First Day of School - 2011

Today was the big day - the first day of school.  Joshua to fourth grade and Nathaniel to kindergarten. This is Joshua's second first day of fourth grade...his first first day of fourth grade was in 2001 when I was a month or two pregnant with him :) I think he'll enjoy more this time around!

The boys and I walked to school.  Grace was on the fence if she was going to come with us or not...until I mentioned that Dora was on.  She sent us away with a wave of her hand and a  "bye, guys."  On our walk, we saw this guy...as buck season gets nearer, I bet we won't be seeing much of him.

We dropped Joshua off at his classroom first.  He found his cubby and dropped off his backpack.  He found his desk and paused long enough for me to take a picture and then he was off to play with his friends. 

As I was leaving, I saw him out on the courts playing and zoomed in and got a couple of pictures of him...slightly blurry, but it's him.

After dropping Joshua off, Nathaniel and I walked out the door and down the steps and then crossed the walkway to the kindergarten classroom.  As we were doing this, Nathaniel tells me, "Bye, Mom, see you later."  I told him I didn't think so - I was taking him to his classroom.  I don't get all teary and emotional when my kids start school (well, I get emotional, but it's not sad...it's the little happy dance I'm doing inside as I see them start a fun year) but I do like to see them to the door on their first day.

I took a picture of him under the welcome sign on the door and then, after he signed in, (who gave him such a long first name?!), a picture of him with his name tag. 

I remember my first day of kindergarten - walking through that very same door.  We got apple name tags that were hanging on a "tree" (I think it was just a branch in a coffee can probably).  Thirty-three years ago it was my classroom where I started my adventures in education. Here's a picture of my kindergarten class - taken at Christmastime I'm guessing with the tree in the background.  The walls aren't orange now - they're currently covered with some blue fabric because they're studing the ocean.

How Fast it Goes...

Well, today after storytime at the library, the boys and I walked around downtown (such that it is here) and ran a few errands. While walking back up Main Street to get back to the library where the car was parked, I caught sight of a flyer on a bulletin board. I stopped to read it and Joshua kept pushing Nathaniel and the stroller. The flyer was about Kindergarten registration and the dates and deadlines. So after lunch, we went back to town and went over to the school. Joshua so wanted to meet the principal...but unfortunately he was at a meeting. Joshua doesn't remember that Manolo (aka Mr. Garcia) held him at an end-of-the year party when he was about 6 weeks old. It was a little strange, going into the office and picking up the registration packet...5 years ago I was going into that office to get my mail and stuff out of my box and trek across the playground (dragging my carrier thing with all my junk in it and being 8 months pregnant) to my classroom. Joshua wanted to see my classroom...it's now just a patch of grass...the portable I taught in for 5 years is now at another school in town. The library was moved also...we went and checked out the book fair and Joshua got to meet the librarian. He also met one of the yard duty ladies and the school counselor. None of them can believe that it's already been 5 years. Brian and I have a hard time believing that it has already been five years. Joshua is so excited...he wanted to go to class today. As I glanced over the packet of registration papers it felt strange...I'm very familiar with these papers...I looked at so many of them in the 5 years of teaching because many of them are in the kids' files for their educational career. Now I'm filling them out...weird. They stick in a list of "Expectations for Incoming Kindergartners" - most of their list are things that Joshua has been doing for well over a year or more...I hope he doesn't get bored! That's one of the reasons we want to get him in the Immersion Program...hopefully learning Spanish will help stave off the boredom that might hit. He's trying to teach Nathaniel how to count in Spanish already.
Well, while Nathaniel is napping (who knows how long that will last) he and I are going to do some more reading practice. I'm debating on bringing a fan in from the garage...it's 79 and it's only 2:30. Yesterday our "high" that we saw was 80. Just the other day I used the heater in the morning. Now we're contemplating the AC, but don't want to use it yet...we're not even half-way through March!