I made new friends. One of my new friends pushed me. I played on the playground and went in the pink house. A boy told me no you can’t come in, but then he said you can come in. There is a little potty in my classroom and I put holes in my play dough.”