In mid-January, we registered her for Kindergarten! That means that come August 11, she'll be in public school. I really can't believe it. Her school seems really community-oriented, and the two Kindergarten teachers have been teaching there since the school opened in the early 1990s.
However, I am a tad worried that she'll be bored in Kindergarten because she's essentially doing a Kindergarten program today in Junior Kindergarten. We had a parent-teacher conference with her teacher last week and learned a lot about what she's learning these days. She does Phonics and Sight Words (or, as they call them in class, Popcorn Words). She knows a couple dozen sight words. Sight words, in case you're not hip with the lingo (don't worry, I wasn't either until a few months ago), are words you recognize by sight. These are mostly little words like if, and, but, the, I, or, of, on, so, said, and others. We try to have her read each night, and she's getting better and better at reading simple books.
[Can I stop right now and tell you how frustrating it is for Chris and me to teach Charlotte how to read? I know neither of us is the most patient person in the world, but Charlotte will oftentimes just guess what the word is, meaning she's not really looking at the words. And then she'll forget a word she's just read. I've been assured this is normal, but I just don't know how the brain works when it comes to reading. Plus, she wiggles and won't stop moving the entire time she reads. ]
Apart from reading, she can write really well. She can write all her upper and lower case letters. Where she struggles is writing the numbers. This seems to trip her up a bit, but she's getting there. She can do some simple addition and subtraction.
The one area where she has had some struggles is paying attention. Her teacher (and we also know this from experience) said she has a very short attention span, and if she doesn't have an interest in something, it's like pulling teeth to cajole her to do it. At KinderCare, they can't force her to do anything, but that will change in Kindergarten, so that may help.
That being said, if Charlotte likes doing something, such as puzzles, she can put a lot of effort and focus into them. I got her a set of four 100 piece puzzles, and she did them fairly easily.
She's been doing ballet once a week at KinderCare, and her teacher is just the nicest, sweetest person. Last week, they had their "graduation" from Level One Chickadees (hence the yellow tutu) to Level Two Flamingoes (they're wearing pink tutus now).
 |
| Charlotte and her friends. |
She's had a really big growth spurt recently. All of her 4T shirts are too short on her and many of her 4T pants are getting too short as well. Thank goodness for the "slim fit" pants at Gymboree, or else she'd need to wear her pants short in order for them not to slip off of her body. By the way, I've noticed that she (sniff, sniff) really can't wear any "T" clothes anymore. They're made for short, heavier preschoolers and all the shirts are short and wide. In the big girl section, she can actually wear 5s and 6s and they fit her much better.
Finally, I wanted to close with a few Charlotte quotes.
Charlotte: Mommy, I'm full. I ate a lot.
(Five minutes later)
Charlotte: I'm hungry.
Me: I thought you said you were full?
Charlotte: I was, but the food went down to my hips, where it turned into energy.
Me: Your hips?
Charlotte: Yes, the food goes down to your hips, where the energy center is, and then it turns into energy. And that's why I'm hungry again.
Watching the Sing-along version of Frozen, during which a choir sings when Elsa is being coronated.
(Loudly)
Charlotte: Mommy, are those nuns?
(To be fair, she had just watched the original Sound of Music, in which there are many singing nuns. Still, the lady next to her cracked up)
Watching the first episode of the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last night after dinner, Charlotte saw a very scantily-clad Lady Gaga with about 10 feet of platinum blond hair come on the stage to give Jimmy Fallon a $100 bill.
Charlotte: She is soooooo beautiful!
Chris: Really?
Charlotte: Oh yes, she is soooo beautiful.
Hmm, we'll have to work on that one.
I loved this post about Charlotte and hearing what she is up to! What a cute and sweet little girl she is. We just had to make a big decision about whether or not to send Colin to Kindergarten next year or wait. He technically makes the cutoff since the cutoff is 9/30 in our district. The trend here is to hold summer birthdays, especially boys. We were going to send him but after our conference with his pre-school teachers decided to wait so that he can mature a bit in some ways. Academically he's ready for sure. We hope we made the right decision, it was one of the toughest ones we've made as parents to date! I'm excited for Charlotte starting next year...but sad for you. Sniff!
ReplyDelete