The transition from JK..

Junior Kindergarten at Kylee’s first school was all play, and this is how it should be. Unfortunately, we all have to grow, not just in height and weight, but also into responsibilities, and one of the responsibilities of school as we pass through the stages is to learn.

Senior Kindergarten has come as a bit of a shock. Apart from playing, there is now a definite element of learning involved, and not just in the English language. Of course, when shocked, we all tend to recoil somewhat, and Kylee has done this too.

While she was generally more than happy to go to school, the move to French Immersion has not quite gone the way that she had imagined. Her teacher is a little more ‘fierce’ than the predecessor, but I suspect that much of it has to do with a class population some three times larger.

As I pass the school buses in the school parking lot, the noise being generated from within gives me an inkling of what Kylee’s teacher is up against when trying to control a bunch of five year olds.

Needless to say, Kylee is making progress and pretty much always gets a ‘bravo’, the French for awesome, from her teacher.

I can’t say that I was in agreement with Kylee attending French Immersion because none of her family are even close to being able to converse in French beyond ‘hello, how are you’, and the best way to be conversant in French or any other language is to be able to converse on a regular basis.

However, I am really hoping that Kylee stays at the present school, not because I want her to suffer, and not because I want her to learn French. She has to learn, just as we all did, that we don’t always get what we want, and that success which comes despite the odds is a very valuable lesson indeed.

So, other than teething issues, Kylee is doing well.

Bravo..

1st term at French Immersion

Kylee is a Senior Kindergarten now, and has had a little bit of a shock.

Aside from the fact that she is having to learn the French alphabet, there is less time given to play and more to learning. Don’t get me wrong, Kylee loves to learn but at her speed, especially for stuff that she sees as boring. I have no doubt that I was the same way as I approached my 5th birthday.

The present school is larger than her first, and I believe the class size is thirty or more. Kylee tells me that Madame Teacher is more fierce than her former teacher, but with thirty or so little kids all vying for attention and wanting to do their own thing, it is not really surprising.

It is still early days yet, and Kylee will get used to it as time goes on. Occasionally, she is hoping that she does not feel well enough to go to school, but there has been only two instances, and there is little doubt that she was not her normal self.

So what French has Kylee learned? A direct question gets a ‘nothing’ answer, but she knows all of the words to ‘Frere Jacques’,  and is getting a grasp of French numbers, so there is actual progress.

In general..

Kylee is approaching her 5th birthday, and she has lots of things lined up to do which she considers are within the scope of a ‘five’.

She is changing too. She is much more self reliant than she used to be, and can do lots things that once required the help of an adult. I find this a little disconcerting at times, often left feeling that I have limited use.

I do have limited use, and it is an unwelcome reminder, I can tell you..

Almost 5..

But not quite yet. Another four months to go.

The year has been interesting and Kylee has continued to charm. She refers to herself as a ‘four’ and uses the term in the context of ‘Fours can do that’.

One of the things that ‘fours’ can do is pick up a book, open it and not use the story as written. She looks at the pictures and then uses her imagination to create a new story. The great thing about using her imagination in this way is that one book never becomes a bore because the story changes every time.

While we as adults may see this as a get-out from reading proper, it shows a great ability to adapt and overcome. Full marks for that.

What else do Fours get up to during the day? Apparently, accidents are all part of a Four’s day, aren’t they Papa.

Kylee is by no means the nimblest child on her feet, and it is normal practice to pick up a small injury during the course of the day. She is not the bravest child when it comes to climbing frames, and is often shown up by kids younger and smaller than herself, but that is no bad thing. The alarming part is that she can fall while jogging along. Excitement gets the better of her and she does not look in the direction that she should be looking.

Now for a major triumph.

On a recent weekend trip to the family cottage, Kylee was introduced to the art of fishing. Set up with a kiddie fishing rod, her Mom placed a worm on the hook and Kylee dangled the line over the edge of the boat jetty. Her Uncles, Mom and other Grandfather, all big into fishing, baited up and cast their own lines.

