I had my first play visit this morning with Ian at an independent Jewish Day School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. For the uninitiated, a play visit lasts about a half hour and generally involved both the parent and child going into a classroom with another small group of parents and children and playing for a while a few Nursery teachers and an administrator or two act as flies on the wall. This generally happens after applications, including essays and application fees have been received, and a tour or a parent interview have been scheduled.
Ian had a ball, his only complaint being that he didn't get to play for long enough. I must admit, the entire event was completely stress-free--except for the adventure of getting a toddler and umbrella stroller on the crosstown bus on an icy Sunday morning...that, and wondering exactly what the school administrators may or may not have been noticing about my perfectly adorable (natch!) child.
The morning looked basically like this:
10:50am We arrived at the school and were greeted by an administrator
10:55 We were sent to a large conference room to get our classroom assignment
11:00-11:20 Free play with trains and train tracks, a barn with animals, a table with play dough and shaping tools (see tomorrow's recipe), a really cool sand table filled with rainbow gravel and pouring/scooping toys, some peg boards at another table and some books
11:20-11:25 Clean Up
11:25-11:30 Juice, Graham Crackers and a story sitting around a table (we heard Brown Bear, Brown Bear...by Eric Carle)
By 11:35, we were out the door and on our way out to a bagel shop for lunch because the snack has very much piqued both of our appetites.
We have a few more such visits over the next couple of weeks, and I can't wait to see how each school structures their visit a little differently.
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