Big Apple Preschool

Yesterday was Vivian's first day at her new school. I'm happy to report that she was excited to go (at 8 am, no less!), didn't cry when I left, and was still happy when I picked her up early at 12:15. She ate breakfast and lunch at school, and when I got there, all the other kids were settling down in their little beds for their nap. She is one of two blondies in the class. The other is a little Dutch boy named Richter. There are Korean kids in the class, so she can keep up on her Korean if she wants to.

The Big Apple school is run by an American, and has about 100 kids total. Vivian's class consists of 15 kids and three teachers. All her regular teachers are Chinese, and the class is run in Mandarin. There is an American language teacher who gives and English lesson once a day. Vivian's class uses a Montessori curriculum, and her Chinese teachers are certified Montessori teachers, as is the school administrator.

Today Vivian came home singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and getting 95% of the lyrics right. I assume this means they practiced for the upcoming Christmas pageant, as she didn't know that many of the words when she went to school this morning.

I don't know if we're going to stay in this school, but we're going to give it a try. Apparently it gets mixed reviews from the parents around here, but not for any specific complaints that anyone I have spoken to so far can clearly articulate. There are other schoool options, this one just happens to be very close to the house we are going to live in so I prefer it for the reason of proximity alone. I am a little concerned about the size of her class because she is used to getting so much one-on-one from her teacher. But maybe what she needs is a little **less** attention, not more!!