Getting to school with everything we needed was only half of the battle. We got our visitor's pass and waited in the office. I signed some paperwork and Matt got a cool new backpack filled with goodies. Then we were escorted to the nurse's office. I fell in love with her! I instantly relaxed around her. Matt was initially shy, but she got him to open up in no time. She showed him some pictures that she would use to check his vision. When Matt looked in the machine she as patient with him. "Don't guess," she said at one point. "Just take a second to look and tell me where the 'E's are pointing." Then she checked his hearing. She adjusted the headphones to his little head and showed him how she wanted to raise his hand when he heard the beep. She explained that the beep would get quieter and quieter, "until it sounds like a whisper," she whispered. He was so cute raising his hand, fingers stuck together. Towards the very end, though, his chin started to tremble and his bottom lip quivered. "I don't like it," he cried. But we were done and he pulled it together with only a couple of tears.
The nurse took us to a tiny office and introduced us to one of the kindergarten teachers who seemed really sweet. She talked to Matt about his family and cat. She told him about her cat, Meow. He told her about his water gun and she said she had one, too. She had him stack ten blocks and count them,write his name, cut and snip paper, all of which he could do well.She took out some number flash cards but we have only just started with number and letter recognition at home and he got moody because he didn't know what they were. Same with the letter flashcards. Then she took out a box of crayons and asked him the colors. He got most of those wrong, which I don't understand because he's known his colors since before he turned 3. Next were shape flashcards. He called the oval a circle, but got square, rectangle, and diamond, so that was ok, I guess. He was asked to draw a picture of himself and he drew a stick boy with a gun. (sigh) She graciously allowed that it was his afore mentioned watergun. She sowed him a small book and asked him to locate the front, back, letters, and words. She asked him to point to the words while she read. He didn't do so well with the book even though I read to him almost every day. But now I know how I can read to him better. Finally, she set a timer for a minute and had him identify pictures. Those he got all right. She praised him for getting worm; most kids said snake.
And then we were done. I signed Matt up for a kindergarten readiness class. Twice a week, half days, in July. I think he will benefit from it. We got home and opened his bckpack. He got a pack of triangular crayons, a new pair of scissors, a pencil case with pencil, ruler, eraser, and pencil sharpener. He got a pawprint sticker for Cougars, his school mascot. And a bunch of parent resources including flashcards and effective ways to use them, which I will do. I feel like Matt could have done better on his assessment, but I also now know what the are looking for. So, all in all, a positive experience. My baby is growing up so fast!
