first week of school

 This is the first week for Roan at the Toddler Center in Barnard college. 

We went there first on Tuesday morning. There are 5 kids, each accompanied by their mom. There are 2 girls: Esme and Wynter;  and 3 boys: Ashton, Albright, Roan. There are two teachers: Miss Serena and Miss Jena.   The program director and Allison are also there.

Due to Covid,  the class is hold outdoor, under a tent on Barnard campus. 

Moms are supposed to sit at their designated chairs throughout the session. The classes are about 1 hour long this week, it will slowly extend to about 2 hour. 

At the first class, Roan mostly just played on the rug right in front of my seat. By the second class, he has ventured out to the far corner where the slides and rocking boats are situated. He was really interested in the boat, but unsure how to get in safely or how play with it. So he stood there for a long time to observe.  Miss Serena sitting next to the slides and boat, just said "Roan is interested to play with the boat... There is space for everybody...." To my surprise, she just sat there and said things verbally, but didn't offer help physically. I know that my nanny or me would have started to pick up Roan and put him into the slide or boat long time ago, but Miss Serena chose not to do that. Rather she just verbally expressed the intention that Roan was exhibiting.  So Roan went back and forth a few times. He came back to the rug in front of me to play the cars a little bit, but eventually he went back the slide and boats, and followed the example of other kids and slowly got on the slides. After the first try, he became much more confident and went up and down the slides a few more times. At some point, he also watched how Esme got into the boat and played with it.  So as soon as Esme got out,  he tried it himself.  So he started the class with strong interest to play those toys, and ended the class with mission accomplished. 

Relative to other kids in. the room, Roan was a little slower in exploring new environment. He stayed closer to me for longer. But nonetheless he substantially expanded his area of activities each time. 

After the play time, Roan gets to have a snack. The kids sits around a table. They first washed the tables, then have a rice cake and a glass of water. They sit some songs while sitting around the table. 

After snacks, it's reading time. Roan was interested in the big truck book. Finally teach do the circle time to summarize the day, before sending everybody off.