Kindergarten Round Up

Braden and I attended Kindergarten Orientation in early May.  He was very anxious about it and not sure what to expect but at the same time excited.  When we arrived the cafeteria was full of parents and kids.  They were all forming into groups and right away he was supposed to go into his group while I went on a school tour.  He panicked and immediately clung to me and started crying.  He was very embarrassed to be crying but couldn’t seem to stop.  I went with him to his group’s first stop which was a classroom where they had a coloring project.  Not the greatest task for Braden since he doesn’t really enjoy coloring as his first choice.  We were sitting on the floor away from the tables so he could calm down and several teachers kept trying to comfort him but that was actually making it worse.  I appreciated the teachers that were able to give him some space and time to absorb all this newness!  Within 15 minutes he agreed to color a self-portrait using a clipboard so he could sit on the floor where he was comfortable.  After that his group was going to storytime and he was ready for me to leave him on his own, however, I was in the same room since parents were having an informational session on the other side of the cafeteria.  I was relieved to see him get comfortable and by the end of storytime he was walking and talking with his friends as we got on the bus for a ride!  We played on the playground for a little bit and by the time we got into the car he was very positive and excited to go to kindergarten.  In fact the next day he asked me why I was driving him to preschool, he was supposed to go to kindergarten now.  I had to explain that orientation was just a visit and that after summertime he’d be going to kindergarten.  We plan to visit the playground a lot this summer and get used to the school.