After much anticipation, today was Dakota’s first day of preschool. Well, preschool orientation anyways…which means that I was there with her the entire time, but still.
She was perfectly fine with the whole idea until we pulled into the parking lot. When she saw where we were she immediately started to whine and tell me she was “too tired”, something she says when she’s nervous. I talked her down and soon enough we were walking in.
Once inside she pretty much hung onto my leg and hid from everyone there. I let her do that as much as I could but eventually I had to shake her off just so that I could walk. The teacher was doing her best to explain what to expect each day to everyone present, parents and children, but I’m pretty sure the only thing Dakota could think about was the little doll house she’d spotted in the play room.
When the kids first get to school they hang up their tote bags and then are able to play with a few toys that are on the carpet in the multipurpose room. Once everyone has arrived the children line up and go into the circle room; there they are able to play with toys of their choice while the teacher finishes her morning tasks.
After they clean up their toys the teacher pulls out their sit-upon’s for circle time.
Circle time consists of saying the pledge of allegiance, marking the day on the calendar, listening to stories, learning about the theme of the week etc.. There are lots of songs and simple poems that the kids will also learn during this time.
Here she is with her hand on her heart for the pledge.
I was really surprised (and elated!!!) when her teacher asked for a helper that Dakota raised her hand! I couldn’t believe she wanted to go up and help the teacher without me holding her hand!
She was chosen to mark the temperature on the thermometer and she was very proud of herself!
After circle time the kids were given a scavenger hunt very similar to the one Harper did on his orientation day. She enjoyed finding each thing on her list and even learned how to make her own “X” over the found items.
When she gave her teacher her finished paper she got to choose a sticker.
Since we are a co-op run completely by parents, there is a lot of information to go over before we actually begin our first day working. So, while the teacher went over expectations, the kids sat down to color.
And then we made our “Friendship Fruit Salad”…but Dakota isn’t a fruit eater so she didn’t eat any of it. She didn’t whine about it either, she just kept herself busy standing on the chairs and climbing under the table touching all the other kids’ shoes. (I made her get off the chairs but I didn’t say a word about sliding all over the floors under the tables. If you knew how spotlessly clean her school was you wouldn’t care about your kid sliding around on the floor either. Trust me.)
When snack time was done we all headed out for some playtime on the playground. Dakota made a b-line for the stationary bikes and ended up spending most of her time there. (Dakota was the only one who could make the bikes move! When she was on everyone went round and round but as soon as she got off the thing came to a screeching halt! The moms had to push it to get the kids going! I thought that was pretty funny!)
Here’s a little video of my baby on the playground:
All in all today was a good day. Dakota had a lot of up’s and down’s but I think she’s going to love it there once she gets used to it. The hardest part for her is going to be separating from me (or sitting still at circle time). Once she makes friends though, I think all will be well. Before we left today her teacher told her she was happy that she’d been there and Dakota walked over and gave her a hug. Her teacher and I were both very surprised, but not as surprised as we were when she also leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek! It was the sweetest moment and I just couldn't believe it was my Kota! My little baby is growing up!
No comments:
Post a Comment