First day of First Grade
Today was Isaac's first day of first grade. I dropped him off this morning. It was a little interesting because they do dropoff differently for kindergarten vs. the other grades; for kindergarten you walk right into the classroom (it has a door opening onto the playground) whereas for grades 1 through 4(?) the kids line up in the playground and then the teacher leads them inside and down the hall to their classroom. None of us parents were sure whether we were allowed to walk in with them or not, so as the lines were forming, some parents were staying with their kids, others were standing by the sidelines, and some just left.
Then Isaac's teacher came by and went down the line saying hi to all the kids, and telling the parents that just for today we could walk inside with them. So we all walked into the building and down to the classroom, helped our kids find their cubbies, etc., and then the kids all sat down in the circle area on their own, which seemed to surprise the teacher a bit -- LOL -- she said she had expected them to wander around the classroom checking it all out, but I guess they got too thoroughly indoctrinated in kindergarten. ;) So she gave them a little talk about how it's okay to be nervous and she is nervous too, yadda yadda, and then said they should all go give their grownups a hug goodbye and check out the classroom a bit. So they hugged us and we left.
I was interested to note that a lot of parents (both at Isaac's school, and my online friends) were anxious/nervous about first grade. Personally, I didn't have any qualms about it. Last year I was so nervous from not knowing what any of it would be like; but now I know the school building, the area, the procedures, the administrative staff, a lot of the teachers, a lot of the other parents and kids, etc., so it's all familiar and not nervous-making at all. And I think Isaac felt the same way. Not all of the kids in his class are known to him, but most of them are. One girl in his class is new to the school, but we knew her from summer camp; she looked very anxious, and I tried to get Isaac to say hi and help her get more comfortable, but he wasn't interested, heh.
Anyway, so it went well and I'm sure everything will be fine. And besides, today was just a half-day. Tomorrow is a full day of school, and then we have four days off for the long weekend.
Isaac's first-grade teacher seems to be a bit on the, ahem, flaky side. This could turn out to be good or bad. ;) The jury's still out on that one. ;)
I finally, belatedly, got around to inquiring about the afterschool program at Ruthie's new preschool; and of course they have no openings. Alas. So I put Isaac on the waitlist and he'll have to stay at the afterschool inside his school building for the time being. I sure hope this won't turn out to be an enormous headache at pickup time once I start working again. But we shall see.
Then Isaac's teacher came by and went down the line saying hi to all the kids, and telling the parents that just for today we could walk inside with them. So we all walked into the building and down to the classroom, helped our kids find their cubbies, etc., and then the kids all sat down in the circle area on their own, which seemed to surprise the teacher a bit -- LOL -- she said she had expected them to wander around the classroom checking it all out, but I guess they got too thoroughly indoctrinated in kindergarten. ;) So she gave them a little talk about how it's okay to be nervous and she is nervous too, yadda yadda, and then said they should all go give their grownups a hug goodbye and check out the classroom a bit. So they hugged us and we left.
I was interested to note that a lot of parents (both at Isaac's school, and my online friends) were anxious/nervous about first grade. Personally, I didn't have any qualms about it. Last year I was so nervous from not knowing what any of it would be like; but now I know the school building, the area, the procedures, the administrative staff, a lot of the teachers, a lot of the other parents and kids, etc., so it's all familiar and not nervous-making at all. And I think Isaac felt the same way. Not all of the kids in his class are known to him, but most of them are. One girl in his class is new to the school, but we knew her from summer camp; she looked very anxious, and I tried to get Isaac to say hi and help her get more comfortable, but he wasn't interested, heh.
Anyway, so it went well and I'm sure everything will be fine. And besides, today was just a half-day. Tomorrow is a full day of school, and then we have four days off for the long weekend.
Isaac's first-grade teacher seems to be a bit on the, ahem, flaky side. This could turn out to be good or bad. ;) The jury's still out on that one. ;)
I finally, belatedly, got around to inquiring about the afterschool program at Ruthie's new preschool; and of course they have no openings. Alas. So I put Isaac on the waitlist and he'll have to stay at the afterschool inside his school building for the time being. I sure hope this won't turn out to be an enormous headache at pickup time once I start working again. But we shall see.