E's New Class

Not only did E get confused about what school she was going to, but it didn’t sink in with her until we got in the car for her first day that Brother wasn’t going.  She was not pleased and cried for him, but each day has been better than the last.  The good part is that she loves her class and teachers.  She gets to “sign in” each day to practice tracing her name (still a lefty as of now).  There are lots of new centers and group time and more organized learning time that she seems to really enjoy.  She is familiar with most of the kids and there are three new friends as well.  

This is the same class and teachers that Ben had two years ago so it is fun to be in there again.  Elizabeth is already impressed with the themes of the week and the art projects.  She helped the teacher pick out paint one day and was just thrilled about what they might make with it.  We look forward to a big year of learning and fun!

First Days of Kindergarten

 
On the first day, Mom and Dad were able to take Ben to his new room at regular time.  Ben was a little nervous, but did really well.  He decided to pack his lunch the first day so he had his new backpack and lunch box with him.  Mrs. Andrews was asking the kids to pick a favorite color of play dough and take it to any seat they wanted at the tables.  Ben picked yellow which was a bit of a surprise as it is his third favorite color (lol), and then chose a table of boys to join.  There was a very social dad there trying to make introductions and get the boys talking.  They stayed pretty quiet, but were all pretty content.  Mom started to get teary and decided it was time to be done with dropoff.  There were still many parents grilling the teacher that were there far before we arrived.  But since Ben was okay, we said a quick goodbye and left.

 

Ben’s first day report was hysterical.  He did really well and didn’t seem to get upset during the day.  He had an incident on the playground where he got some stickers in his hand after falling.  One of the teachers was able to get them out so he didn’t have to go to the nurse, so he was pretty pleased that he had been brave and didn’t even cry.  He also had a new friend step on his shoe and made it come off.  He said he kind of ended up in a heap and that Mrs. Andrews had to fix his shoe, but he did okay.  He ate most of his lunch, but apparently Mom put way too much in because she was worried he would go hungry.  He also let Mom know that the note she left him was “too much of a surprise” and not welcome.  It was on Lion King paper which is “for babies”.  Ooops!  Consider it noted.  He did agree that sometime a joke on plain paper would be okay, but nothing else.  

Ben learned two names the first day, one of which he already knew.  We are so blessed that a friend from preschool ended up in our class by chance!  How great to have a familiar face!  He had also made up two names for a couple of classmates – “Tickle Monster” and “The Annoying One”.  Luckily he said these names were just in his head and he hadn’t actually called them this.  One tickled him several times after Ben had asked him to stop and the other touched him and messed with him too.  We encouraged him to tell the teacher if it continued too much and he said they each had another chance and that he wasn’t supposed to tattle.  He decided the next day that he definitely wouldn’t sit with them at lunch as they touched his back the whole time just to bother him.  It was really funny that the age of the kids got to Ben.  He quickly picked up on some immaturities and told us that “some kids were probably only 4!”  He was used to being the youngest kid in class so this was a rude awakening to him that these other kids could possibly be ready for kindergarten.  After meeting the entire class, his new assessment was that he was the very tallest and the second oldest.  How did he know he was second oldest?  "I asked the kid that looked older than me when his birthday was and he is already six.  So I must be the second oldest."

He started Before and After Care and that went really well.  At least 4 or 5 kids from his class go so he has some friends to walk with.  He likes those teachers and enjoys the fun toys and games they have.  They also get to go to the big playground that kindergarten doesn’t get to use during the day.  Super fun!  Although, he does have a favorite tire swing on the kindergarten playground where he plays daily.  Overall, his experience has been good so far.  He reports that he isn’t getting tickled or touched anymore and that he knows those friends’ real names now.    He is underwhelmed by the “work” they have done so far, but we keep reminding him that it is still early and that many of these kids had never been to school before.  Hopefully he doesn’t complain to the teacher!  We were able to attend Popsicles on the Playground for new families to the school.  It was awesome to see Ben in action.  He saw several from his class and ran up to them and said their names and at one point he just started yelling at one of the moms “Mrs. Andrews!  I have seen five others from Mrs. Andrews!” because her daughter was in his class and looking unsure.  He claims he often plays alone or doesn’t know who he played with so it was nice to see that he is actually social and talks to new friends.  Yea!

Now we are looking forward to Back to School night and learning more about the year ahead.  It should be an adventure!

Meet the Teacher

Thank goodness for Meet the Teacher!  We had some anxiety about changing schools prior to starting at Jenks and it was so nice to get to go inside, see the classroom and meet Mrs. Andrews.  She is wonderful!  Ben had worried about everything from getting lost at school to wondering if his classmates and teacher would be speaking English.  (That's what you get when you watch too much Olympics!)  Seeing the room, some of the kids and meeting the teacher alleviated his concerns greatly.  He even wanted to stay when we needed to move on to other things because he hadn’t finished reading books.  His assessment after Meet the Teacher was that he was the tallest kid he had seen in the class so he was guessing he was at least second tallest.  

We were also able to order a directory, yearbook, buy spirit wear and much more in the gym during Meet the Teacher.  Ben found one shirt he liked so we bought that.  He thought the others were either too crazy or had cartoon drawings on them so we are holding out for other options later.  We may have to hit the team shop at the high school before long.  

The most surprising part of our visit was little miss E’s disappointment.  She was really worried about going and we soon realized that she thought it was for her too.  After she realized that she would still be going to her old school, instead of being relieved she was angry to be excluded.  She wanted to sign her name on the PTA poster and wanted to get her supplies, etc.  Didn’t plan for that one. . . .oops!