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Reflections from a Kinder Mom!

Teacher Life

So we are in week two of kindergarten here in Glendale, AZ! (Sigh… literally!) I myself am on maternity leave, but my 5 year old is now fully understanding that kindergarten is not just a fun place we go every once and awhile but somewhere he has to go daily to work and learn! He’s always so happy about that!

So I want to start this post by saying I love my new school I will be teaching at and love my son’s teacher. It has been very eye opening to be on the parent end of the interactions.

Here is what I saw that I loved… and I never really have done or thought of!

1. We got a picture of him on the first day on Friday with a cute little poem from Really Good Teaching Stuff. I have always sent home a note, but this picture is something I will treasure for sure! (I was going to attempt to make something similar for you for free, however this one is just too perfect and very inexpensive! Irreplaceable… Really Good Stuff hit one out of the ballpark with this product I tell you!)

2. Sticker charts for being on green. Braedon get’s 2 stickers if he is on green and 1 if he on yellow. Her sticker chart matches what they are teaching for the week. So the first week they did Brown Bear, Brown Bear, so they had 15 bears on paper and they literally just put a sticker on it. When the sticker card is full, they get to pick from the treasure chest. This week the chart was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The cards can carry over from week to week but still fun for him to match what they are learning!

I have surely learned some things I would do differently and I wanted to share those with you.

1. It might be helpful for my parents to start the year with a list of student names. My son comes home every day and I am not sure who he is talking about. Kids these days have some crazy names and I have spent a good chunk of time repeating what I think a name should be to my son. (In preschool we would use his class picture all the time to help jog his memory about who did what or who played with him etc.) It just would be nice to have a quick list so I can run through it and ask him if it’s this kid or that kid. How fun would it be to do one of those wordles really quick? I added this page to my Back To School Parent Information Set. It’s a freebie so be sure to get yours!

2. Send a schedule on day one. Kinder parents are excited about school and want to hear every detail about the day. This is a little hard if you don’t know where they are going or what they are doing. Braedon came home on the second day and said he went to the “class that gave him big muscles.” Although very cute, it took some coaxing to get that out of him. It was also a little unsettling to not know what time lunch was or if he had centers or whatever. I was so anxious all day about what he was doing.

So my little guy is SO TIRED! I have to say I am exhausted as well. Back to school time is a crazy time for everyone! I have to say though.. this year the commericals are still making me smile! Here are my two favorites!

Oh.. and 90210! Seriously! I totally went to Old Navy just to see if they had signage I could beg for! I was hoping for a Dylan or Brandon banner… sigh! =) Yes.. my bedroom was wall to wall Dylan in high school! Just love it!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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