Ellie on her last day of school...
How much she's grown in only eight months! (sniff)
All in all, Ellie really enjoys going to school. Three days a week she leaves at the earliest pick-up time, and the other two days she stays later for lunch. I am aware of a loose schedule that exists: every day she takes a little breakfast snack like buttered bread, yogurt or fruit that she eats when she first gets into her classroom. I feel like she's in for a rude awakening when she goes back to the States and starts American kindergarten where there's no breakfast snack first thing in the morning. They have activities in the morning which involve playing, reading or working on an art project. They also have outdoor play time later in morning, whether it's sunny, raining or snowing. I tell you, these Germans are hearty folk, and Ellie has really taken to the whole culture! Thank goodness for the Matschhosen (mud pants), a pair of waterproof, fleece-lined overalls that keep her pants from getting wet and dirty. I can't for the life of me figure out why these haven't caught on in the States, they're a savior when Ellie plays outside in the rain!
Once a month she has a "Spielzeugtag," which translates to "Toy Day," when the kids are allowed to bring in a toy from home. I'm not sure if there is a show and tell involved, it's hard to get a straight answer from a three-year-old. "Kochtags" are also once a month that involve cooking lunch for the day. A few times a month they have "Waldtag," which literally translates to "Woods Day," where they go out and play in the woods for a couple of hours, also done regardless of the weather conditions.
For the first several months after starting kindergarten, I swore there was going to come a day when the teachers would pull me aside and say, "We're sorry, but Ellie cannot come back to kindergarten anymore." This fear mostly stemmed from the fact that Ellie can be a very boisterous child, who communicates on Volume 11 ninety percent of the time and has an extremely high amount of energy... and opinions. However, her teacher Amela (who is wonderful!), reassured me that Ellie is doing fine at school -- she just happens to be one of the louder ones. The language barrier in the beginning was a big part of the issue since at first she wasn't able to understand the books or songs (or anything for that matter), but now that she's speaking fluent German (!!) she's become a much more settled, happier and more involved child at school. It's mind-blowing how quickly little ones pick up a foreign language.
In July Ellie's school held their annual Sommerfest, an event for the parents to attend along with their kids. We did a nature scavenger hunt in the woods, then came back put our findings together on a poster.
The other highlight was a little presentation of songs sung by by the kiddos. It was pretty adorable although, as evidenced by the third picture, Ellie wasn't all that into it at the time -- I'm hoping next time she'll be more engaged.
Afterwards, we had a pot luck lunch. We each brought our own meat to grill and a side to share. It was a nice way to talk to and get to know some of the other parents.
I have definitely seen a change in how brave Ellie has become at trying new things. Outdoor play time at kindergarten is monitored by the teachers, but the children are mostly left on their own to play... and resolve conflicts (i.e. when two kids want the same swing, toy, etc). I saw a little of the "Lord of the Flies" effect on the playground during the Sommerfest. That said, Ellie really holds her own and has no problem asserting herself if she wants said swing or toy. She also has no problem climbing ladders to get to slides and recently learned to swing all by herself -- requiring no more pushing from me!
Not to mention she's just as independent as ever.
Ellie starting German kindergarten has also been a learning process for me. All my encounters with the teachers are in German and I'm catching about 75-80% of what they're saying, but I'm getting the basic gist and in the last eight-plus months my German has vastly improved... but not as quickly or as accurately as Ellie's (naturally). There are no parent-teacher conferences, so if I have a question I usually catch one of the teachers in the morning or they flag me at the end of the day if there's something they need to chat about. I've also learned (the hard way) that there are German holidays that aren't listed on the school calendar and as a result there were a few days when I got Ellie ready for school only to walk over and find the gate locked. Wait, I was just supposed to know that Ascension Day was a national holiday? Oops. Leaning from my mistakes, I now have a list of those holidays from one of Ellie's teachers.
Watching Ellie grow -- especially into her own person -- over the past year has been eye-opening and I have realized how much she is truly capable of doing on her own. Despite the challenges, what a joy it is to see our girl grow up!
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