I'm kind of in a quandary right now. Annika is headed to full-day kindergarten, so I'm trying to figure out what in the world I want to do with my life. For the first time in nearly fourteen years, my days will be my own. Brooklyn really wants me to apply for a position working with IB at West High. I've considered substituting because of the flexibility. I could teach at the English Institute at the University of Utah. I could explore becoming a children's librarian. I could apply for nursing school. Jason has suggested that I take some time off to go hiking and skiing in the mountains. That option is certainly appealing!
Since I have no idea about next year, let me recap what I did last year. When I took Annika to Pre-K orientation at Washington Elementary, they mentioned that they were looking for more help in their classrooms. I expressed some interest, and was quickly hired as a para-professional in the 3-4 year old classroom.
In many ways, the job was perfect. I worked only when Annika was in class, except for Fridays when she usually hung out with me in my classroom. While teaching preschool is challenging, I enjoyed working with the kids. It's especially adorable watching them blush when I run into them around town. Since our classroom was a magnet pod, I learned a great deal about children with special needs. I also learned so much about setting up a preschool classroom. In many ways, I wish I'd had this experience earlier--it would have helped me in organizing our own home.
Our preschool was equipped with a variety of different stations for blocks, dramatic play, art, sensory tables, science, and library. Pretty typical for many preschools, I'm sure.
What was unique about our preschool was Ms. Patricia's flair for the dramatic. She loved to PARTY! Here she is celebrating her birthday with crazy hats for everyone.
We made chef hats for everyone during our kitchen unit.
Gotta love salt dough.
Before the holidays, we took all the kids down to the front office to sing for the secretaries.
Here they are singing "Feliz Navidad" for the cafeteria staff. Don't you love the little gal singing "from the bottom of [her] heart"?
The kids acted out dozens of nursery rhymes for their parents. "Little pig, little pig, let me come in!"
And my all time favorite: dancing. Patricia (who teaches zumba outside of preschool) had the kids paired up dancing salsa and the tango.
I recently discovered that this gal used to live in our neighborhood as well.
During the winter, I got to switch over to the Pre-K classroom for about three weeks. It was such a treat getting to know Annika's classmates. Here they are painting.
As for Annika, she spent most of her time playing at the sand table, preferably with her favorite pal Jefferson. Jefferson and Annie carpooled every day. Yesterday Annika told me how she dreamed that she made Jefferson a sandwich and Jeff said, "Good job."
Occasionally we pulled Annie away to other stations, such as this flannel board area.
I loved how the Pre-K class played outside nearly every day, no matter what the weather.
Winter changed to spring and I headed back to the three year-old classroom in time to watch the caterpillars morph into butterflies. It felt like the kids had morphed as well. Kids change so quickly at this age!
Setting our butterflies free.
We added these pretty flowers for the tango.
Last but not least, our piñatas. Each class chose an insect to make. Here we have our ladybug...
...and a bee. As a sidenote, many of our students had babies born into their families throughout the year. The girl in pink's mother actually left our graduation celebration early to head to the hospital because she was in labor.
Annika's class had their graduation celebration a few days before class actually ended.
A photo of Annika with her favorite teacher, Ms. Celsea. For the record, Annika regularly dreams about Ms. Celsea too. Most recently, she dreamed that she went to Ms. Celsea's house and then they went outside to look for dolphins but there weren't any.
Class of 2031. Boy, does that make me feel old!
This wasn't ACTUALLY the last days of Pre-K, but I'm glad we took this picture then...
...because this is what she looked like on the actual last day of preschool. (Courtesy of a nasty fall at the splash pad. Next time I hope she catches herself with her hands instead of her nose.)
...plus, who doesn't love a parachute?
As for me, while I enjoyed my year as a preschool para, I'm pretty sure that I'm ready for something new. Now to discover what new thing it should be.
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