Kindergarten parent night and orientation

It’s nearly 3 AM in these parts and I can’t sleep, so I figured I may as well tell you how our kindergarten orientation went last night.

One thing I haven’t mentioned about Autumn starting kindergarten is that she’s going into a Spanish immersion program. Our district just happened to be starting the program this year at the elementary school Autumn was going to be attending anyway, so right around the time we went through the screening process we also submitted our application to the immersion program.

If you’re not familiar with language immersion, it’s a method of teaching a foreign language that takes advantage of a child’s natural ability to absorb and retain a second language at a very young age. All throughout elementary school Autumn will be taught the standard curriculum by Spanish speaking teachers. Math, geography, history, etc will all be taught in Spanish, and by the time she reaches junior high, Autumn will be fluent in the language. We’re pretty excited about the program and I’m already imagining how useful it will be to have a pint-size translator at my disposal should I ever find myself in Cozumel and in desperate need of a bathroom.

So we arrived at the school last night, and as soon as we stepped into the building I knew I was in trouble. My office at work is freezing most of the time and I wear clothes that are normally inappropriate for the season in order to retain the feeling in my extremities. Yesterday I wore a sweater, a light one as sweaters go, but since it did not behoove the school to turn on the AC for parent night (it’s a public school-why would they?) that sweater may as well have been a parka stuffed with hot coals for all the comfort it offered (read NONE).

We found Autumn’s classroom, introduced ourselves to her teachers and took a quick tour around the school. Even though I grew up in the district, I’d never been in this school before and I was struck by it’s sprawling and somewhat confusing layout. While Autumn’s classroom is an actual room with a door, some of the grades seem to be situated more communally. The library appears to be the hub and I noticed several classrooms were just open annexes of the library itself. Weird but kind of cool at the same time.

We finished our tour and found our way back to Autumn’s classroom, but as more parents and children started filing into the already hot room, I told Nathan I couldn’t take it anymore and quick went home to get rid of the sweater.

Since we only live a half mile from the school, it took me less than ten minutes to drive home, change and drive back. When I returned, the room was stuffed with people and hotter than ever. I found Nathan and asked if he saw any familiar faces. He said yes and pointed to a table where the neighbor who lives behind us was sitting with her son.

Oy. These would be the neighbors I’ve written about before. The neighbors with six kids who spend all summer screaming at each other outside our bedroom window. The chaos of their unsupervised play has been the soundtrack of our summer every year since we moved into this house. The kids appear to have no curfew and we’ll often hear them screaming on the trampoline long after dark.

The thing about this Spanish immersion program is that Autumn will spend her entire elementary career grouped with the same kids. While there may be some parents who may pull their kids out at some point, the classmates Autumn starts out with now will be the ones she has every year through sixth grade.

Ok. So the neighbors we don’t like so much also have their kid in the program. Fine. Let’s get to know them. We’re in this for the next seven years so we may as well make an effort. That is part of the problem, after all. We don’t know them at all and haven’t made any kind of effort to get to know them. Hell, before last night we didn’t even know their last name.

Nuh-uh. Nathan wants no part of that. He doesn’t like the kid who will be in Autumn’s class. He doesn’t like any of the kids, but he especially doesn’t like that kid because he has caught him throwing rocks at our house and tossing random bits of crap over the fence into our yard.

Delinquent, he says. No way is Autumn going to be friends with him.

And so I had to offer a little insight into the female mind. I told my husband that if he declares that boy as off limits, Autumn is going to want nothing more than to be with that boy. This immersion program is welcoming children from outside our district and that boy may be the only class mate who lives close to us. We can’t ignore the fact that one day Autumn is going to be out on the deck, see him in the yard behind us and ask to go over and play.

And if we say no? I have a feeling she’d have no problem finding her own way over there.

So I have my work cut out for me in trying to convince my husband it just might be possible to have a pleasant relationship with these people.

Let’s make an effort now. It might just save us all from becoming reluctant in-laws later, you know?

Other than the neighbor thing, this Spanish immersion program looks like it’s going to be fantastic. I’m actually kind of excited to be sharing our experiences with it and hope to post more updates and anecdotes throughout the school year, neighbor boy or no.

Tagged as: kindergarten, School