When we started looking for places last year, we liked both Abby's and Kids and Cribs and ultimately Abby's had the edge since it is within walking distance of our house.
Lucy's come a long way over the year she's been there...while she still often prefers to play alone, she's gotten so much better at sharing and she's constantly talking about her friends at school. She's become a lot friendlier outside of school, too, and we know this socialization has done wonders for our girl (as hard as it was to take her sometimes).
We adored her first teacher, Ms. Megan. She made the experience so positive, especially for this crazy mama...We were devastated when she left (especially me...remember when I got myself so worked up at 7 months pregnant that I started having contractions?) and it was even worse when they took her out of Lucy's classroom immediately (instead of letting her soak up her last two weeks with her class - and letting them (and their parents!) soak up the last of their time with her).
Luckily, we couldn't have asked for a better replacement than Ms. Florence. Over the last few months, Lucy has learned so much and has fallen completely in love with Florence. Sometimes when I ask her who her best friend in her class is, she names her teacher! We love Ms. Florence so much that we opted not to have Lucy move up to the 3 year old room in April and instead stay through the summer in the 2s with her best friend.
She's always keeping the kids busy with crafts and projects and other learning exercises (often with supplies she bought or brought from home). Those experience have certainly helped prep her for preschool.
Lucy's a very bright girl (and I'm not just saying that because I'm her mama...or maybe I am...but she's always seemed exceptionally smart to us...) and it's time for her to move into a class with kids her age. We decided that not only a new classroom and teacher were in order, but a new school as well. And when we gave our notice at Abby's, no one even asked us why we were leaving, let alone tried to talk us into staying...so we're feeling good about our decision. We'll miss Florence big time but she had to leave her class one way or the other.
So today is Lucy's last day at Abby's and on Monday, she will start preschool (and extended care) at Kids and Cribs.
First day vs. last day -
She still used a B when she started there!
We paid another visit to Kids and Cribs and we still really like it. Her classroom is clean and organized and looks like a lot of fun...and her teacher has been there since 2004! It's family owned and it seems like the staff turn around will be minimal, if at all, so the people we get used to will be the people we'll always see. At Abby's, there was a lot of new faces and when I'd ask Lucy who her teacher was for the afternoon (on Ms. Florence's early days, for example), she'd often say, "I don't know. She didn't tell us her name."
One of the owners at Kids and Cribs has a son in Lucy's class! Talk about motivation to make sure it's as great as it can be in there.
I took Lucy in one afternoon to check the place out and while she wasn't able to meet her teacher that day (she was already gone for the night), she got to explore her classroom, the cafeteria, and - most importantly - the playground. She's very excited and has been talking constantly about her new school to anyone who will listen...hopefully the excitement doesn't fade. Dave's going to take her in tomorrow to meet her teacher and some more of her classmates.
We're very excited for our girl and her next step!
No comments:
Post a Comment