Isn't that just about the sweetest thing you've ever seen? Today Erik had a play date at his kindergarten class, a way for the kids to get used to the classroom and the teacher. Erik didn't have any issues with fears and shyness, in his typical fashion, but he still had a great time getting to be in his classroom.
If I cry about kindergarten, it's only because I'm so excited about it. Erik is absolutely thrilled to be going. His teacher is wonderful. The classroom is truly beautiful. The curriculum is more perfect than I could ever imagine for Erik (at least in theory, of course, since he hasn't actually started). The school is small, and they know us there already.
And then there's the part about walking to school. We hadn't actually walked there yet, so we left really early for the playdate, to make sure we left enough time. Anders immediately found a walking stick, and then Erik spotted the perfect stick, too. We meandered down the big hill, through the parking lot (where they hold my hands), past the clock tower, and on the sidewalk where we can see the school, probably about 3/4 of a mile. It took us 22 minutes to get there, which was faster than I expected (and we certainly weren't rushing). Since we were there 30 minutes early (I hate being late, so I left really early), we dropped off the backpack and sweatshirts, and went to visit the school's "outdoor classroom". [insert more sighs of contentment with the school]
We returned back to the classroom, Erik signed in by writing his answer to the question on the sign in page--he was most excited about playing inside. After making his name tag, he proceeded to spend the majority of the inside time with the sculpey clay. There were 6 other kids there (I think there will be 19 in his class), all of the kids were kindergarteners (his class is a K/1 class, but she said some of the 1st graders will be coming to the play date next week instead, as many families seemed to have a vacation this week).
After a brief circle time, the kids got to eat their snack outside, just like they'll do every day unless it's raining. Then there was almost an hour to play on the playground. Removed from the sculpey, Erik had a great time playing with some of the other kids, including inventing a ball game with another little boy. Anders was with us, too, and he also decided he's ready to go to kindergarten. I have a feeling he'll be the one crying as we leave Erik that first day.
The playground is not the current normal of an elementary school playground. There's actually grass on which the children can run, and a huge sand pit with free access to running water (Erik and Anders were the only two kids who ended up soaked, incidentally). There's a play structure, but it's not the focus of the playground.
On our way home, we took our time walking so that we could explore much of what we saw. I taught the boys how to tell what time it was by the chimes of the clock tower. We made our hypotheses about what the bud-type part of a bush would be. I told them the names of different flowers and bushes, and had them smell jasmine, my favorite. We talked about the different kinds of trees, especially noticing eucalyptus, oak, and maple. We enjoyed our walk. I can tell that walking home with Erik will be a great time to learn more about his day, and how he's doing.
We discussed perseverance and how exercise makes our bodies stronger as we walked up the big hill. And it all took just 32 minutes.
Erik starts in 2 weeks. Stand by for more pictures and more ramblings about his wonderful school.
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