We first went to Emily's school to meet her pre-k teacher. We were 10 minutes early, and found ourselves waiting with at least 50 other people in the heat outside a locked school. The flyer we got in the mail said to come at 4:45pm, and they meant it!!!
When we finally did get inside, Meet The Teacher night turned into a big orientation in the library, with loud kids running around in the back, quiet teachers speaking in the front, and no one hearing a word spoken, no matter what language they spoke. (Lots of school meetings here are translated into Spanish, which makes things feel like they're going twice as slow.) After the orientation-part of the meeting, at least 70 people, including me with my big stroller, smooshed our way into this little classroom to get lots of handouts and info forms to fill out. More time for bored kids to run around and bug each other.
Whatever happened to "Hey, here's your room! Wow, isn't it great? Look at all the (books, toys, pictures, etc.)! This is your teacher, Miss So-&-So. This is going to be such a fun year!" Emily's teacher barely got to say "Hello, nice to meet you" to the kids, let alone anything else.
Next we piled all the kids into the car and drove down the road to April's school. Again, we were about 10 or 15 minutes early. There we found about 300+ people inside the school waiting for the hallway entrances to unlock (you know, those big metal chain-style curtains that roll down from the ceiling!) Uugghhh!!! When the curtains were rolled up, we all got sucked into various streams of people going down different halls, and finally made our way to the right classroom. Again, lots of people smooshed into a small room (at least the chairs were slightly bigger) and we watched two teachers READ a Powerpoint slideshow to us, which was also printed in full in the folders they gave us.
Excuse me, ma'am, I don't know about the rest of the parents here, but I can read a big screen on my own!
Thankfully, our 2nd orientation of the night was more interesting (and less crowded) than the first, and it probably helped that Jason and the other two kids went home after dropping us off. I always think orientation is going to be the same as parent-teacher night and it never is, but we were happy to say hi to Ambrose's teacher again (she moved up with the class from kinder to 1st so Ambrose knows practically everyone in his class this year).
ReplyDeleteAnd we've got to do it again tonight for Morrigan!
that's too funny about reading the board to you!! i guess sometimes they get too used to having to do it for the kids.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had fun! We have back to school night tomorrow and I can't wait. Sure...
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you've HAD orientation. At our school, meet the teacher night (the Fri before school began) is separate from parent orientation night (3 weeks into the school year). Since we have to wait 3 weeks before orientation, I have no idea what the expectations are for homework for James. There is a spelling list of words he learned 3 years ago but that's it. I asked the teacher about expectations and she was very vague. So far, I think there isn't going to be any homework because the general school newsletter (the one explaining drop off and pick up procedures you get on the first day AFTER you pick up your kid) says that homework will be given at the discretion of the individual teacher, implying all work will be completed in class. Maybe this school has easier standards? Fortunately, I can find the teacher's emails by asking Rex to go online for me (the teacher's links for Northside), but that doesn't help with the phone extensions so I had to call and ask the office. The teacher's newsletters basically said nothing, not even how to contact them!
ReplyDeleteOh, and at our meet-the-teacher night, I didn't know the classroom number for James and they aren't posted anywhere since the teachers mailed a note home prior but she forgot to put her room number on there. The school is a maze (I wish they had a map!) and finally found Megan's pre-k room. I went to her room twice because the teacher was too busy with the Spanish speakers and waiting in line did no good. I got to meet James' teacher for a minute until she said I needed to label all the school supplies and then all the other parents came in and I didn't get to talk to her. (Some teachers want them labeled, like James' teacher, and others don't want them labeled, like Megan's teacher.)
Why is Emily's pre-k class at a different school than April's???