1st Day of School

It just feels wrong to call it a first day of school. I mean, really... it was a single hour of school, with a total of three children and their parents in attendance. Still, Melinda was very excited about it. She had gone from being excited all summer, to nervous and not wanting to go over the last week. I finally got it out of her that she was worried she would miss us. And when I told her all about my (few) memories of Kindergarten, and school in general, it seemed to cheer her up. And our slot for school today wasn't until 1pm. Can I tell you how tortuous it was to make her wait all day? She must have asked me a million times how much longer it would be until we could leave.

Yesterday, in preparation, we made a "Get ready for school!" chart, which shows her everything she's responsible for doing in order to get ready. From eating breakfast to going potty, you know? Just so she doesn't forget anything. Also, Jesse gave her a perfectly lovely father's blessing before bedtime, blessing her (among other things) to have a sharp mind, learn quickly, adjust easily, and make new friends.

After lunch today, we packed up all her supplies into her backpack and took pictures before we headed out the door. When we got to her classroom, her teacher, Mrs. Cibor (pronounced see-boar), greeted us. We put her supplies on a table, got a name tag, and went out to the hall to put her backpack in her very own locker. It was tricky for her to figure out the latch... it was heavy and difficult for her to slide up. Finally, two hands did the trick.

Once the other two children arrived, they did a story time followed by a self-portrait. Once they finished their self-portraits, they were free to explore the room. Melinda and the other boy there wound up getting out the large-ish lego blocks and making long lines out of them, so they could measure their bodies. It was cute. In the meantime, Mrs. Cibor talked to us about routines, paperwork, any questions we had, and everything like that. Mrs. Cibor is very nice, and has been teaching for 19 years, including at the Baltimore Friend's School, which is a very nice private school down in the city. From what she says, Pot Springs Elementary is comparable in every way to the private school. Of course, that kind of thing makes me sad when I realize we'll barely be getting into the swing of things here before we'll be moving on to who-knows-where.

I'm a little worried about Melinda getting bored in Kindergarten, now, honestly. I took all that time to help her learn to read, worrying about her being behind other kids who went to preschools, and it turns out that they'll only be working on ABC's for the first couple months, and not even starting phonics until November. After we're gone. I hope they have some sort of opportunities for her to put her reading to good use. But everything else sounds very nice. They'll even have a pet hamster. Who just happens to be blind in one eye, and apparently a little bit mean. ;)

I've got her lunches and snacks planned out for the week-- she starts her first full day on Wednesday. Tomorrow she's got school for 2 hours without me, and with half of the class (of 21) instead of with just 3. She definitely thought today's one hour was simply not long enough, so I hope she's not completely dissatisfied with tomorrow! We'll be on our way into the swing of things before long.

Melinda really likes her backpack, especially with the rainbow embroidery that we picked out a few weeks ago. She's thrilled to show it off.

Walking up the sidewalk to the front entrance of her school.

Finding her locker in the hallway, and attempting to open it. Lovely earth name tag on the locker! :)

Everyone sits in their own squares while Mrs. Cibor reads a story. They actually read a book that I recently acquired. :)

Melinda with her self-portrait. She actually asked Mrs. Cibor what color her skin was, when there were about 3 choices for skin crayons: dark brown, medium brown, and very light peach. And then later she asked me what color her eyes were (she knows!). And when she said she didn't know how to draw plaid pants, Mrs. Cibor suggested she pick one color to make the pants. But I love the detail of the bee on her shirt, and teeth (albeit scary, pointy teeth!). And when I asked (and giggled) about the short hair, she told me she drew short hair because it was faster. Silly girl.

Also, just for the sake of sharing... Melinda planned a family talent show to do after school today. Nothing fancy, but the kids sure liked it. Melinda did a bunch of cartwheels, after which Jacob tried to copy her, and then transitioned into "fighting tricks". He's getting interesting with those, lately. His level of coordination is definitely improving with his age! Jesse did his classic removing his thumb trick, with his half-thumb, which got some giggles. And I kept it simple, and decided to do something physical along with everyone else, and put my legs way up in the air while balancing on my shoulder blades. Of course, that degenerated quickly into giving airplane rides on my hands and feet to more than one kid at a time. Anyway... it was fun. And it was fun to see Melinda take some initiative in planning a family activity.

Here's to a great tomorrow!