Kindergarten, At Last!

After the drama of Family Camp, we came home with one week to spare before Abby officially started Kindergarten! Three days before school, they had a play date at the local park for all the entering kids to get to know each other. They even had them color-coded by teacher so they could meet other kids from their classes. Of course, Abby spent most of the time running around with the (preschool-aged) younger sister of one of her classmates!

Then, the big day came. We had made her lunch and set out her new dress and shoes the night before so we could make sure to get out the door by 7:25 to walk the half-mile to school and get her there by the 7:45 tardy bell (!!). She was very reluctant to go into her class at first, but we managed to sneak away without a big fuss. When I picked her up, the first words out of her mouth were "I got to check out a library book!" And then she told me that Kindergarten was "actually better than [she] thought it would be."

Now, we're 6 weeks into it and waking up in the morning can still be tough, but we're making it work (some days better than others). She's told me a couple times that she wishes she were 3 or 4 so she wouldn't have to go to school "EVERY day that Daddy goes to work." 

I've heard it takes several months for kindergartners to finally adjust. But, she's made several new friends. And I'm starting to hear more and more about her days at school. Mostly about how badly the boys behave and how good the girls are. They have a color-coded guide to behavior. She's always proud to come home with "another blue day" and then she proceeds to tell me which of her classmates did NOT get blues that day and why. Seems like she's adjusting pretty well!

As for academics, I have seen such improvement in 6 weeks, I am truly astounded. When she started, she had no interest in reading, and outright told me she didn't want to even try because she knew she couldn't do it. But now, she comes home with these simple books and she's really making great strides with them. Plus, she's told me about ABAB patterns, title pages of books, days of the week, and the months of the year. And her drawing has changed overnight from vague patterns of color to actual recognizable objects. Like really good ones. She's drawing people, cats, dogs, clouds, trees, suns. Not that she couldn't draw those things before, but she's really changed. I think it's a confidence thing. Hmm. Wonder where she gets that?