First Helping Parent Day with Addie

The Raleigh School does a neat thing that most other preschools in the area don't do- they have a helping parent in the classroom every day. You wind up getting to spend a day in your child's class 5-6 times a year which is neat because you get to see how they act in their school environment, learn more about the other kids, and get a real feel for how the class operates.

This was my first time getting to be with Addie at school, and I was impressed! She's already pretty independent there. She's not really playing with other kids yet (it's still mostly parallel play), but the kids in her class are nice and apparently pretty advanced. I noticed that they all listened to their teachers pretty well, played nicely alongside each other, and that there weren't many meltdowns. This impressed me for a bunch of two-year-olds! Ms. Escuti said this group is actually pretty advanced for their age because all but one of them have older siblings who have gone through TRS. They just have a leg up because they are the 2nd (or 3rd) child in the family. She said normally in the 2's class, they don't attempt to do a circle time until after Christmas break, but she was already doing one with this group in late September.

Here they are cleaning rocks...and then Addie and Drew painting theirs. (Addie painted herself a red Wolfpack one and me a blue Tar Heel one.)

Addie likes playing in the loft area...

and cute little Amelia joined her.

They have all kind of neat play centers in the classroom...

The helping child gets to ring the "clean up" bell...she was pretty excited to get that honor.

Here's circle time...

and playground time...

and backyard time.

And just like that the day was over. When they get ready to leave for the day, they sit in their cubbies and Ms. Escuti reads them a book and then they sing the "Goodbye" song. Then they run out to their parents one by one, and it is the cutest thing.

When all the other kids had left and I had finished cleaning (helping parent duties), I asked Addie, "Ready to go?" And she said no, she wanted me to go outside the room so she could run into my arms. Adorable.

Pretty impressed with this 2's class and so happy that Addie is a part of it!