Kindergarten Here We Come

We had our meeting with the preschool director and one of Leo's teachers today. Overall, they were happy to see how much he has achieved over the past couple of months - especially how he is learning to cope with stressful situations. The teachers have been working with him to verbalize his feelings and he now has a much better ability to talk about what is happening instead of just screaming when he has a tantrum.

They both agreed that cognitively Leo is ready for Kindergarten (and then some). Especially this week, as Leo is the 'number captain' as the class is learning new ways to look at numbers - like greater than and less than, and counting by twos. Physically, he is also ready. His favorite outside activity is now climbing the monkey bars - which I saw last weekend at Todd's as Leo was proud to show off how well he could move across a set of bars.

But Leo still has some social challenges. He likes his friends at school, and is well-liked by them. And although the teachers have shifted their role to 'guiding' Leo through one of his tantrums rather than just trying to get him to stop, his outbursts still happen. They are working with him to take a deep breath when they see the signs of something about to happen - and Leo himself is even becoming aware that he is about to lose control.

Overall, though, they believe moving on to Kindergarten would be much better for Leo as opposed to staying another year in Pre-school. If he stayed, the next oldest child would be 6 months younger than Leo - so he would not have any peers. They are afraid that the growth he is now making could backfire if he was not challenged to continue to grow. Also, if he stayed he would not get the same sort of attention at the beginning of the school year as the teachers spend a lot more time dealing with the group dynamics of the new children in the class.

In Kindergarten, all of the children would be in the same position when the school year starts. And they believe Leo might even have an advantage coming from his experiences at this preschool. During the summer, the preschool sessions are run more like a camp, but without giving up much of the structure that is already in place. And if we continue to encourage Leo to be comfortable with the upcoming change of schools even better. I plan on taking him to visit his new school, and we'll also spend some additional time on the playground there.

At the end of preschool, they have "graduation". Its a special day for all of the kids and for many of them, the last time they will see each other, as they scatter to different school districts to start Kindergarten. So we'll try to get pictures of him with his present school friends - just as he has some pictures with some of the classmates he had at KinderCare.

Daniel, meanwhile, has two more years of preschool. I think he will miss having Leo around - even though they were in different classes, Daniel has never known being at school without Leo being nearby. But a second year in his Preschool 1 class will allow Daniel to grow and be one of the older children in the class - a feeling he never gets at home with his big brother around!