Emma started Kindergarten today! She has been waiting for this for AGES and alternated between really excited and a bit nervous. We took these shots before we headed to school (I didn’t feel like juggling my big camera and three kids at kindergarten drop-off so none from school, unfortunately, and it was indeed a wise move). The walk to school was about 10 minutes (at a 3 year old pace) and great both ways. Hooray! I am really looking forward to working a walk into our daily routine now.
At school, Emma got a bit more solomn and was a slightly overwhelmed with the amount of people on the playground and the noise level in the covered area where they line up. Understandably! Once in the class she had work to do at her desk, got right to it and was totally fine when it was time to say goodbye. Her spot was right next to an old friend whom she played with as a baby — her mom and I went to prenatal yoga together! The girls have seen each other at preschool off and on for the past two years — hopefully they can rekindle an old friendship there, that would be awesome! So nice to have a familiar face in class!
As I sort-of expected, she was Not Pleased when I picked her up after lunch, one of only two half-day students. We’ve been talking about this for months and I knew it would be hard. Hard to be one of the only ones, hard to miss “choice time” at the end of the day. What a difficult transition, to go from open free-play for most of your school day to little or none. Wah! I so wish there was a dedicated half-day Kindergarten program at our school, so that those who opt for it aren’t missing out on stuff that their classmates are doing! We chose half-day for several reasons, mainly because I want that time with her while we still have the chance (and don’t want to pay for the extra school hours when we really don’t need them!), but I do feel for her on this one. After finishing up her lunch and getting to play a game with Mama and Aunt Marie (visiting from France!) while her sisters napped, her mood improved dramatically and by dinner time she seemed pretty happy with it all and excited to go back tomorrow. I need to work on planning lots of fun stuff for us to do together in the afternoons to help keep her mind off what she is missing out on at school!
As for me, I mostly held it together though I had a ton of flashbacks to my teacher days — yipes, it’s weird to now be on this side of the equation! I know she will be fine, do great, and have fun. I got to say, all the parent coaching I ended up doing as a Kindergarten and 1st grade teacher definitely comes in handy now. That was my least favorite part of teaching — dealing with the parents! — though now I think it would actually be a bit fun. Haha. Times, they change.
My baby is such a big kid now! Geesh, how did that happen?
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I am planning on doing free choice time in the morning every Friday so the half day kiddos can have some fun with their classmates
And when we start doing fun activities in the afternoon, I will make sure that it goes home with her so she isn’t missing out 
You rock Miss Nguyen! Thank you for that, Emma will be thrilled! I know you generally have to plan around the majority of the kids and that there’s a lot you need to pack in the the AMs while everyone is a bit more focused. Emma had a great time today with library and recess on the big playground, too! She’s also loving homework, ha!