In the midst of our PreK search, we found ourselves looking at a few kindergarten options. This “Kindergarten prerequisites” list especially stood out…
1. sing the alphabet song correctly (all 26 letters and l, m, n, o, and p as five distinct letters) Mads is well on her way…as shown here:
2. recognize and name all 26 letters of the alphabet when seen in print and not in alphabetical order There was a point where Mads was insisting that “2” was “S”, but I believe that’s been “fixed”
3. Count accurately from 1 – 20 Her teacher tells me that she can count 1-20 in Spanish, so I think we’re okay here.
4. Recognize the numbers 1 – 10 when seen in print and not in numerical order I think we’re good to go here, we’re also working on zero, too.
5. Count up to ten objects accurately This is an area we need work…Mads usually starts with two and likes to count objects more than once.
6. Spell his or her own name If she sees the letters, she is able to spell her name and pronounce it “Madeesohn” (with a Spanish accent)
7. Print his or her first name with good control Again, if she sees the letters, she can trace or copy it, but on her own, not so much.
8. Cut easily with scissors Ha!
9. Identify simple shapes such as a circle, square, triangle, and diamond Not only can she id shapes, she can id grandma’s car (VW Beetle) and the color, daddy’s car (Volvo SUV) and the color. She can identify mommy’s car by brand insignia only.
10. State personal information such as age, place in family, birthday, phone number, address Something to work on. Mads knows her age (“thfree”), knows all about birthdays (just doesn’t know when it is) and can recognize her house (yes, HER house, not mommy’s, not papa’s, not Lucie’s)
11. Match one object with another S & I both have memory-matching games on our iPhones. Mads’ memory impresses me!
12. Identify words which sound the same and words which do not I figure she gets enough of this when we read to her…her favorite stories as of late are: Curious George, Make Way for Ducklings and The Three Little Pigs.
13. Listen to and follow simple two-step directions She listens alright, it’s the following of those instructions that’s the tricky part.
14. Hop and jump Just as she was turning 3, she starting hopping and jumping off everything! I can tell she really loves the hopping and jumping, but it still makes me nervous. As she reminds us every now and then, “Mommy, I jumped on the couch. I break my arm.” Lesson learned.
15. Bounce, throw and catch a ball Catch – maybe if the ball is big enough?
Despite this summer just zooming by for us, pregnancy #2 can’t go fast enough for me. It’s like – okay, I’ve been there, done that, let’s just cut to the end. It seems flat-out crazy to want a chaotic household with a preschooler, a newborn and Lucie. Of course, I am guessing it’ll be chaotic – it probably isn’t if one is uber-organized (which I am not, at this moment).
The BIG 0-3!
Before we left Maui, I was telling Mads that her birthday was coming up and that she was going to be three. She seemed more excited when I asked her what she wanted for her “special” dinner. Her reply, “pancakes”.
Like a “good” mom, I had stayed up late the night before to make cupcakes for the preschoolers (with a few extras for home). The day of, we also had a small celebration dinner: above said pancakes and chocolate cupcakes (with chocolate frosting and sprinkles) for dessert. When it came time to light the candles, Mads was so excited to sing “Happy Birthday” – we sang three times – once in English, once in French and once again in English (the way I had placed the candles on her cupcake looked like there were only two).
A day or two after her actual birthday, we finished off the cupcakes that were left over. Before she started eating her cupcake, she asked me for candles and to sing…again. Though I explained to her that her birthday was a few days ago, she was insistent on having candles to blow out. Mads 1, Mommy 0.
Happy Birthday to ME!
Also, before leaving for Maui, I decided that Mads needed to have a birthday party. We were able to reserve a picnic table at the neighborhood playground and sent out invites before and after we left. It’s always fun to see Mads interact with her preschool friends. She really does get along with everyone and everyone seems to like her. And again, we all sang “Happy Birthday” with Mads leading the charge. She received even more toys and gifts, S & I are going to have an extension to the house built just to have a place to put all the stuff she had received!
The search begins
I admit that I dropped the ball on this preschool “thing”. This fall, a LOT of Mads’ friends were leaving to bigger and broader horizons. Only one other child is staying the course in her current preschool (with new children coming in, of course). We’re torn between keeping her there, as to not disrupt her routine before #2 arrives, and taking her out and placing her in a bigger, more school-like environment. So, we’d decided to stay the course, but do some research in the meantime. But we’re also looking at other preschools with rolling admissions and availabilities, of course.
With that said, S & I went to our first open house last week – which put us more in the “let’s put her in another preschool soon” camp. Though impressed with the curriculum and method of teaching, the director of the school was, as S would say, “special”. I was impressed with their ecology program and their commitment to the environment, but for the director to go as far as telling every little girl who walks in with a plastic headband how long it will take that plastic headband to disintegrate back into the earth and speak “down” to prospective parents, turned me off. When talking about the kindergartens that the graduates were attending, she mentioned “a lovely and wonderful new Quaker school that just opened in the city,” S was trying very hard not to laugh. After reading parent reviews online, I wasn’t too surprised to read that there were many openings because many unhappy families had left (unfortch, specific reasons why the families were leaving weren’t disclosed – a lot of help when reading reviews, huh?).
Finally…
The weekend of the Outside Lands music and art fest, I thought it might be a good opportunity to check out the Academy of Sciences, thinking most people would stay away from the park that weekend.
We headed out in the am, found a parking spot on 9th avenue and walked into the park (a good idea, at the time). The crowds weren’t too bad. Then again, the Academy has been open a while and we’re just finally getting there. As soon as we entered, Mads told me, that she had been here already – it was one of her summer field trips. We checked out the Africa hall first, ending with the penguins and Mads bugging us to see the crocodile. I wanted to check out the children’s play area, but Mads wasn’t interested. The rainforest was quite impressive (tip: dress in layers, it really is a rainforest, humidity and all). Forgetting to pack a lunch, we had lunch in the posh cafeteria. This isn’t your school cafeteria, for sure: posole, pho, Vietnamese spring rolls, pasta with shrimp & pesto, goulash, Indian curry with lamb…no French bread pizza, hot dogs or burritos here. (Tip: pack a lunch, lunch for 3 was almost $50!) After lunch we explored the aquarium and the ever impressive Philippine coral reef exhibit. (We skipped the planetarium, as the show was recommended for kids 6+.)
I was pretty pooped after exploring the Academy, so you can imagine my pregnant dismay when we had to walk back to the car.
Borrowed from The Poop:
“…an admissions counselor at an elite private high school once (said)that it is harder to get into a ‘good’ preschool in San Francisco than it is to get into Harvard…”
Sweet!