Alice has been fully transitioned to the big class for a couple of weeks now. The transition was so drawn out, with her spending longer and longer parts of each day in the new class, that when it was finally complete, we almost didn't notice. Other than one rough drop-off towards the beginning of the process, the transition has been really smooth (as far as we know).
The big class is literally big. It's at least twice the size of her previous classroom and has about 25 students. In the old building, it was separated into two classes, but in the new building they have been combined. This is the last class at her daycare, combining kids ages 3-5, in accordance with the Montessori belief that the younger kids can learn from the older kids, and that the older kids also benefit by teaching the younger kids. Or something like that.
She now plays on the upper playground, instead of the same one Simon plays on in back of the building. She's hard to see in this photo, because she is eclipsed by the gate post, as she runs towards me.
They usually have the kids play outside at the end of the day so they can clean the classroom. Although, we have to walk through the classroom to get to the playground to pick up the kids.
I think one thing that helped is all the new work for Alice to learn in the big class.
Her new teachers are kind and seem genuinely fond of her. Alice always gives her new teachers hugs before leaving for the day, and we often have to go back to her old classroom so she can hug those teachers too. We feel so fortunate to have a daycare where our kids seem so happy. It's hard to believe that this time next year we'll be shopping for a kindergarten.
A couple of days ago, Alice queried, "Why is kindergarten not really a garden?" I suppose it's a good thing she's learning that now, because she would have been mightily disappointed on her first day of kindergarten.
