Ten Things of Thankful – Kindergarten Edition
Am I the only one who didn’t know Kindergarten is really hard?
For the parents?
Kidzilla is well into the rhythm of Kindergarten, but her parents are still trying to keep up. Honestly, this is one of those topics that should come with the book that doesn’t come with the baby…
We’re getting the hang of things, though, and so we have a few things to be thankful for this week in the area of Kindergarten success.
1. We are thankful that we found all the parts we need for Kidzilla’s Halloween costume parade on the 31st. And even more thankful that they were actually the parts she wanted. This is big because Zilla has my luck when it comes to shopping…whatever she sets her mind on invariably comes in every size but hers, or is out of stock…or something.
2. We are thankful we remembered that we needed to look for parts for Zilla’s 70s Theme Day costume this week. In the midst of buying cat parts, we kind of forgot about the whole 70s thing. We are also thankful that we found what we needed to do the 70s day thing.
3. Fab Hub is thankful for full day Kindergarten. For starters, I don’t see Kidzilla being satisfied with a half day program. She has a busy little mind. And with the Fab Hub starting back to school, having hours during the day to work on his school assignments will be very helpful.
4. I am thankful that the Fab Hub found the original school picture day order form flyer. Zilla’s school pictures were completely adorable…but they sent us the wrong package. We will be more thankful when they fix the problem and we actually have the number of photos we need to distribute to eager relatives.
5. We are both thankful for the early reader enrichment program Zilla is in. She has a chance to work on her reading and comprehension skills at her own pace which is, honestly, distinctly above level. We are so happy to see her enjoying that part of her week.
6. I am thankful that on days when Kidzilla buys lunch, she does it successfully. I was completely worried that she would drop her tray, not be able to figure out how to get her lunch. My spies tell me that she’s doing just fine.
7. The Fab Hub is thankful for days that Kidzilla buys lunch because it gives him a bit of a break in the morning. He has become the full-time lunch guy for both me and Zilla and watching him juggle everybody’s requests. Every now and then we find a slight error like the day when I ended up with a mayonnaise smoothie. But for the most part, he is aces at the lunch thing. He even packs lunchbox notes!
8. We are thankful that Zilla seems to making friends well in her class and at her lunch table. After spending the first five years of her life with pretty much the same kids at her daycare/preschool, it was a huge transition to move to a new school by herself. The kids in her pre-K class either stayed at the preschool for Kindergarten or went to a number of different schools in their respective districts. Zilla headed to her new place solo and misses her BFF from pre-K, but it seems like she’s found a few kindred spirits in her new class.
9. We are thankful that my Mom and Super Sister/Aunt happen to teach in the same school that Zilla attends. For the most part, everybody does their own thing and they are in three different parts of the campus, but knowing they are both on the premises is very comforting to us.
10. We are thankful that overall, Kidzilla seems to communicate most things she learns in school and hears about in school pretty accurately. It is a lot to take in, but she seems to know what’s going on with half days, special events, which day of the week she has specials, and more. That’s helpful on this end for sure, but it’s also reassuring for us to know that she is settling into her routine and is comfortable.
Hope your weekend was great and your week is off to a great start! What are you thankful for this week?
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Kindergarten is a lot different than it was even 7 years ago when my next oldest was in it. So many more expectations. I’m glad Zilla is doing so well. It is good to see they have programs to help kids learn at their own level. No other grade sees such a wide difference in the students’ abilities.
I used to limit my kids to one purchased lunch per week, but have since changed my mind. I get annoyed when someone has to pack because of a field trip. 🙂 Congrats to your husband for (mostly) keeping it all straight, and for adding the little touches which make them special.
We were shooting for one day per week as well. Currently, we’re at two. She just loves the buying thing. I kind of wonder if it will wear off after a while, though.
Didn’t finish my thought… You’re so right about the difference in students’ abilities and prior knowledge. For some of these kids, they’ve been in preschool or academic daycare programs since birth; others are on their first-ever school experience. Whatever they pay the Kindergarten teachers, it isn’t enough!
Love that she loves reading so very much.
Oh, me too!
