Back to School

We made it through summer vacation! Both kids are officially back to school. Jack entered the second grade this year and Emilie is in Kindergarten. With a few weeks under our belts both seem to be having a good time.

Jack is my “old pro”he knows where to go and what to do. He’s got several friends in his class, enjoys his teacher, and is determined to do his best in class. I get detailed accounts of the day’s goings-ons from accounts of in class learning (Rocket Math is fun! Hadley made it to B side…I’m going to get to B-side soon) to accounts of other notable events (Carter C. threw up on his desk and his grammar page!). The biggest hitch for him was that he moved to the “other side” of the school building this year. That means you use then 2nd/3rd playground and you walk yourself to wherever you met Mom/Dad for pickup after school. Parent help in the classroom isn’t regular for this grade either. They’ll call if they need it, but it isn’t a weekly scheduled thing. Kinda bummed about that, but I still have Kindergarten.

I started volunteering in the Kindergarten class last week on Tuesday mornings. It has been very helpful to meet miss Emilie’s classmates and learn their names. I kept asking if she’d played with anyone new and she’d say, “Yes!”

“What’s his/her name?” I’d then ask.

“I forget…” would be the reply.

Now that I’ve met the kids I can help with specific names and that helps. Still, she’s harder to get information out of at this point. In fact, some days she’s tells me she’s “saving up” the recount of her day until Daddy gets home. Mom is a skilled interrogator though. Now that I know classmate names, and a basic idea of her daily routine I can usually ask the right questions and figure out what she did.

Fingers crossed we have the foundations of a great school year laid for both kids. It will be exciting to watch them grow this year and see what progress has been made come May.

Preschool Graduate

What better day to pick than Friday the 13th for Preschool Graduation? It is pretty scary how fast these kids are growing up after all. Emilie was one of about 40 kids to graduate from Step Ahead Learning Center. Emilie is in the Lion class and they also graduated children from the Tigers and Zebras.

We were dazzled with several songs: The CBA's, Idaho Counties Song, Tooty-tah, and several more. Emilie sang and danced with the best of them...expecially in the Tooty-tah song. For some reason she was on a winking kick and was winking at everyone. Kevin, Me, Miss Lety her former teacher from the Panda class (1/2 year olds) I had a pretty good spot for filming so I filmed and put together several clips posted in a video below. It's longish and the intent was for the Grandparents to have a glimpse of the ceremony since they couldn't make it. I won't hate you if you can't make it through the whole thing...as always it's much better in person.

I was reminded how big my kids are getting though. We're no longer that couple with the "really young children" anymore. No babies, no toddlers, not even pre-schoolers now that Emilie has graduated. We have two school-aged kids.

Graduation also means we will be saying goodbye to Step Ahead Learning Center in a few weeks. We've been going there since Jack was 18 months old...I'll let you do the math. I'm not going to miss tuition or having to drive to two  facilities for pick-up/drop off every day but I will miss the wonderful staff. April, Lety, Rosa, Anna, and several others who have moved on from the program over the years (Maria and Loretta comes to mind). Thankfully Twin is still a small enough town to bump into people and Facebook works pretty great for keeping folks updated. Still, it is time for us to move on to the next adventure. Emilie is more than ready for sure. Monday morning after graduation she told me I could drop her off at Kindergarten and was a bit disappointed when she found out she'd have to wait until September

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Back to School

Friday marked the end of the first week of school. So far, we are off to a good start. Jack is in first grade and Emilie is in the Lion class at preschool.

Jack has a set of team teachers this year. Mrs. Mai and Mrs. Sligar have been doing such for seven years now and it has been working well. One teaches Monday/Tuesday they other is Wednesday/Thursday and they switch off Friday. Jack says they are both alright. I’ve been peppering him with question about what First grade is like, what the routine is like in his class and things they do. So far most responses fall in the realm of, “yes,” “no,” “good,” or “alright.” Things I have learned so far.

• He has a new friend named Cody who also went to the Monster Truck show at the fair. Cody is a girl. He made a warm-fuzzy (a school project of some sort) for her or with her (I’m not clear on that). Her favorite color is blue.
• Luke, Alyx, and Alondra from his kindergarten class are also in his First Grade class. Wyitt & Cason are also in his class, but it’s not the same Wyatt and Cason from last year…
• He has his own desk with his extra pencils “and stuff” in it, and its pretty cool.
• There are THREE recesses
• You can have chocolate milk if you eat hot lunch (so far he’s had hot lunch once…yeah for Mom’s cooking being preferred )
• There was a snake on the playground last week (oh Joy…)

Emilie, is in her final year of preschool this year. An era is coming to a close. In a great moment of parenting, I managed to leave her in the wrong classroom on the first day….which she has not let me forget. It was an innocent mistake I assure you. When I’d talked to Miss Rosa (the director) a few weeks back she said Emilie would be in Miss Kolayna’s class this fall. What she didn’t tell me was that Miss Kolayna had moved from teaching the Tiger class (4 year olds) to the Lion class (kids in or headed into kindergarten in the next year) over the summer. So, first day back I took her in and dropped her off in the Tiger class. One of the floating aides was in charge of the room at the time and didn’t pick up on the error since there is an overlap in ages for Tigers and Lions. Thankfully, when Miss Rosa came through about half an hour later she spotted Emilie and got her right down to the Lion class where she belonged. Now every morning Emilie reminds me to put her in the Lion class and not the Tigers. Things I have learned about the Lion class.

