Eliot's Travels

Today, the teachers waited until 8:30 to open the classroom doors so everyone could go in at one time. I tried so hard to be on time, but we were there just as the last children were going in. It was a bit crazy and everyone was so excited; I think Eliot was a little overwhelmed by it all.

The Zwarte Piets visited the classroom last night and left a Sinterklaas on the table. The Piets also made a mess of the furniture and laid tables on their sides. Each child got a present in their shoe from Sinterklaas: a bouncy ball that lights up when it impacts something.

Miles and I rode straight to Gina's from school for another meeting on her business idea. The two boys played and watched a video while we met. About 11:15, we headed home to have a snack and see Jim, who had arrived home from Copenhagen earlier this morning.

At 12:10, we all headed to school. Today, we were finally having our parent-teacher conference with Lucien. Eliot at first was upset and tired and wanted to hang out close to me. Eventually, he did play with Miles, so we could talk. Eliot has been in school just about 2.5 months. Lucien said that Eliot is starting to talk in circle time (in English); he said that often it takes 6-12 months for new children who don't speak the language to say even a word. I really like the teachers at this school; they are so in tune with the kids. Lucien is absoultely wonderful. He talked to us about how Eliot writes, cuts, paints and where he is relative to other children in physical skills. He felt that Eliot is a mental person (from his human dynamics classes, which he doesn't really like) - very clever and smart. He thought that his body is not quite as advanced as his brain (not that his motor skills are behind). It was nice to hear confirmation of the things I have seen in Eliot.

The thing I really liked was Lucien asked us how long we were going to be here. He said if it's not for the long term (which is correct), he would like to focus his energies on Eliot's motor skills, rather than focusing on teaching Eliot Dutch (since he really doesn't need the Dutch). He said after 2-3 months at school, they do a full evaluation of each student to examine skills. He's going to do Eliot's this month and then review it with us. It is all in Dutch, so it will be interesting to learn the translation. I guess Lucien and Marry both talk to Eliot in Dutch and English; Marry said her English is improving because of it. Lucien said it does not distract the class at all - so it seems to be working well for everyone.

Lucien had firefighting class at 1:00, so we headed home then. Luckily, Lucien's English is good enough to have such a in-depth discussion. We had a nice meeting. I can't say how happy I am with the school. It makes me think a lot about kindergarten next year in th US.

posted by Whitney @ 8:13 AM