They were ecstatic as they graduated preschool this week and last -- first from their private school and then from the public school. My camera battery died minutes into the first graduation, so this photo bomb is limited to the second graduation.
Matthew is on the left and Jonathan is on the right. Both were so excited that they insisted on leaving for the school right after these photos, half an hour early. Though the differences in their haircuts are slight, Jonathan's longer style seems to bring out the fullness in his face more. They were the tallest in both of their preschools at 4-foot-2.
Jonathan won the award for best at puzzles. He told his teachers he wants to be a pizza guy when he grows up.
Matthew wants to drive trains when he grows up, according to his teachers. He won the award for best at computers.
The public preschool, which is run by the local Head Start program, does detailed evaluations of the children a few times a year for academic, social, emotional and physical development (motor skills). Jonathan and Matthew scored identically on each evaluation with the exception of an occasional missed letter sound or number. By the final evaluation, their reports were entirely identical.
In each of the preschools, Matthew and Jonathan had their own best friends. Those friendships were harder to forge in the public preschool, which they attended only two days a week as non-district residents. The other children all attended five days a week and had strong bonds, forcing Jonathan and Matthew together more often. (There were many more part-timers in their private preschool.) By the end of the school year, the teachers told us they were separating more regularly and developing healthy friendships.
Just before this picture, we learned the identity of their kindergarten teacher and spent some time nosing around his classroom. The twins quizzed him endlessly and he held up well under their fire. We could not have gone wrong with either teacher, but seeing that classroom and knowing he will be their teacher seemed to make it all the more real to them.
They are preschoolers no more!
3 comments:
Sorry if you discussed this in an earlier post...but they will be in the same kindergarten class? And they were in the same preschool classes? Just wondering. My girls are 10-months-old so we aren't there yet, but the topic still comes up a lot. Thanks...
Yes! We did lots of research and found very few studies have been done on twin classroom placement. The few that exist show identicals fare better academically and socially when kept together(at least in the early years) and can even suffer permanent psychological trauma when forced to separate. We decided to keep them together until or unless they want to be separate and the school was very cooperative. Many teachers and administrators will insist on separating, believing separating encourages individuality. It seems logical, but it simply isn't true.
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