I went to school this morning with my DD, only because I am fortunate enough not to have to work outside of the home
at the moment. There were three other parents there (two were the parents of DD's best friend, who happened to get into her class this year :happy dance: ), and I felt it was beneficial to my DD that I was able to go
because there seem to be ALOT of things that she's going to have to learn, that I wasn't really expecting!!
For example: Instead of raising thier hands to answer a question, they want the kids to do a "thumbs up sign"
, and when they want to go to the bathroom, they have to hold their hand up so that their thumb is between their index and middle finger, in a fist!! I was like, "WHAAA???" What happened to old fashioned RAISING YOUR HAND and asking to be excused?????
Another example: When their out on the playground, and it's time to come in, a teacher/aide will blow a whistle
twice. The kids are then expected to FREEZE on the spot! Then, the teacher/aide will blow the whistle again (once) and then they are to come and line up to go inside.
Then...there's this "wall system" they have by the door, where the kids are to place their name (which is on a card) into their name "pocket" when they enter the room in the morning. Which ever names are left in the "folder" are the students the teacher knows are absent. They also have an "apple lunch board" there too, where they have to remove their (named) apple if they brought a lunch. This way the teacher knows at a glance how many lunches should be ordered. It just seems like the teacher is trying to remove as many steps as possible for herself, which is understandable since she has 26 kids instead of the ususal 21, but it just seems a bit excessive to me.
I left after an hour, and went back at lunchtime. It was just me and DD's best friends' Mom there helping out...opening milk cartons, reminding them to stay seated, etc. Then I heard the teacher tell the other Mother that when they're done eating, they have to raise their hand, and wait to be excused, to go take their trays up to the dishwashing lady. This seemed to frustrate alot of the kids that were done eating and just wanted to go out to the playground. Some of them had to wait a LONG TIME before the "lunch official" saw their hands!! THEN they switched it around on them and told them that they had to wait until
everyone at the table was done eating before they could be excused!! Talk about some "put out kids"!!! Maybe it'll be more organized tomorrow. I hope so.
That's all the "strangeness" I can think of right now. But back to my point...that seems like alot for a Kindergartener to remember on the first day of school. Especially the "no hands raising" policy!! That's just....WEIRD to me!!!
Anyone else find strange what their kids are having to do in class this year?
I'm just glad that I was there to hear it all, that way I can help DD remember what to do!!
Are you suprised at what your kids have to learn/remember on the first day???
I was like..."OOOOKay!!" I mean, do they do this for security purposes? What? Did they just want to be sure I signed out and returned their visitors tag? I really didn't mind giving up my keys or anything...but I just wanted to add that my DD's school is turning out to be a strange experiance for me!! 
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