Crazy First Day of School

Today was Benjamin's first day of kindergarten at Barnette Magnet School and Zoe's first day of pre-school at Joy Elementary. This was a little crazy for the mama, cause Ben's day began at 8:15 and Zoe was suppose to be at her school at 8:30 and there is at least a 10 minute drive across town(yes, I know this is laughable for some...10 minutes to get across town). I just HAD to get some pictures of Ben with his teacher and outside the school, so this made us a wee bit late to Zoe's school, but Mrs. Jeanie, her teacher said not to worry!

Ben had a great day reading of course The Kissing Hand by Audry Penn and then getting to make his own special kissing hand. His teacher also introduced them to sign language and the calendar. They also got to listen to a book on tape! Ben said the best thing about his day was playing inside, but there were things that were "off limits" today, but they would be available on another day. He also gets to take snack next week and bring special items from home in a "sound bag". His teacher will send a bag home with a letter on it and we will search the house to find objects that begin with that letter. What a great way to get families involved in their children's learning!


Zoe actually RAN all the way down the sidewalk to get to her classroom! She was SO excited to be in school like her big brothers. And the minute she hit the classroom she pulled out her journal from last year. Her teacher loved seeing her drawings, squiggles, and letter writing.



Zoe got to use the white board to draw pictures and write her name, play princess, kitchen, read a story, and play outside on the playground. She can't wait to go back tomorrow! Jake is also LOVING his teacher, who happen to tell me today that she felt pretty lucky to have such a great kid in her classroom. In the afternoons, Jake has what Barnette refers to as explorations, kids get to choose classes based on their interests after they complete their morning of core subjects. This quarter Jake has "On Stage", "Danger Class for Boys" and "Wagons Ho". The "Danger" class is based on ideas from this book,
which is a must if you have a kids who likes to experiment, and read! Jake's year is off to a great start! He is even getting comfortable with the idea of "performing" in front of others in his "On Stage" class.

After all of the kids were safely at school, I calmly walked back to the truck, started the engine and let out a long loud YYYAAAAHHHHOOO, two hours of me time! I happily drove to Barnes & Noble, got a non-fat mocha and settled myself by the fireplace with knitting needles in hand. So mama got to relax and just LOVED the first day of school too!