James's Preschool Experience

This little guy started preschool at St. Mary's of the Knobs (SMK) on January 7, 2015, and I'm pretty sure he loved every minute of it.  He attended school 3 days a week (M, W,  F) for 3 hours during the afternoon.

 

First day of preschool

The first couple of weeks, when I would ask him what he learned, he would say "Nothing.  I just played!".  His teacher gave us a weekly newsletter (that I looked forward to every week!) that described the classroom activities for the week and some suggested review questions.  He finally started opening up about what he learned and who he played with, and we started incorporating some of the prayers and songs he learned at school into our daily lives at home.  I think my favorite is the "Clean Up Song" :)

Posing with the excavator Valentine box he made for his party at school.

 It was fun trying to interpret song lyrics after he learned a new song.  For example,  James would sing "Apple Weenie" instead of "Apple Annie".   At our parent/teacher conference, his teacher, Mrs. Sherrell, told us that on his first day, she called him over during "Circle Time".  Circle Time is when the kids play while the teachers call each child over in turn to work with them individually.  He told her, "Oh, honey, I'm playing right now.  I'll be over when I'm done."  She said that she looked over to the Teaching Assistant, Mrs. Walker, and it took everything they had not to crack up laughing. (She did inform us that after that incident, he always came over right away when called.  He apparently listened to his teachers much better than he listens to his parents!)

School Easter Egg Hunt

Picking him up from school was fun, too.  He'd come out of the door with a huge grin and give me a hug.  One day, he came out wearing his "back up pants" which were kept in his bag in case of potty accidents.  He eagerly ran over to me and said, "One of my classmates pooped on the floor and I crawled in it!".  I asked him, "Was it you?" and he assured me it was someone else.  I found his story a little hard to believe, but as I looked through his backpack, sure enough, there was a note from his teacher apologizing and saying that a classmate of his did indeed poop on the floor and James crawled in it before they noticed the mess.

SMK Fun in the Sun day

He had a lot of really nice kids in his class.  He often admired their backpacks and called the girls "my girls".  He told me a few times that I should set Matthias by "my girls" when I take him to school because "they like babies".  He really liked a little girl named Brinley.  When I was asking him about his friends once, he said "I like Brinley.  We look at each other." (They had assigned seating, and she sat across from him.)  He was going through his Valentine's candy and showed me a plastic red heart, saying "Do you know why Brinley gave this to me?  Because she loves me."  Sadly, Brinley is in the morning pre-K class this year, so he doesn't get to see her.  Hopefully they'll be reunited in Kindergarten!

James & Brinley

James and his classmates

James, Mrs. Sherrell, & Evan              Mrs. Walker, James, & Mrs. Sherrell

James's teacher, Mrs. Sherrell, is absolutely wonderful.  Before he started school, whenever I mentioned to people that had children who went to SMK that he was going to be starting preschool there, they would say how wonderful she is.  I  didn't think much of it, but they were 100% right.  She is very warm, caring, and friendly - exactly how you would imagine the perfect preschool teacher to be.  James was drawn to her immediately.  He told me that she's his best friend, and he often talked about inviting her over to our house.  I am very thankful that she has been a part of his life!

James & Mrs. Sherrell

At the end of the school year, James's class put on a program, singing songs and reciting nursery rhymes.  I captured most of it on my phone, but please forgive the poor quality - I was holding a sleeping (and heavy!) Matthias at the time :)

It's so hard to believe that my baby has just started pre-K.  What a difference 6 months makes!

Yesterday, he started pre-K with Mrs. Dennison.  He'll attend school 5 days a week for 3 hours in the afternoon.  I pray that he continues to love school and that his smile is that bright every year on the first day.