Bus stop

Today is John's last day of first grade. This morning I took some pictures of him on the front porch and then we headed to the bus stop. Gillian took off running and John followed. I'm not sure what happened next but John ended up on the sidewalk screaming "Gill you can't do that!" I went over to inspect. He scrapped his knees and his palm. I ran in the house got some wipes and band aids. I cleaned him up. He kept saying "Gill this is why we don't run." Then Gillian burst into tears. "It was an accident!" We waited at the bus stop for the bus. I asked John "Did the bus come when you were waiting outside?" He first said "No." Then after waiting 30 seconds he says "Maybe it did. Maybe you should drive me." The bus was running a little late but it did arrive. John got on the bus for the last time as a first grader!

Never eat soggy waffles

Daddy told me that I should ask John "What's on a compass?" I listened to home and asked John. John said "There's an N. And a E and a S. And also a W!" And he stopped talking. That couldn't be the end. So I asked "Is that it?" And John said "Well there's an arrow. And you know what all the letters mean?" I said "No. I don't. Can you tell me?" He smiled and said "Never Eat Soggy Waffles!" I laughed and said "That's what the letters mean?" He covered my mouth (so I wouldn't wake up Gillian) and said "No. That's how we remember all the directions. Never Eat Soggy Waffles. Mrs. Belena taught us!"

Math problems

John is pretty good at math. They have just started adding two digit numbers together with regrouping (or carrying over, like how I learned to add). Anyway, he is always impressed with how I can do his math problems in my head. And sometimes he likes to quiz me. "What's 100 plus 100?" I'll answer and he will be amazed and will try to come up with a "harder" question. "What's 200 plus 200?" He cracks me up. This morning he says "What's 10 times 10?" I tell him 100. He grins and says "What's 100 times 100?" I tell him 1,000. He says "I asked a kid on the playground. He said 100. That's easy. But then I asked him what's 100 times 100 and he didn't know. And he was like a fourth grader!" I laughed and said "Your school only goes to third grade." John said "Oh. Well he was a third grader."

Sunshine

On John's first day of school, he came home and told us "We are going to have a music concert in June!"  (check out First Day of First Grade).  Well he was wrong, the concert wasn't in June, it was in January!  The concert was on Friday.  John has been talking about the concert for weeks now.  And I was very excited to see him perform.

Grandma was going to join me at the concert, but Daddy wasn't going to make it since the concert fell on a Friday.  But in a last minute maneuver, Daddy was able to get off.  We told John that Daddy wouldn't be able to make it so that it would be a nice surprise.  Grandma, Daddy and I met at the school and found seats inside the cafeteria.  John was all smiles when he saw us.  At that time, I thought he saw Daddy but we found out later that he didn't know Daddy was there until the end of the show.

The show started with the pledge of allegiance and then the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.  The first song the kids sang was "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows."  I got videos of all the songs.  (As a disclaimer, I took the video with my phone, so it is not great quality and you see a lot of peoples heads.  John is right in the middle of the screen.  He is wearing a blue long sleeved shirt and khaki pants.)

  
Next was "On the Sunny Side of the Street."  John has been singing this song for weeks.  He even sang it for Grandma at dinner one night.

The next song was "You are the Sunshine of my Life." 

The next two songs, I recorded in one video.  They sang "Why does the Sun Shine?" and "Why does the Sun Really Shine?"  Clearly these were the kids favorite songs to sing.  John and his classmates really got into all their dance moves.  I am impressed that they were able to sing all the words to these songs.  I am not sure I could remember "the sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma."

They finished off the show with "Walkin' On Sunshine." 

John and all the first graders at MFA did an awesome job at their concert.  I am very impressed and proud of my little man.

back to school

This morning it was hard to wake the kids up.  I knew it would be rough and I sent them to bed at 7:30 the night before.  But it didn't help.  I went in to wake up John.  He just grunted at me and said "Why do I have to go back to school?"  Gillian, on the other hand, actually jumped out of bed.  Daddy had climbed into her bed to snuggle with her.  They snuggled contently until I walked in, then she jumped into my arms.  They were slow to decide on what they wanted for breakfast.  They were slow to put on their shoes.  After Daddy and Gillian left, all John did was complain.  "Why do I have to go to school?  Why do we have to learn to read?  Why do we have to do so much work?"  I explained to him that we need to go to school to learn things so that we can have good jobs and nice houses and cars and etc.  He hates that answer.

