Local Preschool

In the past I've blogged about Reister's school, but I thought it might be time for an update. As a mom I am constantly thinking about my childrens education. Not just their elementary, middle & high school education but also and right now more so, their Chinese language acquisition. It is an important value for us that our boys learn to speak fluent Chinese. We want them to understand and feel a part of the culture they live in. We want them to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to become bi-lingual from a young age. So, because we've heard from others that an effective way to do that is to enroll your kids at a local preschool at about 2-3 years of age, we decided to start Reister when he was 2 years old. He started going 2-3 mornings a week when he was 2 and has worked up to going 5 half days a week. He started at his current school when he was 2 1/2 years old. He went for about 5 months and then changed to another one (where I taught English) for 3 months in 2009. Upon our return to East Asia in May of this year, I was not going to teach any more so we decided to send him back to this school. It is right across the street from our apartment complex. We normally take him by bike and it takes less than 4 minutes to get there. It is a Montessori style school so he is in a class with about fifty 4-6 year olds. They divide up into smaller groups by age to do certain activities. Here are some pictures so you can get a feel for what it's like.
This one is blurry but shows most of the classroom. Reister is walking in the middle. I had just brought him to school that afternoon. The shelves around the edge of the room all contain educational toy sets. Reister really enjoys them.

Another one of Reister. Don't mind his high-water pants :)

On the right side of his classroom are all the beds that the kids take their naps in. Reister doesn't nap there because he only goes half days (either from 8:30-12 or from 2:45 - 5:30pm). On this day he went in the afternoon and the kids had just gotten up and gone to the restrooms. The beds collapse back into the tallest one so they don't take up that much room normally.

Here is one of Reister's classmates, Ya Ya. She was his classmate last year when he was in the smaller class too. I believe she is 5 years old.

Each child has a cubby hole with their name. Here's Reister pointing at his - he's about to put his backpack in it. It has his Chinese name, Wang Yi Rong 王一荣 written under it. He can recognize his Chinese name by the characters!

We have some friends who live inside the apartment complex where the school is. I was up at their place recently and snapped a couple of pictures of Reister's class finishing up their outdoor exercises and lining up to go back inside. Reister is in the brown shirt at the end of the middle line.

Here is the whole school from a birds eye view.

Now you know all about Reister's school. What questions do you have?