Lee 1st Impressions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I think all the office staff that I've met have teaching backgrounds.

Two do not.

How do you know which office staff PP has met?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Today my son schooled me on how to pronounce "quinoa". "It's 'keen-wah' not 'quin-oh-ah' Mom! It's delicious. My teachers can show you."

Lucky you! Mine told me that the he didn't eat the "keen-wah" salad and neither did most of the other kids.

[Anonymous]

One new observation (for this thread) -- it seems to me that more kids are crying at drop off each morning. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps we're just arriving during a flood of tears by coincidence? Because the teachers are in their rooms, are there enough adults to help ease the young ones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One new observation (for this thread) -- it seems to me that more kids are crying at drop off each morning. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps we're just arriving during a flood of tears by coincidence? Because the teachers are in their rooms, are there enough adults to help ease the young ones?

I would guess it is because the youngest kids started this week, so they are still working through their new school fears/emotions/routines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One new observation (for this thread) -- it seems to me that more kids are crying at drop off each morning. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps we're just arriving during a flood of tears by coincidence? Because the teachers are in their rooms, are there enough adults to help ease the young ones?

It did seem chaotic this morning. I guess it's getting worse as the younger kids join? (They are still phasing in the youngest kids). It seems that there are a lot of adults around though. As a parent of one of the older children in the primary class, it does concern me that they need to spend so much time teaching the three year olds about being in a classroom. Not that isn't important for the 3 year olds, but the older kids are less likely to be upset at drop off and more likely to know how to follow instructions or stand in line and a lot of the routine is geared at getting the youngest kids ready while the older ones just follow along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One new observation (for this thread) -- it seems to me that more kids are crying at drop off each morning. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps we're just arriving during a flood of tears by coincidence? Because the teachers are in their rooms, are there enough adults to help ease the young ones?

If you see crying at drop off after 3-4 weeks you have problems. Anything before that is totally normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One new observation (for this thread) -- it seems to me that more kids are crying at drop off each morning. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps we're just arriving during a flood of tears by coincidence? Because the teachers are in their rooms, are there enough adults to help ease the young ones?

It did seem chaotic this morning. I guess it's getting worse as the younger kids join? (They are still phasing in the youngest kids). It seems that there are a lot of adults around though. As a parent of one of the older children in the primary class, it does concern me that they need to spend so much time teaching the three year olds about being in a classroom. Not that isn't important for the 3 year olds, but the older kids are less likely to be upset at drop off and more likely to know how to follow instructions or stand in line and a lot of the routine is geared at getting the youngest kids ready while the older ones just follow along.

I will say if you are a parent of one of the older primary kids, one of your daughters was so kind to my little guy yesterday. I watched her help him at the playground, walk him back to class, find his shoes, etc. This is the kindess side of Montessori at work. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One new observation (for this thread) -- it seems to me that more kids are crying at drop off each morning. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps we're just arriving during a flood of tears by coincidence? Because the teachers are in their rooms, are there enough adults to help ease the young ones?

If you see crying at drop off after 3-4 weeks you have problems. Anything before that is totally normal.

Agree, and we're only on week 1 (day 1 for some kids) for most of the youngest kids.

[Anonymous]

My 3 year old was the one crying LOUDLY the last few mornings. I thank all the parents who gave me sweet looks or 'I have been there stories.' Thanks for your patience as he adjusts. Some of the children have also been very kind.

My son had a smooth first week but this week has been a challenge. The teachers, staff and administration have been great. They assured me that my kid and others who are crying at drop off are fine within 5 minutes of their parents leaving. They are fine cooperative and participating. I guess drop off is just going to be a mess for a bit. Sorry about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3 year old was the one crying LOUDLY the last few mornings. I thank all the parents who gave me sweet looks or 'I have been there stories.' Thanks for your patience as he adjusts. Some of the children have also been very kind.

My son had a smooth first week but this week has been a challenge. The teachers, staff and administration have been great. They assured me that my kid and others who are crying at drop off are fine within 5 minutes of their parents leaving. They are fine cooperative and participating. I guess drop off is just going to be a mess for a bit. Sorry about that.

No reason to apologize!! Everyone either has been or will be there in similar shoes at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3 year old was the one crying LOUDLY the last few mornings. I thank all the parents who gave me sweet looks or 'I have been there stories.' Thanks for your patience as he adjusts. Some of the children have also been very kind.

My son had a smooth first week but this week has been a challenge. The teachers, staff and administration have been great. They assured me that my kid and others who are crying at drop off are fine within 5 minutes of their parents leaving. They are fine cooperative and participating. I guess drop off is just going to be a mess for a bit. Sorry about that.

Oh, don't apologize. I felt awful for the kids crying this morning. They seemed so upset and I just wanted to give them a hug! It will get better for them, and everything will settle down soon as they get into a routine. I'm the parent of one of the older kids who posted above -- it's absolutely to be expected that the youngest kids will be upset for the first week or so and will take time to get used to school. My kid was the same at that age. I just have a few concerns about the large age spread in the mixed age class - but it's probably mainly due to the challenge of being a brand new school with almost everyone new to Montessori. The older kids have been there nearly 3 weeks, but for many of the young ones it's been only a few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One new observation (for this thread) -- it seems to me that more kids are crying at drop off each morning. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps we're just arriving during a flood of tears by coincidence? Because the teachers are in their rooms, are there enough adults to help ease the young ones?

Yes I have noticed this (and thought about it when I heard read the happy with your school thread and all the moms of threes reporting kids who love school). I think part of the problem is starting a Montessori program from scratch so the little ones aren't walking into as supportive an environment as they would if the 4s and 5s had been there a year.

For my child, it is just a really long day (s/he's pk4 but has had some tears and resistance). Perhaps they should offer 1/2 for the first month as an option or maybe even just offer a 1/2 day for PK3 and PK4 as an option. We'd jump at this.

FWIW (and NOT to bring this thread back to food), mine ate the quinoa yesterday though did say with some surprise that it was cold (s/he's not a fan of cold food - everything has to be room temp or warmer)

[Anonymous]

I will say, for a brand new school, there have been surprisingly few bumps. HRCS alum on DCUM had me prepared for a sh#tshow. Clearly we are only a few weeks in, but administration communication has been excellent, and leadership is very visible from pickup to drop off.

Now about that quinoa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One new observation (for this thread) -- it seems to me that more kids are crying at drop off each morning. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps we're just arriving during a flood of tears by coincidence? Because the teachers are in their rooms, are there enough adults to help ease the young ones?

It did seem chaotic this morning. I guess it's getting worse as the younger kids join? (They are still phasing in the youngest kids). It seems that there are a lot of adults around though. As a parent of one of the older children in the primary class, it does concern me that they need to spend so much time teaching the three year olds about being in a classroom. Not that isn't important for the 3 year olds, but the older kids are less likely to be upset at drop off and more likely to know how to follow instructions or stand in line and a lot of the routine is geared at getting the youngest kids ready while the older ones just follow along.

I will say if you are a parent of one of the older primary kids, one of your daughters was so kind to my little guy yesterday. I watched her help him at the playground, walk him back to class, find his shoes, etc. This is the kindess side of Montessori at work. Thank you!

I love this- it is such a confidence booster for the older children, too!

[Anonymous]

Anyone else see the IT thread on here (re:Lee?). Feeling bad for Chris & the team for having no control over this.