More about Kindergarten. . . and an introduction to 3rd grade

I mentioned before how much I like Jon's teacher. She taught first grade for seven years before "discovering the wonderful world of Kindergarten" and I'm so glad she did. . . because it's right where she belongs.

Jon is a pretty strong willed little guy. For example: It's not that he disenjoy's circle time. . . it's just that it's not his favorite activity and he'd prefer to be doing centers. After whining a little bit about it, he's traditionally been given a choice of whether he wants to sit by himself and do nothing, or come participate in circle time with everybody else. It takes between 30 seconds and a minute, but letting him choose this for himself is the key. This is how some percentage of the first day went, but sometime before pickup time at 1pm, Ms. Julie figured out something no teacher has ever figured out before. She said, "I think I found Jonathan's niche. He likes to help." So. . . she made him a helper badge and let him write his name as Mr. Jon all day long on Wednesday. He had a phenomenal day.

Of course, it wouldn't be fair for him to be the helper every day, but being the first to wear the helper badge was enough. He had another great day on Thursday.

Today he had a great day until they went out to the playground after lunch. Right as they were starting to play, it began to rain and they had to go in. He cried big, sad tears. Ms. Julie took a few minutes to talk one-on-one with him and explained that the feeling he was having was called "disappointment" and that it's okay to feel that way. She showed him that the rest of the class was feeling disappointed too and when he realized it was everybody and not just him, he stopped crying (but still had a rocky rest of the afternoon).

I don't believe Mr. Rogers himself could have handled the situation any better.

Here's the retake of Ms. Julie and Jon on Tuesday:

And here's one of Brandon and Ashley checking out Jon's classroom Tuesday afternoon:

Brandon took one look at all the colored pencils and crayons and said, "This is *fabulous!*"

Now. . . on to third grade news. Brandon has the best teacher this year. She was the first grade writing and spelling teacher for Brandon's class two years ago and then he and Ashley had a 40-minute literacy period with her last year. She's absolutely dynamic. One of the major reasons I decided not to homeschool this year is because I realized Brandon would be getting the best 3rd grade Language Arts education in the entire state right where he is. And I mean that literally -- out of the very fullness of my heart. Mrs. Barnes is just one of those gifted, gifted one-in-a-million teachers. I could type for days and never run out of wonderful things to say about her. Did I mention that she never puts X's or frowny faces on anything? She just writes "rethink" on the paper and has the kids try again.

Brandon has beautiful cursive handwriting:


ANYWAY. . .

3rd grade is a *lot* of work, though. We're still trying to figure out how to juggle the homework rotation. (And Jonathan will start having homework in 2 more weeks) The kids haven't been to bed on time once since school started and although they get a break after studying every homework subject, I teach nonstop from about 2pm until we're finished between 8pm and 9:30. . . .Whew! ~ TGIF !!!

And last, but certainly not least --

. . .A shout-out to my Dad, who spent *countless* hours in front of the whiteboard teaching me Algebra. It gave me the strong foundation I needed to be successful at all kinds of other math. . .but more importantly, it equipped me with everything I needed to know about how to teach my own children.

Thanks for planting those seeds, Dad. They grew.

. . . And now it's sowing time again.

Love you.

Kindergarten!

Well, Kindergarten has arrived! Jonathan didn't need me at all. . . ran right in, found his backpack hook and put his lunch away in his "tubbie" (plastic tubs under the hooks used as a cubbie). Does he look like Kenneth or what?

It really is a beautiful school. Sort of enchanting -- like you expect Barney the Dinosaur to jump out and greet you. Here's Jon chatting it up with one of the mom's. One thing he sure isn't is shy:

On the table for the morning activity were "connecting cubes," and some laminated cards with examples of patterns to practice. Connecting cubes and patterns are two of Jon's favorite things. In fact, that's what he was telling the mom in the picture above -- "I have connecting cubes at home!"



The morning message for today:



The other half of the classroom where they'll do circle time and centers:



One of the dad's and I were both trying to get one shot of each wall and almot took a picture of each other taking a picture in the process.

There are ten children in Jon's class -- 5 boys and 5 girls.

The lady in the red shirt below is Jon's teacher, Ms. Julie. . . I liked her right off the bat. I took a picture of she and Jon together, but it didn't turn out. Will try again this afternoon. The below picture was taken as I was standing in the hallway just before I left the building. He looks like he's made himself right at home!

This is going to be a great year!