Category: Education

Summer School Begins…

Posted on by MICHELLE N

After 2 weeks of break, William goes back to summer school at Martin Elementary school in Santa Ana for 1 month (6/11 – 7/6/2018).  The school is big, we did not know where William’s classroom is; all we know is that he’s with Mrs. Newman Heather, who we met at the IEP meeting at Mitchell Child Development Center a month ago; so we went to the school office which requires some walking from the parking lot.  William held my hand and walked nicely.  He did not cry or show sign of afraid of the new school.

William with Mrs. Newman and the 2 assistants in room 22.

William’s classroom is room 22, which is not that far from office, but walking to the back door where the parking lot is, and also where we’d drop off and pick up him everyday, is a little bit far, but looks like William is ok with that.  The classroom is big, almost as twice as the one at Mitchell school but it’s not clean: the carpet, tables and chairs look old and dirty.  I’m just hoping that William won’t get sick or get allergy reactions.

Walking to the school office

There’s only 5 boys (including William) in the class with Mrs. Newman Heather and 2 other female assistants.  Mrs. Newman said she had not had girls in her class for the last 9 years!

First day at the new school went well; “he ate a few bites of pizza” for lunch.  I waited for him in front of his classroom; he was so happy to see me, held my hand and walked with me and the rest of the class to the parking lot where the drop off location is.

The school has a nice size of parking lot which so far I don’t see any problem of finding a available space to park, unlike Mitchell school.   There are lots of school buses so I guess most students use the school buses because I don’t see that many parents drop off or pick up their children; which may explain why the parking lot is not too crowded.

The class starts at 8:00 and ends at 12:00 PM, so I need to leave work around 11:45 PM to pick him up.  As usual, I’d bring him juice and corn dog in case he’s hungry and let him eat in the car.  We’d leave the parking lot around 12:30 PM for Children’s World Preschool.  So the routine is not changed, it’s just the time that changed; and it’s a little bit farther going from Martin elementary school to Children’s World preschool than from Mitchell to preschool; but summer school is only 1 month so I think I can handle that.

School main entrance
Heading to the office
Front desk in the office
Waiting to be served in the office; we need to find out where William’s classroom is.
William was drawn to this when he first came to the classroom
Room 22 is on the left. The building on the right is the back of the office.
Drop off and Pick Up location, no one is allowed to enter thru this back door.
View from the parking lot
Cafeteria where older kids pick up their breakfast and lunches

 

Summer Break Officially Starts

Posted on by MICHELLE N

June 1, 2018 It’s Summer time; which means no school in the morning so we send William to the Children’s World Preschool full day today; and next week too.  Then he’ll have summer school for about 1 month and then 1 month off before going to the Transition Kindergarten at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.

According to Ms. Jody from TasKids, William loves to play with this kitchen set.

8:30 AM, everyone is going out to the play yard. William cut in the line to be the first ones to go out; I tried to get him to get in line but he refused.

Bye Bye Mitchell!

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Thursday May 31, 2018.  It’s William’s last day at Mitchell Child Development Center.

Mrs. Hana, Ms. Delma, Ms. Melissa, Ms. Susan gave William a big hug.  We also stopped by Mrs. Kerstin (the school nurse) to said good bye and to pick up William’s medicine.

William was not aware of what was happening; he probably was wondering why was everyone hugging me!

I wanted to stop by to principle’s office to say good bye but he was busy so we didn’t want to bother.

After 17 months (Nov 2016 – May 2018) going to this school, we felt so in love with it.  It’s a beautiful place with a nice playground and lots of empty space for the kids to run around.  William didn’t know anything at all when he first came here; now he knows the alphabets, can count, can sing alphabet, wheel on the bus, happy birthday songs. The teachers also potty trained him.  He now can talk using a complete sentence even if it’s just a few words:

I want this/that.

William/Mama do it.

It’s so cute!

Open the Door

Etc.

I’m much thankful and appreciate all the hard works that Mrs. Hana and her assistants have done for William.   Without their love and patience, William would not progress this fast and learn so much in such a short time.

So Thank YOU from the bottom of our hearts!

In front of the school
William’s classroom is 309, on the left
Gated playground, lots of space!
Administrative building and the flag pole

Graduation From Preschool

Posted on by MICHELLE N
Mrs. Hana took this picture in the school just right before the little ceremony.