So who caught the big one? The biggest fish ever caught by any member of the family? Expressing concern that she had caught something and would need help, her Uncle Darryl took on the job. The fish was so big that it broke Kylee’s rod, but Darryl fought with what was left of it and finally a four foot fish was landed.

Kylee really did catch one <……… this big………..>. Never underestimate a ‘Four’.

School for the coming year will be ‘French Immersion’, and we are all hoping that she does well. She is a very smart kid when she applies herself, and being bi-lingual, even in an eminently English part of Canada will help her get work later in life, especially in government jobs.

The only downside is that nobody else in the family knows much more than ‘Merci Beaucoup’ and I doubt that they could even spell it. As with any language, if you don’t get to hear it much, it will be forgotten. It always helps if one or both parents are Francophone and neither are. Oh well.. 

Her first trophy..

Kylee has for the last year been a member of a local hockey team. She is the youngest and smallest of all of the players. The team received trophies for the 2011-2012 season, and today she brought it with her such that she could surprize us all. A magical moment..

Almost as magical as watching her skate, stick in hand, falling occasionally but always getting back up on her skates and ‘shaking it off’. She is so small that she can’t manage the step between the ice and the bench, and if she does try it, there is the inevitable fall. Fortunately, the coach or trainer lifts her out onto the ice most of the time.

I would like to think that I would have had the courage to go out on the ice, but I don’t think that I could have done it. Kylee’s mum is an exceptional player, and Kylee thought that she too would be exceptional from day one. It has at times being very frustrating for Kylee to accept that it is harder than it looks, but she still perseveres. The trophy will spur her on to her second  season later this year.

On the general front..

Kylee does well at school, is liked by many and thoroughly enjoys the experience. She can count to 100, and can spell and recognise a lot of words.

She is still progressing on her computer too, even teaching her 3 year old cousin how to do it.

Having learned about ‘earth day’ at school, she instructed me on which lights I should turn off and which would be ok to be left on.

Her demeanour is quite unlike any child I have ever come across. She is a star, a ray of sunshine, casting light and smiles wherever she goes. Words do not do her justice. Now she is a star with a trophy to prove it.

Kylee goes to Florida

Who’s a lucky girl. Tomorrow, she will be joining the ranks of the Snowbirds again and having fun in the sun. This will be her second visit, and I don’t doubt that she will appreciate it more than the time before.

She has been counting off the sleeps for over two weeks now, and is finally down to one. Will she miss us? Yes, most probably but one can only hope that she doesn’t too much and that she gets maximum pleasure at the Disney park in Orlando.

Do I wish that I was going too? Yes and no. I am a Brit and was brought up with Rupert the Bear, not Mickey da Mouse. Florida is probably more humid than I can easily cope perhaps, and somebody has to remain behind to keep the flag flying and enjoy the warm – cold warm – cold weather which SWO is presently experiencing.

On her return from her visit last year, she had a play routine centred around the facial and speech idiosyncrasies of a Florida waitress. When serving us pretend tea and snacks, she would adopt a pose and voice which was definitely not her own, and we did smile (no offence to the waitress in question, whoever you are).

It will be interesting to see what she comes back with this time. When I was a kid, I came back from vacation with sand in my shoes. How boring was that??   

A new world opens up..

The world of elevator buttons is now within reach, I am not making reference to public elevators in malls, hospitals etc. The reference is to apartment blocks with aging elevators which are not generally ‘disabled’ friendly. Invariably, small children can’t reach even the lowest of the buttons, which is as well really because the alarm button is always one of them.

Kylee is not so small these days. On tiptoe, she can reach the G button, and of course the alarm button. She has almost outgrown the five point harness in her car seat, has been in Junior Kindergarten for a while now and is getting way too smart for a four year old.

Do we all grow up this fast? I don’t remember being particularly ‘squeaker toy’ savvy when I was her age.

When she reads a book, she puts her own words to the story, and will tell you that you can do this with books. One might get the impression that she has no real reading skills, yet when she clicked on a link on her computer, she came to me and told me that she needed adult supervision to complete the task, which is exactly the wording of the message on the screen. When I was at school, I was struggling with the content of the ‘Janet and John’ reading primer.