My past couple of posts have been random thoughts! It's time to give the venting and random thoughts a break and talk about something I love more than anything else...My girls! As you may have heard already, Colleen started kindergarten! As expected, this was a big deal in the Payne home (as I am sure it is in most other homes!). Colleen was super excited. She loves to learn and loves school work. Any time we bought school supplies, she got excited. The week before school started, we received the much antipated phone call from her teacher, Ms. Rebekah Smith. Since I didn't know hardly anyone from the school, I had no idea who this teacher was. A quick post on facebook and I had wonderful "reviews" about her. The Thursday before school started was the Meet and Greet. Colleen was very excited to meet Ms. Smith. During the Meet and Greet, Colleen had a little time to visit with her and at one point Ms. Smith told Colleen that her baby sister was cute like her big sister, and of course, the ever so modest Colleen says "I know!". When we left that night, Colleen was even more excited already saying she loved Ms. Smith!Over the weekend before school started, I told Colleen that I was going to drop Cambryn off first so I could walk her in to her class for the first few days. Colleen was not happy...she wanted to be dropped off first! I told her that I had to know that she knew exactly how to get to her class before I could drop her off first. So, she was okay with that...but she made it clear she was NOT going to hold my hand! The first day arrives and she is cute as ever!! I dropped Cambryn off and we headed to Colleen's school. Colleen sang about starting kindergarten the entire drive from the daycare to her school. She held my hand down the street to the school, but once we walked into the building she let go of my hand. We walked to her class and when we walked in, my once social butterfly that is rarly every shy...got shy. The teacher sensed that and told me very quickly "Mom, it usually works best if you just leave now"! (I could tell she had plenty experience dealing with parents!). So, I left!
Since it was her first day, I wanted to pick her up. As I pulled around the driveway, I could see her sitting on a bench and she was all smiles and waved to me. I knew at that point she had a great day. We chatted on the way to the daycare to pick Cambryn up and she said she had a great day and it was fun. I asked her if she learned anything and she said "Yes", but when I asked her what she learned, she said, "I don't know"! I asked what they did and she said they played inside and outside!! As we got home, she pulled out her planner (each kid in the class gets their own daily planner and the teacher let's the parents know how the day was and any other additional informaiton the parents need to know) and turned to the marked page and showed me her happy face for her having a great day. She told me that each day I will have to sign it! She also showed me the "hornet stinger". Huntsville's mascot is the hornet and her index finger was her little stinger! It was cute. She also showed me how she kisses her brain when she gets the right answer to something! (you kiss your hand and then put the hand on your forehead)! Best of all, she couldn't wait to go back the next day!On day two, Colleen was able to show me exactly where her class was and as promised...on day 3, I dropped her off in the front of the school and she walked to class all by herself!
Also, at the end of the week Colleen's teacher sent home her behavior management system. I was very thrilled to see that Colleen had an "outstanding" week and because of that was able to pick a reward from the treasure box! Kindergarten is off to a great start!
