First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school for FIVE of the Cornish crew!

It was Emma's first day as a first grader with her kindergarten-3rd grade assisted level classroom! She had a good day with the two aides from last year and a substitute teacher (who happens to be Micah's aide from last year!). I DID meet the teacher that they've hired for her class and I am looking forward to a great year with her! She has to get her fingerprints cleared before she can be in the classroom since she's a BRAND NEW hire, so she won't be in until Wednesday. Emma's class last year was FIVE kids at the beginning of the year, and this year they are ELEVEN! WOW! And, I believe that my 3 kids w/ Ds were the only ones in the school last year at the beginning of the year. Later on one more joined the Pre-K. This year... there are three new little ones with Ds in Emma's class including a little boy that used to be in her same orphanage in Ukraine. What a fun class! Emma had a good day and though it was a "typical first day" complete with a bit of chaos, they all did well :).

Today was Kristopher's first day as a first grader in Mrs. S's class! He went right in and found his desk and met his teacher. I think it's pretty unusual that we don't meet the teachers before the first day of school here... but anyway, I met his teacher and he got right to work! He's at a table with three little girls to start the year off which is probably a GOOD place for him :). He's my little talker and he'll be much less likely to go be a loud and entertaining little boy to three girls than he would be to his guy buddies! LOL But he does have several friends in his class and I think the teacher is going to be a good match for him :). He said he had a great day!

It was Brianna's first day as a K-4 student, James' first day as a K-4 student (and his first day at this school) and Micah's first day as an official K-3 student! Their class only had a teacher and Micah's aide for the beginning of the day and I'd already planned to stay for a while and had my mom watch Lynae for me to be able to do so. James is a bit... busy! I had forewarned them of this and prepared them the best I could for what would be needed for him, but I think his energy still caught them by surprise :). Micah was unusually stubborn (no, not my Micah LOL!) today as well and was planting his feet and seeing just how far his aide would make him go. I stuck around almost the entire day and left while they finished lunch and prepared for naps and pickup. So... I kept on Micah and tried to reassure his aide that she really really could be firm with him. And I was James' 1:1 today. They did end up with a second aide part way through the day and even with the 4 of us... and only 5 kids... it was busy! I couldn't help but think there are only 5 kids here... I'm sending my preschoolers to school with less kids than we have at the house and many times more hands and yet it's still BUSY! Of course it's no one's fault that it's busy, it's just the FIRST DAY of school! And they're needing to work through what supports James needs. Half the battle is having the right equipment on hand to make the day go better :). Brianna was able to be 'pulled out' more today than usual and I'm looking forward to her coming in to her own and getting some confidence in the classroom! She's one of the three "big kids" this year rather than one of the little kids and I think she'll do great as well.

I really like their teacher and Micah's aide is someone that Michael and I have known since we were in high school (him longer) and we are looking forward to a good school year!

On to day two! :)