School Days!

I've been humming the tune all day, "School days, school days, dear old golden rule days..." Today was the day! Drew started first grade and Luci UPK (aka Universal Pre-Kindergarten). Technically Luci hasn't started yet, today was just a registration and "Meet and Greet" day. We were there for about an hour, and we wouldn't have been there THAT long except that I am longtime friends with Luci's teacher, Sue. Actually, I met her when I started dating her older brother when I was 15! But that's a whole other story and we won't go there! Drew was looking forward to riding the bus once again this year and Luci was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to ride it with Drew until next year. Oh well! She got over it quickly. Below, Drew's first day of school outfit had...what else?...skulls and crossbones on it! That's my girl! Her backpack also has a skull and crossbones on it, but you can't see it from this picture.



Drew and Daddy waiting for the bus to arrive at a bleary 7am!

Yay! Drew liked her bus driver, Pam, from last year and was happy to see that she had returned this year.

Miss Luci in her first day of school outfit...no skulls, but her at least her backpack is loaded with them!

This shot has become tradition over the last 2 years with Drew, so I couldn't NOT take the same picture with Luci! Here she is out in front of her school. As in the past, I have blurred the full name of the school in case there are some readers with less than kind intentions.

When Dean and I were finished with the paperwork, we walked down the hall to see if we could peek into Drew's classroom, but her class wasn't there. But I found her locker and took this shot. Drew is in a special type of classroom called Multi-Age. That means there are both first-graders and second-graders in the same room. The first-graders get the benefit of having "mentors" in the 2nd grade students and the second-graders get a confidence boost when they can help the younger ones. She'll also be in the same classroom next year as well. There are two teachers and when there are grade-specific areas which need to be taught, the 2 grades are split and a foldable wall separates the two classrooms. It's a neat concept which I think will really encourage and challenge Drew (in a good way!) As some of you know, Dean's mom is a first grade teacher (at a different school) so I asked her to do some informal "testing" on Drew. Grandma has a standard "test" to find the education level of each individual student in her classroom, who she then divides into three different reading groups. She does this so the slower learners won't drag the faster leaners behind. Anyway, after she did her usual "test" on Drew, she very happily announced that if Drew was in her class, she would definitely put her into her top group! Grandma also gave her nine beginning reader books to take home and she mastered them all in one day! Incidentally, Luci heard Drew read one of the books and then she picked it up and recited every word! Now, Luci is no prodigy, these books have pictures, so she wasn't REALLY reading, but the fact that she remembered all the words amazed us! It had sentences like, "I see the red ladybug." and she was even reciting the details like the word, "red". This is how all kids start out reading, by picture association, and she was doing it before she even got to school which is far ahead of Drwe at the same age! You've gotta love older siblings!! Drew is exceedingly happy to play teacher! Anyway, the only issues I'm having at the present time is trying to get Luci into the morning session of UPK instead of the afternoon session in which she is currently assigned. Both classes are full, so I've asked Sue to ask her morning parents if anyone wants to switch. Normally I wouldn't care...one less kid to get ready in the morning, right? Unfortunately, Luci won't be 4 until the end of November which makes her a very young UPK'er. She just barely made the cutoff! Anyway, she still naps with some frequency and we're going to have issues with her napping after school and sleeping through dance classes and any other extra-curricular activites...not to mention staying up late due to late naps! It's going to mess up her whole schedule! Generally speaking, there are always a few students who end up leaving for one reason or another, so even if no parents want to switch their child, it's just a matter of time before we can switch her anyway. I'll keep you posted on that. In other news, we're just 2 days away from demolition day! Yay! Can you tell I'm excited????