We got to the bus stop.  It was freezing this morning.  We were out there for like two minutes and John was complaining.  "We have been out here for like 20 hours!  When is the bus coming?"  While we waiting, he said "I wish weekends were 7 days!  You know, like my shirt!"  He got a shirt that says "I vote for a 7 day weekend" for Christmas from his Aunt Betty.  Apparently it stuck with him, because after having twelve days off he still wanted more.

At dinner tonight, I asked John about his day.  He said "It was good.  We watched a movie.  And Mrs. G helped me write a story."  I asked him who Mrs. G was.  He said "She's the lady that comes in when Mrs. Belena isn't in."  How lucky is this kid?  His first day back he got a substitute teacher and school is closed tomorrow because of the snow storm.  He is one lucky boy what a easy way to adjust to the routine after winter break.   

ABC Reader

In September, I signed up to be a reader for ABC, Atchison Book Club, at John's school.  ABC is a program, where once a month a parent comes to school and reads a book to a class.  I was told by some other members of the PTA, that this is a popular program and gets filled up quickly.  But I was very excited to find out that I was selected to be a reader.  I had a little training about a month ago and I waited and waited to find out what day I would be assigned.  I found out on Tuesday, that I actually got assigned two days, one day in May and today. 

I got to school, and read the November book and walked to John's classroom.  I knocked on the door and I heard Mrs. Belena say "Look who's here!"  John came running and opened the door for me.  I walked in and said hello to the class.  Mrs. Belena directed me to the reading nook in the classroom and gave me a chair to sit in.  All the kids sat on the floor in front of me, except John.  John got to sit in a chair next to me.  I showed the kids the book and read the title "Veterans: Heroes in our Neighborhood."  I stopped and asked the kids if they knew any veterans.  Their hands shot up and I heard a lot of Grandpa, Poppy and even a Daddy.  I opened the book and read the first page.  As I put the book down to turn the page, my little assistant sitting next to me, turned the page.  I read the entire book.  The kids were so attentive and John was so proud.  He sat next to me and turned every page.  After I finished, we stopped and talked about what we liked best about the book.  John actually turned to his favorite page.  It was about a veteran that is now a firefighter.  John said "I like it because he is so brave!" 

I had a great time reading to John's class.  I am looking forward to going back in May!   

Missed the bus

We were about a minute too late to get the bus this morning. As I locked the front door, I saw the bus drive past our street. It was totally my fault. I should have gotten us outside earlier. But I thought, it's Monday so the bus would probably be late. Well I was wrong. I told John that we missed the bus. He was so mad. "Are you sure?" I said "Yes, I just saw the bus drive past. Number 15!" John shook his head, "My bus is number 2!" Yes, the school has numbered his bus as bus two, but the bus is actually 15. He said "What are we going to do now?"  I told him "Get into the car and I'll drop you off." He said "Great! That's not the same as taking the bus!" He can be so dramatic. I explained to him that I can drop him off at school and he could wait in the cafeteria until it was time to go to his classroom. He said "I don't want to. I'm going to be the only one in the cafeteria!" I explained to him that he would not be the only kid and that lots of kids get dropped off. He pouted until we got to school. We waited outside school until they opened the doors and then he ran inside. He didn't even slow down to give me a kiss. 

Tonight I asked him if he liked getting dropped off or taking the bus better. He said "The bus is longer!" Thanks. That explains everything. 

The Nurse

I got to pick up the kids from school on Friday.  I picked up Gillian first and we went together to pick up John.  It was my first time picking him up from MFA, but Gillian has already picked him up three times.  One of the teachers saw Gillian and said "Go get John."  John came running to us, while I showed the teacher my drivers license.  As we were walking out of the school, Gillian said to John, "You got a band-did.  Why you got a band-did?"  She is so observant, he had a band-aid on his shin.  I asked John "What happened?"  He said "It's a long story.  Can I tell you in the car?"  We got into the car and he tells us the story.  "I was outside playing on the climber.  I fell on the step.  I climbed on the rocky bridge, but my leg hurt.  So I went to my teacher.  She had another teacher take me to the nurse's office.  The nurse cleaned my cut and gave me a Band-Aid.  Then I went back to my class."  Not sure how that is a long story, but it sounds like he had a good first experience in the nurse's office. 

