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Starting on Tuesday, September 4, Keegan  is officially in the Pre-K class, the Golden Lions. He is very excited about it, not only because he is among the oldest kids at school now (in fact he may be THE oldest), but because this is the only expanded classroom. It was originally an apartment that opened up to the outdoor area, so they have extra space. Basically it is three connected rooms with a kitchen and a bath. The new teacher, Ms. Jill, is also so much nicer and warm. From what I could see in the classroom and from talking to her, they will have a great year and will learn a lot. I can already tell the difference: he comes home excited and willing to talk about what he has learned.

She is more organized and has a very structured day routine. Kids are encouraged to play with different toys and engage in different activities, including computer games, but she is also leaving them free to experiment. She is focusing on encouraging the kids and on pre- reading and pre-writing skills. Parents are expected to help out as well.

For the All About Me week, the kids created a self portrait, and I was amazed by Keegan’s. He never, ever wants to do any kind of drawings, so to actually see eyes, a smile and arms was quite a a nice surprise (even if there is no body to speak of).

And honestly his classmates were not much better at drawing, which made me feel better. I guess it is the advantage of a male dominated class: there are only two girls, Julia and Rozelin, and both of them enjoy rough playing.

One other great improvement is his willingness to try writing more. Again, baby steps, but we almost have a fully readable name! The other day, HE asked to practice his writing and drawing with chalk on the driveway! He wanted me to trace his body (they did this at school), and he even made another self portrait.

a self portrait by the artist. I suggested adding a body this time. (-:

So, it is only been a couple of weeks, but I am already happier about his class. His artwork is nicer and seems to have some educational purpose. For example, during My Body week, they made a little skeleton of themselves, gluing “bones” on a silhouette.

He is also more excited about learning new things… I know it will be a good school year. Roar!