Yes, I am telling you that even sending them off to college doesn’t not require that same intensity of psychic energy that starting kindergarten requires. Get extra sleep now and roll with it knowing that it does level off!
Good to know, May! Thanks for the heads-up! 🙂
Boy, it sounds like Zilla is adjusting beautifully. I sure wish Miss M. had fared so well!
Well, it’s not without its speed bumps…the ADHD factor is definitely part of the equation, mostly in the area of listening and following directions, but we’re working on that. I’m just happy the other things have fallen into place so well to balance that.
It’s so nice that your daughter tells you all about her day. When my oldest was in kindergarten and I asked him about his day, he replied, “You, know, Mom. You’ve been in kindergarten before!” Fortunately, he actually turned out to be a fairly communicative person, and now that he’s grown and married, does a good job of remembering to call regularly.
That’s a great end result! So funny that he said you should already know since you had done it before. That’s a good one!
Emma has the best kindergarten teacher EVER. Every week she sends home a daily summary of what they’ve done in school for the week. I love this, because I mostly hear about how “Madi is my BFF, and Zoey and I like to hang upside down at recess and Abby has an American Girl Doll can I have an American Girl doll too?” 🙂
Oh, yes, we get that version of the day, too! So funny, aren’t they? Our teacher does a weekly send-home with a summary aside from the daily papers and activities that come home daily. So far, so good!
What a super list, Lisa! It looks like Kidzilla and kindergarten are a match made in heaven! And how nice that they recognize that she needed some enrichment and have her working on reading skills. Awesome!
I truly love it that Fab Hub makes lunches, complete with lunchbox notes! (I never remembered to do that for my kids. I wonder how scarred they are by it?) But I have to ask, what is a mayonnaise smoothie? My daughter liked what she called “white sandwiches” in her lunch sometimes, which was a Miracle Whip sandwich, crusts removed. That’s it, just Miracle Whip and bread.
Oh, the mayonnaise smoothie…just click over to the He Cooks – Smoothie Edition post and it’s all there! 😉
http://www.themeaningofme.com/he-cooks-smoothie-edition/
It sounds as though Zilla’s settling in really well, and has bags of confidence about taking on these new tasks.
I LOVE that she gets to have two great days of dressing up. LOVE dressing up, even now 😀
School photos are the most adorable. I got one of Niece recently, and she has the most GORGEOUS grumpy face on. She did NOT want her photo taken, and made sure everyone knew. It’s glorious.
It’s completely amazing that your Fab Hub makes lunchbox notes. I don’t think I ever had one of them 🙂 So cute.
Well, you can live the lunchbox note thing vicariously in a day or two – I’m working on putting the pics of them up here on a post.
I love how kids manage to produce a permanent record of their displeasure with pictures – Zilla has a few of those already. Not a fan of picture day. But this year we got gold! 🙂
Don’t ask me why, but when I think about Kindergarten I remember an incident Sam had. He would always complain and try to get out of school if he could. One day he said he was sick and I didn’t believe him or listen. Sam went to school as usual.
A couple of hours later I had a call that he wanted me to get him because he had a tummy ache. Yeah right. Likely story.
An hour after that, they called because Sam projectile vomited across the room. I felt like such a jerk. Arriving at Sam’s school with tail between my legs, I took my sick boy home.
Figures, right? I’d be willing to bet you didn’t mess around with stomach complaints after that!
It’s such a relief when they get the hang of school with minor bumps, isn’t it? And why am I not surprised that she’s in enrichment for reading? 🙂
We’ve gotten the wrong picture package before, and ended up receiving double the amount of pictures. Two years in a row, same kid.
Well our correction pictures just arrived so now we have – like you said – way more than what we need. But if you don’t have enough for the Grandparents, Godparents, etc. it’s bad news. The ridiculous irony here is that I am the yearbook adviser (and as a by-product picture day coordinator) for the school where I teach. The same company does our photos as did Kidzilla’s school. So when I called the customer service number and the contact popped up in my phone as a frequently called number, it was a little surreal. Got a laugh about calling as a parent, not an adviser.
She absolutely loves the Early Reader class – absolutely devours books at an alarming rate. And I think it’s accelerating the pace!