Last Day of Preschool

Last fall we had looked into starting Rebekah in preschool, but there were no openings where we had wanted to send her once we found out our church was not offering Mother's Day Out. We had decided that we would just wait another year, but when we were encouraged to start Rebekah in January to help with her speech and language delays we began making calls again and found a school that had an opening for Rebekah. In fact, it was our second choice of schools, so we were very pleased.

The first day of preschool was rough on both Rebekah and myself. It was a bittersweet day as I dropped her off in her classroom. It was such a different world than the church nursery. I was leaving my child in the hands of a preschool and an actual teacher to teach her and care for her for 5 hours. Rebekah struggled for me to leave her in a class with new children she did not know and a teacher she had only met once, but she handled it very well. Although she was shy, she eventually joined the class. I gave her lots of hugs before I left and drove off with lumps in my throat. I felt like I had dropped Rebekah off for kindergarten for the first time.

Here is Rebekah posing on her first day of preschool.

That first week of classes all Rebekah talked about was Mrs. Amy. It wasn't long before she talked about all her new friends as well. Rebekah has loved preschool and she adores Mrs. Amy.

The past few months have been wonderful for our little girl. She has been taught so much more than I could teach her alone at home. She received peer pressure to potty train and finally caught on very quickly 6 weeks ago. Rebekah has made more art projects than I could even dream of, and she has learned new things academically as well as socially. Rebekah has become a better playmate and she has also grown in her language and speech.

Thursday was another bittersweet day since it was Rebekah's last day for the school year. Parents were invited to come early as they celebrated with a luau. Here are a few pictures from the party.

Once the kids discovered the inflatable palm tree they had a blast jumping up and down while holding onto it length-wise.


Mrs. Amy also made each child an individualized scrapbook of their time at preschool. As I flipped through the pages of pictures of my little girl participating in class activities, playing on the playground, and socializing with her friends, as well as a few pieces of artwork I saw all the benefits that she received while she was there. I got choked up looking through the pictures knowing that Rebekah has received something so invaluable - friendship with such special children and love from a wonderful teacher.

Thank you, Mrs. Amy, for giving so much of yourself to your students and teaching these kids week after week. I know that Rebekah has grown and matured. Every time I wondered where she learned something new I knew it had to be from preschool. Rebekah has learned so much just in 5 months, and she was so fortunate to be in your class. We appreciate all you did for us and we will miss you very much!