Last night, Teddy's school had a Kindergarten Open House so the parents could meet the teachers, find out a bit more info regarding the school in general and the teacher specifically, as well as let the kids get an idea what their classroom looks like. It started at 6, but I don't think it was too well publicized. I only found it because I happened to be checking something on their website regarding the kindergarten teachers. Being at 6:00, Rich was able to come as well.
We got a little lost looking for Teddy's kindergarten classroom. There's a large bunch of them together and a few over by the office. Teddy's classroom, of course, is by the office. But once we found it, we got to meet his kindergarten teacher and take a look around the classroom. It a very bright classroom and one that I think Teddy's going to love being in. After a few minutes, the principal and a few others came on the CCTV to introduce themselves and tell us a little about the school. Then the teacher got her turn to tell us about her classroom.
We ran into a small problem ourselves because Pete has yet to figure out the meaning of the word "quiet". While everyone was trying to listen to the principal and the teacher, he was babbling away as loudly as possible. Rich ended up having to take him back to the car. And he wasn't too happy with it. I tried to remember as much as possible to tell him when we were finished.
But the upshot is, I like Teddy's teacher. From what I saw and what I heard, she really does like to make learning fun. She's got a neat behavior chart and a wonderful reward system. The class size doesn't seem huge - maybe a dozen kids? So there should be plenty of time for individual attention if necessary. She also sends home daily progress reports that need to be initialed so she knows that we saw them. I like that kind of interaction.
My biggest worry with Teddy isn't the learning portion of things but something that we thought he'd had mastered already - pooping. Over the last couple of months, he's had to change his underwear because they're poopy two or three times a day. Sometimes it's that he doesn't want to stop what he's doing to go to the bathroom and doesn't realize until he's already pooped. Other times, it's that he hasn't wiped well enough. Rich and I have tried to show him the best way to wipe, we've checked his butt when he was done... but it never seems to work well. I'm hoping this won't be something Teddy will continue while he's in school, but I can't bet on it. I did warn his teacher and I will be sending extra underpants to school with him every day. I've read at some of the parenting sites that this is common for the age. I just wish I knew how to help him make sure he gets to the bathroom and cleans himself up better. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
And a lot less fun than the other options.