First day of First Grade

Today was John's first day of First Grade.  John woke up early and we told him to get dressed.  I had a collared shirt and khaki shorts picked out for John to wear for his first day.  John got dressed and I went to help him find socks and he was wearing a completely different outfit than what I had picked out.  John told Daddy that he felt more comfortable in his outfit.  It's hard to argue with that.

The kids ate breakfast while I packed lunches.  John ate his breakfast fast and was ready to wait for the bus.  But it was too early to go to the bus stop, so every 2 minutes he would ask "Is it time now?"
 

Finally it was time to go to the bus stop.  John, Gillian, Daddy and I headed to the bus stop.  John was very excited and didn't want to wait.  He paced.  For awhile we played I Spy.  That entertained him.  Gillian got mad, because we didn't ask her to pick something. When we finally let Gillian have a turn, she picked something so obvious.  It was hilarious.  Before we realized it, the bus was arrived.  John didn't hesitate and climbed the stairs and sat in the seat behind the driver.  The bus was barely past our street, and Gillian started to cry.  "Where Johnny going?" She shed a few tears and I gave her a hug.  We walked back home and I explained to her that John was taking the bus to his new school.  She calmed down and I took her to school.  After I dropped off Gillian, I drove past John's new school (I know, I'm a little crazy.).  There were tons of buses and people dropping off kids.  I couldn't see John, but it made me feel better. 

MFA lets out at 3:20, so Daddy and I were waiting at the bus stop by 3:40.  And we waited and waited and waited.  HIs bus finally arrived around 4.  The bus pulled up and opened the doors, there was about 5 seconds of no movement, and I heard the bus driver say "Where's John? Oh, there he is! He's coming!"  And there he was. 

We asked him about his day.  He said "Not so good for me."  That sounds horrible, but after a million question we were able to get out of him that he had a pretty good day.  He made two friends. One is Trey (they sit next to each other in class) and the other is a boy that he met on the bus.  He had music today and learned that he is going to be in a concert in June.  He doesn't understand why they have to learn poems.  They had lunch in the cafeteria (where most people brought their lunch) and they only got to play outside for like a minute. He said "And we had to work.  You know I don' t like to do work!"  Daddy told him, "No one likes to do work, that's why its called work." 

Later at dinner, we heard that some kids got two strikes in music class.  "And you know what?  At three strikes you get a note sent home to your parents!"  Daddy asked him, "Did you get any strikes?"  He said "I didn't bring you home a note!"  He did tell us proudly that he didn't get any strikes, and that he got to sit next to a guitar in music class.  See?  Sounds like a pretty good day to me.       

  

Dear John: First Grade

Dear John,

Like I told you tonight when I tucked you in, be strong, be brave, be you.  You are an amazing boy.  You are funny, silly, big-hearted and smart.  Listen to your teachers and you will have a great day.  If you see Mommy cry tomorrow, don't be scared.  I know you are ready for this transition, Mommy just can't believe that her little boy is ready for First Grade.  I feel like the past six years have gone by in a blink.  Remember that Gillian, Daddy and I love you super big much and we can't wait to hear all about your first day.

Love,
Mommy

Meet and Greet

Today we got to take John to his new school (Mahala F. Atchinson Elementary) to meet his first grade teacher. When we arrived the parking lot was full of kids and parents. In the car, John said "I'm scared." Daddy said "Me too." We bravely walked in the main door and found John's classroom on a map. John's classroom was on the other end of the building. Which was a good thing, because we were able to see majority of the school. We got to his classroom and met his teacher, Mrs. Belena, along with a classmate, Maya. John introduced himself. He answered Mrs. Belena's questions. We learned about the daily special classes like art, health and Spanish. John took a little tour of the classroom with the student teacher too. Daddy and I got a big packet of information about the PTA and school lunches and the 100 book challenge. It was basically a big pile of homework for us. John is super excited about his new school.  I think it helps that he knows his teacher now. 

At dinner tonight, I was telling John that there may be some different kids at his school. Some that may talk different than us or look different than us. I told him that we need to be nice to all of his new classmates and that we should always ask them to play. He looked at me and said "Why wouldn't I?" And I realized that no matter what I worry about (I worry a lot about him starting first grade), I should not worry about him making friends. He has a big heart and it won't take long for his classmates to see that.