1st day of Preschool!

I have to admit - last night I was SO nervous & anxious about today. I was scared of failing and started second guessing myself as usual.

What if the kids didn't like me?
What if I couldn't control them?
What if I let the parents down?
What if the kids refused to do my art projects/circle time/listen to books?
What if Megan didn't like sharing her Momma?

I was seriously up last night until 2am thinking it all over wondering if I made a mistake in taking this role on.

Well I'm glad to say that after a short 4 hours of sleep last night, I woke with a clear head & no worries. I feel in my heart that this is right. I know that what I'm doing is what I should be doing. 2 steps forward and no looking back. :)

The room all came together this past weekend and I was so excited for the little one's to arrive!

We had some pic's taken and then headed in for Circle Time.
Isaiah, Lola, Tatum & Megan :)

They were so good about 'owning' their own carpet square. :) I sang some songs to them, did calendar & weather, then read a book. From there I had planned to go over to the table for a structured activity but they were getting kind of restless from having to sit for awhile already. So instead I explained the different centers and rules about cleaning up 1 thing before pulling something else out - then they went and had 'free play'.

Megan and Lola eventually wandered over to the table where I had a writing activity for them to do. Meanwhile, Tatum loved the dress-up area and Isaiah spent a lot of time cooking for me in the kitchen. He even was kind enough to bring me a coffee!

I rounded them up and we sat at the table for snack. Isaiah passed out the napkins as everyone found a seat. I placed 1 bowl of fish crackers (thanks Christine!) in the middle and they took turns putting some on their napkin & then passing the bowl to their neighbor. They each were responsible for pouring their own water too and this fast became the fun thing to do. At least they drank a lot!

We cleaned up, had a potty break and then got our coats and shoes on to head outside. We swung, rode bikes & scooters, went on a slug hunt (yuk!), picked blackberries and jumped on the trampoline (that was everyone's favorite!).

After coming inside we went back to the preschool room and sat in Circle time again. I had cards showing different emotions on them. I showed them each one and we talked about them. For example, for the Sad card Isaiah said he was sad when his sister broke his toy. (heehee!)

We then flipped them all over on the floor and took turns picking one. Whichever one we picked we had to show our own emotion to match the card. This was funny and they all did really well with understanding it.

Oh and Megan came back inside with a little inch worm on her shoulder so we put it on top of the book shelf and the kids watched it intently for the rest of the day.

We then headed to the table and did an art project making our own stick puppet. Here it was neat to see the difference in their ages. Megan and Isaiah being 4 yrs old, knew how to draw a face on the puppet and add the hair. Tatum and Lola being 3 yrs old, didn't quite know how to draw a face yet. They are all at the correct stages and doing what they should be and I like having the multi ages together. The older ones can help the younger ones learn better and the younger ones can help the older ones learn how to become role models. Both Isaiah and Meg have older siblings so they are always following rather than leading. This is one of the Montessori concepts that I love.

Lola & Tatums puppets are on the left, Meg & Isaiah's on the right.

After art, we went back to some free play. We all played with the train set, then cars on the rug (Isaiah and I had quite the collision course!). The girls wanted to play with the baby dolls so we brought those out and they all pretended they were mommies taking their babies to the Fair (even Isaiah). We pulled out the fishing set and went fishing, taking the great opportunity to sort the fish by color, shapes, and then counting how many there were. I was surprised they could all count to at least 10.

We ended the day by setting our inch worm free and saying good-bye to each other until Wednesday!