School Update

Sam has been going to PreK at Coralville Central for two months now.  We started him three mornings a week and have quickly made our way up to five.  He is such a routine kiddo and with only 2.5 hours there, it just makes sense to have him go all five mornings.  He is doing so so well.  The first couple of weeks were tricky.  Unfortunately the toughest part of his day was the drop off.  Not because he was leaving me, but it was a completely overwhelming first few minutes to our sometimes sensory sensitive boy--- our van pulls into the bus line so buses are passing us, ahead of us, behind us, big kids are unloading and walking by, cars are sneaking around the buses--- things are loud and busy and it took a bit for him to get used to all of that.  We are greeted quickly by Miss Jodi, who is one of the two paras in Sam's room.  She is totally the best.  She is there every morning snagging the other boys off their buses and gathering them on a bench to then walk inside.  She is pure love and the perfect way to start Sam's school day.  She snuggles and hugs, laughs and entertains, distracts and comforts.  Sam has really taken to her and looks to her for comfort throughout the morning if he needs it.  She is just like a momma and knows when to push and encourage independence and when to snatch him up and comfort for just a minute.  There are five other little boys in his class which is cute.  Miss Gail is a wonderful teacher in her last year of teaching and has been the perfect expert to start Sam on his school journey.  We get little paragraph reports of each day in his Friday folder at the end of the week.  He loves 'group time' the most--- likes to be the helper, the point-er-out-er, the doer and the model.  : )  They are working on language skills, social skills, physical skills, personal care, some of the regular three year old academics and mainly teaching how to be an independent learner in the school setting.  We are so glad we decided to send him and are so so thankful for the wonderful women who care for him each day.  They truly understand his strengths and abilities, his fears and his areas of need.  We'll see if they can make gains with his speech but we know he is growing leaps and bounds in many other ways.  We have our first conference next Thursday and Bryan and I are excited to learn more about the academic part of his day.  We couldn't be more proud of Sam.  He has walked a different walk so far in life but is happy and loving and is making huge gains each day.  We are excited to see what the coming months of school bring!