Last Thursday evening I went to the first parents' meeting at Isabelle's new pre-school. I was quite nervous as this was the first time I was at a parents' meeting as a parent. From my previous posts you might know I am a teacher, so I am used to be the one talking in front of the parents, not sitting among them. That only proved how big our Isabelle is, she is not my little baby any more, she goes to pre-school and will be starting school next September.
I knew some of the parents which I met at the beginning of the school year at a coffee morning organised by school to help parents meet other parents. I also knew all 3 teachers Isabelle has and the headmistress, but I was still quite nervous. We were welcome by one of the teachers, given some hot drinks and biscuits and patiently waited for all the parents to arrive.
I have to say, I really loved the way the teachers presented our childrens' work at school, we saw many slides taken during many activities and seeing Isabelle writing some letters only brought tears in my eyes. I was so proud of her. Then we were explained all the things the teachers will be covering during the year and introduced to the nursery curriculum. As I wasn't born here in the UK, I was very happy that finally someone explained to me the learning stages. The teachers also explained how they observe and assess our children on a daily basis and the evidence collected is used to complete the Nursery learning record. We were also advised on how to help with our child's learning ( sharing books, board and card games, jigsaw puzzles, creative activities, mark making, going for walk, helping in the kitchen, songs and rhymes, and sharing time with other children). At the end we talked about writing and the teacher gave us a copy of letters and rhymes that help the children remember how to write them. They also stressed the importance of phonetics when teaching them the alphabet. Luckily I studied that at the University, so I was doing that already, but many parents seemed to be surprised that when teaching your child how to write the letter "a" you don't pronounce it the same way as you do when saying the alphabet.
At the end we could ask any questions, and one of the mums has told the teacher that every day when she asks her daughter about what she did at school, and she responds "Nothing". Then we all started laughing and many parents, including me, agreed that their children say the same. I was very happy to see all the evidence that Isabelle actually does something at school and cannot wait for the next meeting to find out about her improvements.
