Parent-Teacher Conferences and swimming

Erik and I went in for Thomas’ parent-teacher conference on Wednesday. The good news is that Thomas basically has the kindergarten curriculum down already, so his teacher is going to focus more strongly on his social interactions. Starting on Tuesday, he’s going to start going into one of the mainstream classrooms for part of the day, and they are going to substantially increase the amount of the day he is in one of the other transitional kindergartens that has more kids in it. Thomas came with us since we didn’t have anyone to watch him if we both wanted to attend, and it was very interesting for his teacher to see him in a slightly altered setting. He was acting very much like he does at home, but apparently he is usually much quieter and controlled when he is at school.

We are considering discontinuing his Spanish lessons. They are afterschool on Thursdays and Thomas is just too tired out from the day to really participate. Plus the classes are in the gym, so he totally wants to run around. We’re going to try this week and make a determination from that.

Yesterday Thomas and I met up with my coworker Krista and she gave Thomas a swimming lesson at a local pool! He did well with the kicking, but needs to work on putting his mouth in the water and blowing bubbles. We should give him a straw and tell him it’s his milk — he’d have no problem with bubbles then!

 

Spanish class: take two

So I went to Spanish class with Thomas today and it turned out fine. They played a series of games focusing on nine Spanish nouns (why he needs to know worm and snail, I’m not sure, but hey, it’s vocabulary). He was wiggly and not particularly verbal, but with me there he wasn’t any more of a handful than the other kids.

Unfortunately the afterschool daycare isn’t going to work out. The ratio of teachers to kids is just to great for him to be there. They were willing to take him for an hour until they go to recess, but that would only be 3:15. I’d need to leave work an hour early to get him, or Erik would not be able to work full shift (which was the whole goal in trying daycare in the first place).

Another positive however is that Thomas is going to start going to start going to music class tomorrow with one of the other kindergarten classes, and he is going to start going to one of the other classrooms twice a week for one of their sessions. We are hoping to build that up to daily soon.

Most people who read the blog for the family updates have already seen his kindergarten picture, but just in case I thought I’d post it here as well.