School Party

The day after Sophie's birthday last week was Will's Easter Party at School. It feels like I have so little interaction with Will's school in general because of work and that makes me sad. He is taken to and from school by my mom (his teacher) and Craig and I are rarely able to attend parties or field trips like other parents do. Between us, we have four parent helper days throughout the school year where we go and participate in the days activities and assist the teachers as needed. Sadly, we had to forfeit one of these the week Craig started work in March. My next one is coming up in May and I'm really looking forward to that. But I want Will to associate his parents as an interactive part of school, more than just asking lots of questions at the end of a school day. It's a terribly guilt-ridden job to be a working mom!!

So anyway, I took the morning off last Thursday to go take part in their Easter festivities. The early morning class time was held like normal and most parents arrived at the official start time of the party at 10:30. But I sat in on the whole class, not as the helper but as the observer (which is always welcome). ;) Will liked having me there and he sat in my lap during circle times. I just love watching him interact with the other kids in that environment. He is such a social butterfly much like his daddy and quite unlike ME! From what I saw, he followed directions well and fell right in step with all the classroom routines and rituals. Of course he would! He's been doing this for months! But I just haven't seen him in this area of his life much and it was so much fun for me.

Following calendar and weather time, "Mrs. Skees" (Will still calls her this in school) was explaining the story of Easter and Jesus rising from the tomb. The little girl in standing beside her was the special helper that day and her mom was sitting beside me.

That was the other thing I appreciated so much about being there that day: seeing and chatting with the other parents! That's huge! And I so rarely get to do it! I know and recognize a bunch of them and have learned who goes with which child, but I think it's important for the parents to meet and form an acquaintance when their children are growing up together and forming friendships. Because of the schools location, many of the kids in Will's class will not move on to the same school district as Will, including one of his closest friends, Austin. Also, another one of his closest buddies, Luke, is pretty young in the class and will be held back another year before kindergarten. So there will be some adjusting for Will with regards to some friendships he's forming, but I can see that he will do just fine meeting new people. More than anything, I just appreciate any opportunity to meet and chat with parents whose child is in the same "life stage" as mine, I guess.

Saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

Reviewing their weekly readers - all about Earth Day!

Will, Luke and Austin

Story time - reading an Easter book. He always sits so patiently when he's being read to.

He loves these dinosaur counters for playing this math game.

I offered to help with one of the activity stations: hopscotch! Some of the kids were very familiar with it and others had never played. But my station was a pretty big hit! :)

Quick note: in the picture above, the tallest boy in the camo pants is Josiah - the brother of Will's friend Luke (who's standing right beside him in the #7 shirt). Josiah and Luke are only 14 months apart (I think?) and almost a head different in height! Anyway, Luke just turned three in November (?) and will be staying back for a third year of preschool, while his brother Josiah who turned four in September (?) will be joining Will in kindergarten (after he completes his third year of preschool) in the fall of 2012! So Josiah will be one of the oldest in his class (about nine months older than Will) while Will will be one of the youngest... and shortest. :) Anyway, I really like that family and I'm happy that Will is going to school with one of them. Also, their mom told me Josiah is obsessed with dinosaurs too right now, so I'm sure they'll have something in common. ;) We're hoping to get them together for some play time some time soon.

They had a ring toss and festive music and egg coloring:

Have I mentioned that the school is held in the classrooms of a church? This room is not normally their classroom, but rather a side room probably where teens have a meeting group. There is a mish-mosh of furniture in there and the preschool is fortunate to have such freedom in using their various spaces in times like this. Here the kids are playing a version of "Doggy, doggy, where's your bone?" but with a bunny (in the middle) and an Easter egg. They had so much fun with this! Following this game, we moved on to the big dining hall - where the congregation gathers after church services - and had an egg hunt (which I did not photograph).

The kids decorated treat bags and left them set out on a table. Parents could bring in treats to share (optional) and the kids got to go around and fill each child's bag.

I am looking so forward to my next parent helper day with Will in May. We're celebrating his "un-birthday" on that day since he will turn four after the school year ends. :)

And in the meantime, it is so nice to be able to check in with my mom and see what the kids are doing in school. Back in March, when they did parent teacher conferences during school hours, mom just reviewed Will's progress and her own suggestions one evening when we took a walk together instead of having me take more time off work. I'll try to review that update some time soon, along with a bunch of pictures my mom let me upload from her camera of school time activities.