Reading and Writing and Adjusting

Well the first two weeks of kindergarten have been interesting.

The Welcome-to-Kindergarten letter I was eagerly anticipating? We got it in the mail approximately four days before school started. It contained no school supply list, no bus information, no school menu- just a welcome paragraph instructing parents to attend the first day of school with their children, and oh, that first day is only an hour long for kindergarteners.

Four days later, 27 kindergarteners and their accompanying parents crowded into a tiny classroom that lacked air-conditioning, and listened to a darling, but very nervous, teacher explain what this upcoming year would bring. We also received the school supply list, the bus information, and the school menu.

For a compulsive planner and organizer such as myself, this was a nightmare. I need time to plan and organize and basically get my mind wrapped around a change before I can commit myself to it and this school was giving me very little time to do that.

Clay and I left that first day with our boy, took him to the store to get his school supplies, he caught the bus the next morning without issue, and I’ve always intended on packing his lunch so really that lunch menu was pretty inconsequential.

This is new. I adjusted. We made it work. And it was fine.

Which is how I’m hoping it will go with Narls’ behavior. He was in time-out the first two days of school, prompting the teacher to ask Clay at pick-up time “how old is he?” And Wednesday of this week, he was in time-out FOUR TIMES. In one day. He behavior went into “red” status (danger zone apparently) and he was asked to leave his music class for climbing on a table.

I’m shocked and disappointed to hear this, and I’m not even going to begin to make excuses for his actions. He had his punishment at school, Clay and I implemented our punishment at home, and we’ve had many discussions explaining to him how this behavior is unacceptable.

Clay and I attended an Open House at his elementary school last night and I apologized to his teacher. “He’s curious and he’s impressionable and he was doing the same thing his classmates were doing”, she replied with a smile. “It’s an adjustment for everybody.” Gone was the nervous woman from that first day and in front of me was a confident teacher who has faith in my boy. “Narls is very smart, and his vocabulary and imagination are outstanding.”

No focus on the bad, just a quiet assurance that he’ll do better.

Funny how much I, a grownup, can still learn from a kindergarten teacher.

This is new.  He will adjust. We’ll make it work. And it’ll be fine.