School Dayz

School is pretty much the greatest thing ever for both kids.  Whatever trepidations I had about Z starting kindergarten are pretty much non-existent and Oliver absolutely loves preschool.

Oliver got to start school first due to the teacher's strike in TPS.  He walked into his classroom with confidence and has been so delighted with everything they do.  He's in the indoor classroom which means they spend two hours (ish) in their classroom every day and then about an hour outside every day either in the schoolyard playing or on a hike around Snake Lake or up to Coyote Flats on an expedition.  His teachers are wonderful; Ms. James and Ms. Renicka.  Oliver comes home telling me about all of the fun things he is learning and what he does every day both inside and outside.  It is so nice for him to have something that is all his (as opposed to all of the other activities he does that his sister does, too).  His favorite friends are Ruby and Cece, the sisters of two of Zoë's friends from her class at the preschool too, which is great.  Their families are wonderful.

The hardest part about preschool for Oliver has been trying to figure out how to dress him each day.  Luckily it has been SUCH a mild fall, we haven't had to deal with rain much, but he gets SO hot when he's outside running around that a coat is really too much for him.  He's usually pretty comfortable in a fleece pullover, a thermal under-layer, a pair of fleece pants and his hat.  It's pretty different from the layers upon layers upon layers we worried about with Zoë in her all outdoor section last year, which is probably why I'm so baffled.  I'm sure next year when Oliver is in the all outdoor section I'll feel better about getting him dressed properly!

Every day his teachers do an amazing job of posting pictures of the kids and their activities for the day with a description of what they did.  It's a fantastic talking point for us to ask Oliver what he did during the day if he doesn't offer many details (luckily, most of the time he does!).  As always, we are SO thankful for the Nurture in Nature Preschool.  We couldn't have found a better place for our kids to grow and learn.

Zoë LOVES kindergarten.  She is in her happy place when she's at school and she is doing SO well.  Every day at bedtime when we do favorite parts of the day she ALWAYS says "school" and when we ask her what part she replies "ALL of it".  Every day.  She has the most wonderful class of 20 kids who are so cute and good.  Her teacher, Ms. Keil is absolutely amazing and loves Z to pieces which warms my heart to know someone is looking after her.  She'll send me a picture every now and again of something cool Zoë is doing which is an added bonus.  Zoë's favorite specialist is music.  Mrs. Flanagan is pretty great and Zoë loves learning about music.  She was THRILLED this week because the librarian gave her A CHAPTER BOOK to check out.  And, she feels just ok about PE (which makes me sad because she LOVES to be active and play).  She isn't excited about the exercises they do every day they're there, but she does love to play games.  She's met lots of new friends and I hear about what they play at recess and during free choice time in the classroom all the time.

We are so happy that she is thriving at school.  She is SO DARN SMART.  I love hearing her reason through math problems we do in the car (you have five snowmen, one runs away...how many are left?!) and listening to her practice skills at home (counting by 5s and 10s, telling us about spiders, her sight words, etc).  I'm not sure why it surprises me about what she's learning...but it's so fun to hear each new thing!  She is still a book hound, reading every chance she can get.  We've finished quite a few chapter book read-alouds (the latest one was Stuart Little) and she's hungry for more.  We are most proud that she advocates for herself at school.  She's talked to Ms. Keil and her substitute about moving seats because she has a hard time concentrating near someone in particular (but she loves to play with that student, and I love to hear from her that she can differentiate how it's fun to play with someone but maybe not sit by them in class because they are distracting!).  She hounded the librarian about the perfect book for at least three weeks.  Chris and I talked about it last night what a good job we have done about making her do her own asking from the time she was very little...asking for a balloon at Red Robin, asking for a straw at a lunch counter, asking for another cup, etc.  A pat on the back for us, if we may say so ourselves.  ;)

More to come, but we love school and are so glad.