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Friday, May 14, 2010

Pleasantly Surprised

We've decided to moved Cooper out of day care to attend a private Episcopal school starting in August.
He'll attend their Bridge Program then next year will go to Kindergarten at the same school.
They require a Brigance Screening to attend the school, so he spent one day there last week while they observed him and did the screening.
It was a huge difference than sending him to his day care for the first time.
Since he now understands English, I was able to prepare him and explain to him that he was going to a big boy school just for one day then back to his regular 'school'.  I also took him for a tour of the school the day before to give him the respect of not just dropping him off to a new and foreign place.  Also, since he's totally attached and trusts us wholly, it was really a nice drop off.
At first, he held my hand tightly and wanted to sit in my lap.  We sat there in the back of the class (of 7 kids, 1 teacher, 1 aide) for about 10 minutes. Then they wanted to show him where his cubby would be for that day and that they had put some special books in his cubby for rest time. (no naps here, just a 15 minute rest time - this is a topic for another post). He got up to see it and look at the books. Then he went over to where some boys were sitting and told them that he likes batman (!).  Another boy said that he likes batman too.  Then the teacher called him over to look at some animals they were playing with and putting into groups of families... that was it.  I said, I've got to go to work buddy, I'll pick you up around 3, ok? He said Bye Mommy and gave me a kiss... SO EASY!
They said they would call me if they needed to, but no news is good news so don't expect a call.  They didn't!  He did great - they said he sat at circle time, interacted with the other kids and the teachers, listened well and was an all-around joy to be around!  I was so proud.
The Brigance Screen showed that he is developmentally at 4 years and 3 months - just a few months behind his chronological age of 4 years and 10 months.  He's perfect for the Bridge Program - the program between PreK 4 and KG.   We're very happy and satisfied with our decision to send him to this school... now if they only had space for our Karagirl...  Their PreK 3 program is full right now - she's doing great at her school for now anyway.

3 comments:

kate said...

Wow! This sounds as great as your old daycare sounds horrible. What a GREAT change!

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you have tested the waters and made the right decision. I also love the new picture that heads up your blog.

Troy and Rachel said...

This does sound like a great change!! I know you work so hard at making sure they do well - just like any great parent would!! I love the header photo too!!