• Last week’s special letter was “A.”
• They get to be princess ninjas
• They are ‘big kids’
• Her friends Corbin & Mendi are in her class. Bimini is not.
• They take their own lunches to school (not actually true as they serve lunch at preschool, but since I’ve been packing lunches for Jack, Emilie wants one too. Miss Kolayna’s youngest does the same thing and is understanding. She’s fine with Emilie bringing a sandwich to eat if she wants…as long as she finishes the main meal before eating dessert items)

Back to School

This week was the big week. Back packs packed, new shoes on, hair trimmed…all for the start of the new school year!

Note: Emilie is in the midst of ‘School Spirit’ week at preschool and it was ‘Crazy hat and Sock’ day…to explain her attire. Though I can see her picking this out on her own. Today is ‘Pajama Day’ …I always have a hard time with this one. It’s is just goes against everything in me to take my kids to anywhere in PJ’s…

 

Emilie was up first. She started in the 3 year old class (Giraffes) at Step Ahead Learning Center. She’s been pestering me to go back and see her friends for several weeks now so, as figured, we had no major issues. Tuesday morning she sauntered right into class. Her friend Emma came right up to her and after a quick huge and kiss goodbye they were off to play with some blocks.

Jack’s kindergarten class had orientation days on Tuesday and Wednesday. We were signed up for the Wednesday class so Tuesday morning we went grocery shopping and took a walk on the Canyon Rim where they are doing construction on a new shopping complex (read – lots of heavy equipment). All the while we talked about how awesome Kindergarten was going to be.

When we picked up Emilie I asked her how her day went and she said, “My teacher is BEAUTIFUL!” This just made me laugh for joy. Now granted, her teacher, Miss Nicole, is a wonderful, loving woman and by now means ugly, but I bet when you hear “Miss Nicole” you are thinking of a young preschool teacher, perhaps someone fresh from college ready to charm eager young minds. In actuality Miss Nicole is probably in her mid-50’s, shoulder-length salt and pepper hair usually in a ponytail, about my build. Glasses, no make-up, and a t-shirt and jeans type of lady.  I guess what I want to say if she’s not what society traditionally labels as ‘beautiful’ but my innocent little daughter who knows nothing of that sort of thing thinks she is – and I have to say she’s right. Miss Nicole is a woman who genuinely loves her work. She adores each and every one of those kids and I’m glad Emilie is in her class this year. When Jack was in the Giraffes he had the misfortune of being there at a time where they just couldn’t seem to hold a teacher in that room. One moved because her husband got a new job, another got married, the third was pregnant and had her baby prematurely, and so forth. Poor Jack was scrambling to keep up with the rotation and it showed, so I’m really glad Emilie has Miss Nicole!

Thursday was Jack’s big day. He is enrolled at Filer Elementary School which just so happens to be right next to our church so the building and playground he’s been familiar with for years. He is in Ms. Bridges class. We met her at an open house a few weeks ago and again at orientation (which Jack thought was boring – it really was mostly paperwork and parent Q&A – so I don’t blame him). This is her first year in the kindergarten class at Filer, but she does have several years experience and is by no means a rookie.

Of course, as every new parent of a kindergartener, I fretted. Would he know to listen for the bell? Would he remember to ask if he has to use the restroom? Would he make new friends? Would he listen to his teacher? Sometimes I wonder why I worry. I know deep down that he can do this. Most of it he’s been doing in preschool already. As usual he was spot on. Before school starts the kids can play on the playground. When the bell rings they are to line up at the door to their room. Well when the bell rang Jack ran over to me and said, “What’s the bell ringing for?” I said, “It means it’s time to go to class.” and we walked over to his door after I pried Emilie reluctantly off the slide. Ms. Bridges was waiting there and he lined up with the other kids and immediately started chewing on her ear about tractors and semi-trucks that crashed and need a tow truck (He’s ‘in’ to crashing things right now). He marched right into class and found his chair at the table. I did manage a quick hug goodbye at the door, but he seemed to be in such a good groove that I didn’t go in (only a few parents actually did)

When I picked him up he seemed happy and fairly chill about the day. I asked what his favorite part was and he said, “Playing on the Monkey bars and seeing the yellow spray rig drive by!” (I truly hope there is another small farm enthusiast in his class). After some more prodding I did manage to get out of him that he made Play-doh pancakes, learned a new song (he wouldn’t sing for me, going with “maybe later” instead), and heard a story about a Raccoon that bounced away from home. He also met some boys named Ryan and Jacob. In all his review of Kindergarten was, “It’s good.” A man of few words – unless we’re talking trucks and tractors.

Here’s to a ‘good’ year of school.