We started our back to school celebration last night with angel food cake and blackberries, and the reading of James' first treasure box letters! (We had to read these particular ones for him, since he can't read yet, but the others will be just for him, unless he wants to share them with us. And be forewarned, we'll be asking again soon for letters for Cora, since she seemed a bit jealous and we don't want her to feel left out over the years.)
The first letter was from Grambot, and the second was from Mary Beth. He loved hearing from Mary Beth about all the things he could expect to experience on his first day of kindergarten and he told us he would call Grambot after school and tell her all about his first day!
(He said, as always, that he wants to be a daddy. Then he said he wants a job to go to too and mentioned working for the police. My guess is his future career goals will change constantly over the next few years, so we shall see.)
(When Cora told me she wants to be a firegirl, I asked her to clarify to be sure I understood what she was thinking - as in, a firefighter, a girl on fire like a superhero, etc. She said she wants to help people and put water on fires, so a firefighter it is. And yes, her shoes are VERY shiny. That is not just a camera flash effect.)
The obligatory
2013 vs. 2014 growth comparisons:
Getting out the door was a bit of a hassle this morning since the kids are still on California time, but we managed to grab a few photos and not be more than 5 minutes late. Well, 3 days and 5 minutes late, since school actually started on Monday while we were still in California...
Cora ran straight to Miss Kati this morning, who she already knows and loves from interactions last year as well as over the summer (Miss Kati subbed for Miss Tina a few times this summer), and happily hugged all the friends she'd been missing since May, or just over the past 2 weeks of our vacation, screaming their names as she went along. She has a few new faces in her class, and a new room (Miss Kati is no longer partitioned in the back of the main preschool room, but has swapped spots with Miss Kim so that she has a real room with a closing door to facilitate lessons better - and Miss Kim seems happy to have the entire big room to herself so that the 1 and 2 year olds can spread out.)
When I asked James how his day was he told me "It was awesome, and I have an awesome new desk, just for me!" He sits right in front of Coley (his favorite girl) and beside 2 other girls that are new (so he's separated from his boy buddies, which should help reduce distraction) and he's right next to Miss Tina's desk in the front row closest to the chalkboard - pretty sure Miss Tina will be keeping a close eye on him during seatwork this year!
Jay and I are very happy with the kids' teachers and rooms this year! We had Miss Reece for a LONG time (3 years) and while the kids loved her, we had a very hard time with her due to her lack of communication. Miss Tina is an amazing teacher and we know James will learn a lot from her this year. We're pretty dang excited to see that they kept the 4 and 5 year olds separate, making for smaller classes (James does better with less competition for teacher attention) and likely facilitating earlier kindergarten level skill acheivements, since the younger kids are separate and doing their own thing. Miss Kati is just the most fun and loving teacher, and she adores Cora and knows how to keep her busy, so we expect Cora to be very happy in her new class (we definitely had some trouble with her getting bored in Miss Reece's class last semester). Both Miss Tina and Miss Kati are great about sending home DAILY reports, DAILY seatwork and projects for us parents to see, and seem to always be available to discuss the kids' progress or issues, whether in person, text, or even Facebook, so I feel very confident that we'll all be on top of things this year!
