School

It's hard to believe Aiden's first year of pre-school is half way over.  It has been so good for him and Jeff and I are so glad we made the decision to enroll him.  He is learning so much and socially, he has opened up tremendously.

One morning I gave Aiden a mint in the car on the way to school and it has become a tradition.  He asks for it every morning as we pull into school and Ty gets one too.

He has a weekly bible verse to memorize and we practice in the mornings on our car ride to school.  On Thursdays if he recites the verse, he gets a piece of candy (very motivating for Aiden).

On Wednesdays, he attends chapel, but he calls it "champel" lead by Ms. Robin (a favorite teacher of Aiden's) where he says two pledges (one to the christian flag and one to the American flag).  They also have a bible pledge.  Aiden has only recited them for me one time, but he has them memorized.  Once he got to be the helper and hold the bible while everyone said the pledge.  I'm assuming they also do a bible story in chapel, but I'm not sure.

Aiden also has music class (on random days).  He says they play "instruments" which I think are small tambourines, maracas, and other small noise makers.  He has never told me what songs they sing or listen to, but he likes music class.

Each week they study a letter, learning the sound it makes, how to write it, and how it sounds with all the vowels.  They have just started learning to read short words and sounding out words.  I am very impressed with how far he has come.

There is a large, loud bell outside the school that I let the boys ring on Thursdays only.  (It's really loud, and we usually have to wait in line)

When we pick Aiden up, Ty likes to carry his book bag and Aiden usually has to remind Ty, "no running in the school".

They have a traffic light for behavior purposes and each child has a clip that either stays on green, moves to yellow for a first offence or moves to red for a second.  I frequently ask Aiden if his clip is ever moved and he always tells me no.  I believe him. :-)

Once I saw his name written on the board and I asked his teacher why.  Ms. Karen told me that he was talking and wasn't listening.  I was shocked and she said she was too.  I'll ask him what he talks to the other kids about, but he give very vague answers. 

There are also random facts that he learns at school that he will spontaneously tell Jeff or I.  For example, he told us that there are 50 states and he saw the 50 flags that went with each state.

He tells me his favorite friend is Sarah.  He loves playing outside and once he said he was running on the playground and ran into Will and they both hit their heads, but neither were hurt.  I wish I could be a fly on the wall in his classroom to see what really goes on, because I know there is so much more than what he's telling me. :-)