Welcome to the first day of school! Our first day of school was peaceful and happy. With the toddler child, we don't always know what to anticipate especially with respect to an experience as huge as the transition from home to school. Teachers and parents do our best to nurture the needs of the child, offering a warm first connection at home, a peaceful classroom visit, and a gradual adjustment period to the class routine and schedule.

There were no tears the first day..and then today, our second day, there were many tears, which is normal and just part of the process.

Yesterday, there were several helpers. Dimitra helped clean and hull the strawberries; Isaac helped chop the cheese block into small portions; and Vincent and Rocco were my timekeepers, letting me know the time for snack and the time for going home! : ) Darby had a great time exploring every inch and every basket and tray of our classroom.

Today, I didn't have a lot of helpers, but we did get in lots of great language lessons. Isaac and Dimitra took turns naming and matching various sea shells with their identical pictures, as well as the naming of farm animal replicas. Vincent, Rocco, and Darby listened to books read to them in Spanish and songs sung in English.

It has been wonderful to share in this time with the children who are newest to our classroom. I hope that they are beginning to feel secure in their new environment and trusting toward me and my assistant that their needs will be met and that their is lots to learn and discover in our school.