Thursday, October 1, 2009

PRE-Pre-School visit


Today we went on a "surprise trip" to Jaycoby's preschool. In the past few weeks, it has been really hit or miss when we've talked to Jaycoby about whether or not he is excited to go school. Lately his response has been more negative than positive, so I decided a classroom visit was in order. For some reason, they do not have an open house for incoming students, so we did our own open house and visited during the teachers prep period. I couldn't imagine dropping him off for his first day of school, to a building/room he'd never even been in, and just remain hopeful that it would go well. Now I am confident that he will be fine.
For those of you we haven't told, Jaycoby will be attending the Titan Tots program at West Salem High School. I have joked that everything after this experience is going to seem very "ghetto", because this high school seriously looks like a community college. It is beautiful! After seeing his classroom, I think it won't be that big of an adjustment, but it's still all very new and beautiful around campus. He is one lucky preschooler.
The Titan Tots program is a student-run program. The head instructor (Miss Vaughn) has been prepping her "lab students" for the last several weeks. All of the lab students have completed several prerequisites and do all of the activities and instruction. The prereq's she mentioned sounded very similar to the courses I completed to get my college degree. I have no doubt that they are well-prepared (and she did mention that her Ed students have tested higher than any of the other Salem Ed students....that can't be a bad thing). There are some freshman and sophmore students that come in to help with snacks, read stories and assist with transition times. But overall, the lab students run the show. There will be 31 students in Jaycoby's class, but she said it's a 1:1 ratio. Doesn't get much better than that. My beautiful, little only-child will need some TLC and a lot of attention. LOL!
Jaycoby loved his class. He walked right in to the classroom and immediately started looking around. His cubby and name tag were already in place, so it was good for him to see they are ready for his arrival. He was ready to play and pull everything out, but we had to keep stopping him. SO, if all goes as planned, Jaycoby will be starting school beginning October 13th. We are STILL working on some potty issues, so please remember that in your prayers. I'd hate to have to pull him out of school for something like that. Our plan is to take it one day at a time and see how the year goes. HOPEFULLY, this school thing will help fix the potty issues (or he'll just save all the issues for when he gets home....fun for me :).

1 comment:

Rachel said...

He's going to love school. I'm glad you took him on a previsit though...I always think that helps make sure it's not too overwhelming!