This week is William’s last week ( and 4 other friends) at Mitchell Child Development Center after about 1 and 1/2 years going to this school so Mrs. Hana threw them a little ceremony around 11:00 AM on Tuesday, after we returned back from Memorial Holiday.

William refused to stand up when Mrs. Hana called his name and people were starting to clap their hands.  Then finally he got up and Mrs. Hana handed him the Certification.  After that he lost it and started to hit himself on the face using his palm when he got back to his seat.  I think he doesn’t know how to handle all the attention so he felt frustrated.  He hit him few more times after that while eating lunch until we left the room.

More pics:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/L6MtPcAQs7KZ9uwp2

William with Mrs. Hana Suh in classroom 309

Loving notes from the teachers. Thank you!

Singing songs

Receiving the Preschool graduation certificate

 

Lunch time – pizza and juice

Mrs. Hana getting the foods for the children
William and the school sign

Can’t believe my baby boy is graduating from Preschool. He’ll be in the Transition Kindergarten next year at Linhcon school which is near our house.

 

 

William Hit His Face on the Metal Merry-Go-Round

Posted on by MICHELLE N
This is how it looks when Tim picked him up from school. From the pic, it doesn’t look as bad but it’s really bad!

Wednesday.  William was sent home today with a big dark bruise on his face below the right cheek with a note that he had an accident!  According to the note he was trying to jump off the Merry Go Round and slipped and hit his face on the metal bar.

Ms. Jeannie from TasKids was there with him at the time of the accident.

Today, it’s 6th day and the bruise still bad.  When I touched it gently and asked him if it hurts but he did not say anything.

The Merry-Go-Round that William loves to play with everyday.
Report from Ms. Chastity
Merry-go-round pic taken from the other side of the playground
1 day later, the bruise is starting to get darker.

 

New Teacher at Children’s World Preschool

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Friday 9:30.  There’s no school at Mitchell today so William will spend his whole day at the day care.  When I dropped him off, Ms. Chastity opened the small door for William to go in and told me that she’s now William’s teacher.  Ms. Chastity has been with the daycare for a while but she was not in charge of William’s class.  She said Ms. Nancy quits because she was not happy here lately.  Ms. Nancy was in William’s class for only 2 months, I think.  There’s lots of staffs changes in the last few months.

William and Ms. Chastity

Below is a list of staffs who were/are William’s teachers:

Ms. Leila, she stayed with the school longest.  She was in charge of Yellow Bird class for more than 1 year.

Ms. Sandra, few months.

Ms. Nancy, 2 months.

Ms. Chastity.

Hopefully Ms. Chastity will stay longer.  I can tell that she really likes William.  Most of the time when I drop him off around noon (after Mitchell class), she’d sit by his tiny bed and try to get him to sleep.

She told me she just re-decorated the room; so I came in and took a few pictures.  It looks nice, she did a nice job.  The fact that she went extra to make the room looks nice means that she really loves working there.   The other morning, the school was giving out morning snack in the yard; she tried to get William to come to the table but William refused.  I’m really thankful of that nice gesture because at that scene there was Ms. Rosemary and Ms. Jennifer but no one asked William if he likes to eat something.

Ms. Chastity seems very excited about this news, I heard her said it several times “I’m in William’s class now!”.   And I’m glad too!

Yellow bird classroom, the table is where they do crafts as well has having lunch. The door leads to a small kitchen on left and the other classroom.
The rug area is where those tiny cots will be set up for the nap time. William’s bed is always in the far left corner.
The tiny beds for the little ones.

Daily Snack

Posted on by MICHELLE N
Daily snack

Every day when I pick William up at his Mitchell Child Development School, I always bring 3 items: a wet towel, a bottle of juice and either corn dog or cheese sandwich which is his favorite for the past month.  The first thing we do when we got inside the car is to take off his shoes, then he takes off his socks himself.  I use the wet towel to clean his face and hands.  When the weather is hot, wiping his face with a wet cool towel really helps to cool him down to make him feel better.  Then I’d ask him to drink the juice; once he has a few sips of juice then i’d let him eat the snack.  While eating snack, he gets to play around in my car.  We’d spend around at least 15 minutes in my car for him to eat snack (depends on how much time I have before I have to get back to work).  Usually he needs 40 minutes to almost finish the corn dog and the whole bottle of juice.

William’s funny face