Adam's Kindergarten Orientation

On Thursday, I took Adam to an orientation for kindergarten. We could tell that he was excited, but a little apprehensive. He still doesn't have a firm grasp of time. Despite our explanations, he thinks that he's going to kindergarten from now on and won't be going back to pre-school to finish out this school year.

Adam and I were greeted at the door to the school and Adam was led by a parent volunteer to one of the kindergarten rooms. I went to the cafeteria with the other parents. Ms Schmidt, the principal, started off the orientation telling how she could tell the first timer parents because they had notepads and tears in their eyes and were ready to take down every detail. The parents who were sending a middle child were easily chatting with friends and working the room. And the parents who were sending their last kid to kindergarten were dressed and ready to go shopping.

I saw a number of parents from our neighborhood and sat with the Morgan's. Sylvia said she had already teared up twice. When I emailed Helen and described the morning, she said she had teared up a couple times also.

One of the speakers told a funny story about a little boy on his first day at kindergarten. The teacher noticed the boy over near the back packs and asked the boy what he was doing. He said, "I'm going to see my Mommy". The teacher explained how it wasn't time to go yet, the class was going to eat lunch and color. The boy reluctantly returned to the class. It wasn't long after lunch before the boy was back over at the coat racks gathering his stuff to leave. The teacher once again went over and explained, "Honey, it's not time to leave yet. We're going to go outside and play and then come back and read a story". The boy, once again, rejoined the class. But as soon as the story was over, the boy was back trying to gather his stuff to leave. When the teacher explained that it wasn't quite time to leave yet, the boy threw up his hands and said, "Who signed me up for this anyway?"

After the orientation, the parents went to the various kindergarten rooms to find their kids. Adam was coloring and enjoying himself. We walked down the hall and found Ryan. The boys were excited to see each other at the "big school". Then we went on a school bus ride around the surrounding neighborhood. Adam had a good time and seems eager to start kindergarten.