Micah has had a surprisingly tough transition to kindergarten. I've noticed that he has a hard time transitioning from one routine to another and he started the year off mourning the loss of the last preschool he had attended. He also started the year off with a rather horrible teacher. After 1.5 weeks of kindergarten, he had concluded that he was stupid, "bad in school," and wasn't good at math. On top of that, when we talked to him about what his teacher told him about how he was doing, he said she didn't tell him anything about his performance and he blamed it on himself for not speaking up. There were a whole variety of things she seemed to do poorly including requiring them to earn recess and lunch, only allowing them to have silent reading time until the first kid made a noise and then making everyone else stop reading and return to other class activities, etc. On day 14 of school, a Wednesday we emailed the principal, we met with her on Friday morning, we met with her and the teacher together on Monday morning, and on Tuesday Micah was in a new class. At the end of the day on Monday, after meeting with the teacher and before Micah knew anything was going on, his teacher told him how sad she was that he was leaving and how much she would miss him and that if he didn't want to move classes, he didn't have to. He came home in tears and I had to explain to him why he needed to change classes. I guess that was a good reassurance that we made the right decision!
He's been doing much better ever since. The homework that he has in the new class is much more enjoyable. Yes, they have regular homework in Kindergarten!! The reward system is much more appropriate, they have some kind of peg system where they can move up and down a smiley/frown spectrum based on their behavior. Micah has gotten into some trouble for blowing spit bubbles which I think he does when he's bored, and for not tucking in his shirt which I just can't believe kindergartners are penalized for, but I've seen other kids scolded for this as well. He has friends in class, he likes his teacher, and he is obviously learning. I couldn't be happier.
These days, Micah is very into art projects as usual. He's currently working on creating a Winnie the Pooh play and has created scenery, a sign on his bedroom door, balloons with the characters' faces on them, tickets for entrance, and placed pillows on his bedroom floor for seating. Next steps are to create sock puppets and distribute invitations! :)
He outright refuses to learn to ride a bike, even the version he has with no pedals. And he generally is not particularly interested in athletics, though he does love running and playing at the playground. We went to the mall yesterday and he brought his fisher price camera and took some honestly amazing photos of the things he saw there. They were well framed, clear, I couldn't believe it.
My favorite thing about Micah is how much he loves to snuggle. He crawls into our bed to snuggle in the morning, he climbs onto my lap whenever Penelope will allow it on the sofa or at the dinner table, and we snuggle in his bed every night before he goes to sleep. I know this won't last forever and I try to remind myself to enjoy every minute!
He's been doing much better ever since. The homework that he has in the new class is much more enjoyable. Yes, they have regular homework in Kindergarten!! The reward system is much more appropriate, they have some kind of peg system where they can move up and down a smiley/frown spectrum based on their behavior. Micah has gotten into some trouble for blowing spit bubbles which I think he does when he's bored, and for not tucking in his shirt which I just can't believe kindergartners are penalized for, but I've seen other kids scolded for this as well. He has friends in class, he likes his teacher, and he is obviously learning. I couldn't be happier.
These days, Micah is very into art projects as usual. He's currently working on creating a Winnie the Pooh play and has created scenery, a sign on his bedroom door, balloons with the characters' faces on them, tickets for entrance, and placed pillows on his bedroom floor for seating. Next steps are to create sock puppets and distribute invitations! :)
He outright refuses to learn to ride a bike, even the version he has with no pedals. And he generally is not particularly interested in athletics, though he does love running and playing at the playground. We went to the mall yesterday and he brought his fisher price camera and took some honestly amazing photos of the things he saw there. They were well framed, clear, I couldn't believe it.
My favorite thing about Micah is how much he loves to snuggle. He crawls into our bed to snuggle in the morning, he climbs onto my lap whenever Penelope will allow it on the sofa or at the dinner table, and we snuggle in his bed every night before he goes to sleep. I know this won't last forever and I try to remind myself to enjoy every minute!
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