Friday, April 29, 2011

Pre-Preschool Transition

Sweet Pea is starting to be transitioned from the infant/toddler room at her daycare to the actual preschool part of the school.  Kids normally transition to the preschool room on their 2nd birthday.  Due to Sweet Pea's gross motor delays (mainly her unstable walking) the school wanted to keep her in the infant/toddler room for a while.  I was on board with that plan originally, but now that Sweet Pea is better on her feet, I really want her in the 2 year old classroom.  They have tried her in the 2 year old classroom for pieces of the day a couple of times now and so far they have all been pretty successful.  The first time she had someone with her the entire time, but I believe the second time she was just one of the group.  The teacher is nervous because she doesn't know what Sweet Pea can do and really has only seen Sweet Pea in passing.  I don't blame her at all.  I have spoken to her about wanting her to be completely honest with me about her concerns and also issues as they arise.  The director of the preschool stopped me on my way in this morning and requested a meeting with me as well as the infant/toddler room lead teacher and the 2 year old classroom teacher.  We will have this meeting on Wednesday.

I need some help...
  1. Because Sweet Pea isn't talking yet and because the pick up time is long after the main teachers have left, I need to have some way to communicate what happened that day.  I feel like some training I attended or blog I read or heck, maybe it was some crazy dream...but I feel like I saw a document that people used to give the teacher an easy way to share the activities of the day and how their child did during them.  Any idea what I'm thinking of?
  2. I had planned on creating a little PowerPoint or something to introduce Sweet Pea when we start the transition to real preschool at age 3.  Should I maybe create a simple version of that for this new teacher and director? 
I had an idea...I want to take pictures of Sweet Pea doing her signs and match those up to the actual signs.  I want her teacher to be able to understand what Sweet Pea is signing, but also for her to do the signs accurately herself.  I thought this would be the best way to share that information.

Any suggestions that you have for how to make this transition smooth and help the school feel confident and comfortable with it would be much appreciated!

2 comments:

  1. You are a ROCKSTAR mom! REALLY! my son comes home daily with "progress" reports...just a simpe sheet of what they did today...how he did (behavior) an then anything we need to work on...also I talk with the teacher weekly to get updates...I also email her when I have a concern, questions...I think any communication is a must so you all are on the same page of what is going on...I think pix of Sweet Pea and her signs is great with a description on the back...then they can reference them if they are new or need help understanding her...cannot wait to see other responses for tips! smiles

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  2. How exciting!! I recently put a book together too, of Landon doing his signs....when I put them in the book, I organized them by what part of his body his hands are...to make it easier for the teachers to locate the sign. For example, hat & cow, can be found in the section labeled "head". The sign for cracker & tree, can be found in the section labeled "elbow"! I got the idea from our ST (who heard about it at an EI convention). This way the teacher doesn't have to flip through all the pages trying to figure out the sign. They can flip right to the corresponding labeled section so that they can communicate quickly!

    Just a thought!!! Good luck.....I can't wait to hear all about Sweet Pea's preschool experience : )

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