Meet and Greet

Ane’s teacher is not at all like I had expected.

This is a good thing.

The teacher we originally thought that Ane would have was laid off at the end of last year – it had been her first year teaching, and with budget and personnel cuts, she was low man on the totem pole, as it were. The school’s reading specialist, Mrs. V., was going to be the new half-day kindergarten teacher.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Mrs. V. is probably around the Webmaster’s age (we had been told that she was “older” and compared to these young early 20’s kindergarten teachers, I guess being in your mid-thirties is “older”) and was very enthusiastic about the kindergarten class. She was talking to each kid at eye level, making them feel welcome to the classroom, and generally setting parents at ease. I think she’s going to be very nice to work with.

Ane took great pleasure in telling Mrs. V. that she is very good at coloring in the lines. Mrs. V. told her that she looks forward to seeing Ane’s coloring abilities.

The classroom is still set up the way the Webmaster and I saw it last winter when we did our initial walk-through – desks in groups, book corner, puzzle area (puzzles, blocks, and Legos) play area (complete with dress-up clothes, cash register, and play kitchen), and Smartboard up front. I could see the wheels turning in Ane’s head, envisioning herself sitting at a desk, playing in the kitchen, being a helper…

Oh, did I mention that Ane and I finished Ramona the Pest? She looks forward to doing the kind of “seat work” that Ramona did in kindergarten.

The other big highlight of the day was the school bus. The Webmaster’s cousin the principal stuck her head in the classroom (and waved at me) to tell the parents and kids that there was a school bus parked out front for the kindergarteners to check out, since most of them have never ridden a bus before. Ane enjoyed checking it out, sitting in the seats as I told her what behavior is expected on the bus. I think she’ll do well. She’ll be riding the bus in the mornings with Big Jay and another kindergarten girl in our neighborhood, Jean (who is not in her class), but I will be picking her up after her half-day of kindergarten is over. Since we got her moved to the morning class, there is no bus that will bring her home, so I have to pick her up every day. It’s a small price to pay.

I didn’t count how many kids will be in her class, but I’m guessing there will be somewhere around 25 to 27 kids. There are TWO sets of fraternal twins in Ane’s class. Both sets of twins are boys. Yikes. And the class is FULL – I overheard parents that have kids in the afternoon class that are on the waiting list, but I don’t think there is any chance now. We were very fortunate to get Ane in, thanks to being first on the list (we called as soon as we got the assignment letter) and Tad being in morning preschool within the district (which probably bolstered our case).

I gave Mrs. V. all the stuff from the supply list, so all I have to do is get Ane’s new pink backpack ready and pack her a snack for the first day of school.

Tomorrow is the big day! And yes, there will be pictures (so check a little later in the morning tomorrow)!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:34 am and is filed under Children, School Days.
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