tickets - part two

Last Friday, I wrote Tickets.  It was all about John and how he earns tickets at Time + (his aftercare program at school) for being quiet and well behaved during attendance.  Last Friday, he had 9 tickets but on Monday, he earned his 10th ticket.  He was so excited.  When the kids have ten tickets, they get to pick something out of the big prize box.  He picked out some sidewalk chalk.

Yesterday, I picked John up from school.  As he was getting his backpack, one of the teachers was saying "John!  Wait John."  We stopped and she handed him a green ticket.  She said "He picked up garbage on the playground without anyone asking him.  As a thank you, he deserves another ticket."  I thanked her and praised John.  "I'm so proud of you John!  That is very responsible of you to clean up after your friends."  He said "I was just trying to help."  So modest and responsible.  But on our way into the car he said "I can't believe I got TWO tickets in one day!  At this rate, I could have ten tickets in no time!"

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. 

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.