First day of Kindergarten

Well, Mae-Lei has officially started kindergarten!!!

In North Carolina, the kindergarteners start in what is called staggered entry. What this means is that 5-6 kids per day, per class, come in and they are evaluated on the gross motor, fine motor, emotional and social development. The school she is in teaches children based on how they learn. Mae-Lei's stagger day was July 13, the day after we returned from 10 days in Ohio. Mitch and I walked her into the school and were actually quite happy that when she saw her classroom and teacher, she let go of us freely and actually ran to the teacher. There are times she is a little cling-on and I had hoped she wouldn't do that on the first day of school. We have recently found out that Mae-Lei has some anxiety issues, so we've been making changes around the house and in preparing her for trips, school, separations and such. She has a calendar that we mark off each day together and talk about what is coming up. It has seemed to help a lot in the last month and we are quite happy about that.

Friday was her first "Official" day of kindergarten with her whole class. Her teacher, Mrs. Garrison has a warning system for behavior. The kids all start with their bugs in a blue flower pot. With the first breaking of the rules, they go to the green flower pot (kind of a warning move), the second transgression moves the bug to the yellow flower pot with a note sent home to advise the parents of what happened, the third transgression moves the bug to the red flower pot, with a call to the parents and a note. She is familiar with this system from her cousin and his kindergarten class. When we would pick him up after school, we'd ask him what color his day was. She also has an agenda that goes between the school and home and any notes or comments on her day are written in the agenda. She had a blue day on friday. I apologize for the lack of pics, but I am trying to find a way to move them from my iPhone to the blog. Not sure how to do that quite yet, but I am working on it. Mitch also took several pics on the big camera and should be uploading them soon. As soon as I get the transfer figured out, I'll post the pics.