Thankful #12

I am thankful for the teacher that B has at his preschool. She is such a caring person and is truly dedicated to her profession. You can tell how passionate she is about her program with the answers you get if you ask her any questions regarding Montessori or by taking a peak at her blog. She loves to invite the kids to learn and share so many wonderful experiences with them. Her mind is 24/7 on what she can do for her classroom, and I think we are truly blessed to have B in her room for his first year of preschool. He is just in love with her. He wakes up every morning and says, "do I go to school today". If it is a school day, he wants to eat lunch right after breakfast (he attends the afternoon session) and go outside to wait for the bus at 9 in the morning. I am just amazed at the excitement he has day after day for going to school. Tomorrow is our first (ever!!) parent teacher conference. I am looking forward to hearing more from her on how he is doing at school and some of the things they are working on.

Yesterday I was able to attend his first field trip with the class. We had a great time visiting Fontenelle Forest Nature Center. This was also the first time that B was able to ride on a big yellow school bus (sniff, sniff, I need a tissue there are so many first going on in his life!) The children enjoyed looking out the windows at we started our journey towards the Nature Center. Once we were there we broke into 2 groups. First, our group played at the indoor activity center. B was able to see some bugs, frogs, snakes, listen to sounds you hear at night, run through a model of a big tree tipped over, and dig through some leaves to see what we could find living under them in our yard. Next, we went to the outdoor area that was just beautiful. I just wish we could have visited about a month earlier when there was still a few leaves on the trees and a bit more color. The woods were still very beautiful. There is a play area and a very large walking area with nice boardwalks through the forest. The weather was cold, but not rainy like it had been the day before. Most of our group stuck together and took a walk along the boardwalk and had some great views. The kids enjoyed running a bit ahead and having fun. When it was time to head back inside, we were treated to a program with some live animals. The kids were able to learn about and touch a box turtle, tiger salamander, bull snake, and a rabbit. B had a great time and I enjoyed taking the day off to experience the joy of a little boy growing up faster than I would like.

Pulling the handle to listen to the night sounds

Running through the tunnel~ One of his favorite things!

The children running ahead on the boardwalk

The leaves were all over~ beautiful!

The woods were so pretty!

B and his good buddy!