Alayna started her first day of Kindergarten yesterday and mommy cried. Alayna didn't cry but mommy did! I can't believe my little baby is getting older! It's so hard to think about her already going to school for a full day, but I am grateful! I'll have some time to myself since Olivia is so easy on her own. She amuses herself well! :)
There was just one problem when I dropped her off yesterday -- She's the only one from her AM pre-school class in her Kindergarten class. We were all very upset, but Alayna took it like a trooper. When she got home yesterday she expressed how upset she was. It seemed like they kept all the AM class together except for my Alayna. Her teacher also seemed like she was a tough one and not too compassionate towards the children. To tell you how un-compassionate the teacher is, there was a little girl in her class who had a broken arm. The teacher said to this 5/6 year old, "What did you do, get hit by a truck?" I mean...who says that to a 5/6 year old!
Alayna and I spoke about it and I told her that if she didn't like the class she was in, I could talk to the principal and see if there was anything he could do about it or I could transfer her to another school. Alayna thought about both options and told me that she wanted to stay in this school, but she wanted to see if I could talk to the principal. So off we went this morning....
Our plan was for Alayna to go into her class this morning and I would go to the office after I dropped her off and I'd speak to the principal. Unfortunately, Alayna got on her line this morning, saw all her other friends in the other class and started hysterically crying. She told me that she didn't want to go into class this morning because all of the other kids in her class already had their friends from last year and she felt excluded. I tried everything to get her to go in with her class, but she said she wanted to go to the principal's office and talk to the principal herself. So I took her with me to the office.
I have to give a lot of credit to her principal as he is very compassionate and speaks well with the kids. He made her feel comfortable by talking to her about how their birthdates are close together and how smart her pre-school teacher said she was. This principal knows every child individually and remembers them all; he's great! Alayna explained to him how much she loves this school and how much she loved all of her classmates last year. She told him about all her friends and how she feels excluded in the class she is currently in. He explained that they put her in that class because she was one of the smartest kids in her pre-k class and how they wanted to put her in the class to possibly balance it out so she can help some other kids who aren't as smart as she is. Unfortunately, Alayna still didn't want to stay in that class. The principal told her that since she was so brave and spoke to him herself about how uncomfortable she was, he would talk to both kindergarten teachers to see if he can get her into the other class. (He even gave her a "My Principal Loves Me" sticker, which made her so happy.) He then told her that if she wanted to go home today she could and he would give us a call later to let us know if he could move her into the other class, but she wanted to be a trooper and stick today out. She said she would be brave and go back into her class today until he found out what he could do. So we'll wait and see what happens after school today...
I have to give Alayna credit. When I was in elementary school I wouldn't have been so brave. I would have made my mom talk to the principal and I would have gone home until they found out what they could do. My Alayna is so brave and independent to talk to him herself and to go back to class. I'm very proud of her and I'm glad that she is completely unlike me in that aspect! Hopefully they are able to do something for her because the other kindergarten teacher is excellent, compassionate and all of her friends are in that class. I find it unfair that they separated her from the others, but do understand what their thinking was.
