First Day of School 2011

How sad is it that my baby is in Kindergarten??!!  As hesitant as he was last week at 'Meet The Teacher', he went right in this morning and seemed at ease.
When summer is coming to a close, I am never one to be heard saying, "oh,thank goodness school is back in." Never.  I like my kids. I love when they learn with each other, or with friends, through play. I love having the chance to be more of an influence in their lives than the few hours school allows. But, we're giving it a shot. Aidan is in the dual-language program, so we'll give it a while to see if it's worth 7 hours of school a day.  Allie loves the GT portion of her day, so we'll see if it makes it worth it for her to be bored during some of the other times. Here's to a happy first day of school with absolutely zero tears.  Now, when we finish up with Aidan's doctor appointment today, we'll see if the tears stay away. Immunizations might not even faze this little superhero.

End of School Means Awards and Presentations

Despite all his PAP classes, and 4.8 GPA, we enjoyed this end of the year award ceremony for the High School for Alex to receive a Perfect Attendance award. Granted, he was one of only a handful, but we thought for sure, he'd be getting an academic award. Also, this only pic is blurry because they had a lovely little set-up on stage, complete with school colors, an awesome Mustang statue (their mascot), and an award-presentation archway and podium. We were prepared to take the pictures there, but it became clear in the beginning that was all just for atmosphere. ALL awards were given in this spot with nothing cool in the background...weird.

Aimee didn't invite us to her awards, but she did bring home an award from her shop class, of all places. She was a little hesitant in the beginning because there was so much measuring and straight lines, and learning to do exact straight text, etc. These precision things are tasks that challenged her patience. She endured and have fun making a gumball/candy machine, some game boards, cd shelves, etc. Fun shop class.

For April, and Earth Day, the children in the Elementary schools took part in a city-wide poster contest. Allie was awarded the "Honorable Mention" for 1st graders, which in this contest was 4th place. She was in good company in the winner circle, as her friend, and our neighbor, was 1st place in the 1st grade division, and 3rd place for over-all city wide. The 2nd place winner was one of Allie's fellow G/T classmates. (If you click the pic, it should expand and you can see the detail of her seedlings being planted.) Great artwork, Allie!

This is her classroom for the first 1/2 hour of the day. In the Gifted and Talented program (G/T), the children are given more "student-directed" time to explore and research. The first semester they did a wonderful animal unit, and the last semester was Meteorology. Allie liked studying animals better than weather, but enjoyed learning, either way. (need input...more input) This presentation, they were dressed as news reporters and presented their research papers on a particular type of weather that each of them chose. There are 3 other children in the class with her and they all had great reports. Allie told us about clouds and the weather they bring, leading into storms and floods.

Mrs. Mason was Allie's G/T teacher who did a good job of motivating them to stay focused on the different aspects of their research.

Allie on the "A" Honor Roll

In Andrews, we have grade-level campuses, so all of the 1st graders attend the same school. The honor roll for all of the 1st grade was actually 3 times this size, but was divided into 3 groups for the purpose of "good pictures". (teehee)

After a VERY long awards presentation (1 hour!!!), the children finally got to sing their songs for the parents. Songs about octopi, sharks, and other sea animals...complete with hula actions.

(not really scared...i actually have no idea why he is wearing this expression)

The First Day of School

Allie was so excited to start her first day of school. We met her teacher last week, so she had no trouble finding her classroom and desk. A cheery goodbye and she was all set. She liked the stories and loved music time.
This morning was her second day of school, but she was a little less excited. We had to keep prompting her (read "insisting") to get moving all morning. She said she wasn't going to school today, or any day, because "it's okay, but it's just too long."
In her defense, I agree that it is too long. The Kindergartners don't get out until 2:45! That's far too long.
Of course, she enjoyed her day again today...it was "Humpty Dumpty Day" and everything was "humpty-dumpty-ish." I'm still not sure what that means.