circus, circus

It was circus day at school on Friday.  We all got to go and see the show, and let me tell you it was quite a good one.  McKay's act was dancing around in huge clown shoes while the class recited a poem.  Usually this guy loves making people laugh, but an audience of 5o people got to his nerves a little bit.  He did it in front of everyone, but he just wasn't as jolly of a clown as I expected.  He told me after that he was shaking.  Ahh!  I love thinking of him being excited and nervous for something.  It just makes him seem so independent and real to me.  I don't have any pictures of it because I was recording it, but I do have these:

               {2010 clown, who did his own makeup}                  {2011 clown, this time a tiger}

The 2011 Circus bunch

back: Sophia, Wyatt, Rebecca, Cole, Daniella

middle: Anna, McKay, Carter, Laura

front:  Alison, Matthew, Tynan, Kay, Aaron

 And now just a word about this lady and her school:

I was nervous to have McKay repeat the same preschool class this year.  I worried that he'd be bored because he'd already done everything.  His teacher assured me that he would get new things out of the year and that he'd do fine.  I was still skeptical.  I'm happy to report that the expert was right, imagine that, and McKay loves school more than ever.  He remembers some things, but not all, and even if he's done it before, it's almost better to do it a second time.  He is doing so well at school and I'm so happy with the decision we made.

I am finding myself so satisfied with this little preschool.  Last year for some reason I didn't see just how amazing it was.  I liked it, and McKay liked it, but I wasn't blown away.  This year I can appreciate how she has designed her preschool so much more.  It is all about imagination, singing, playing, creating, experiencing and discovering.  Letters and numbers are never center stage, but incorporated with all those other ways of learning.  They bring out a whole different set of toys every couple weeks that have to do with the unit they are learning about.  They are learning to be friends.  Learning to listen and follow directions.  Learning to be creative and proud of what they do and not worrying so much about "academics".

That is exactly what I want in a preschool.