Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Settled in September

We are officially settled into our new routines. We have mastered the new "processes" and expectations at our new schools, and have made many new friends. And I am embracing the mature role of Kindergartener with gusto.
We have a color coded behavior scale at school, with green being neutral "Ready To Learn". I was on green, yellow (good), or orange (great) every single day until Week 5. Literally the day I told my parents for the first time "I really like Kindergarten!" was the first day I got moved down to purple "Think About It". My parents were thrilled, because they know it means I have finally come out of my shy shell and am getting in trouble for talking too much!
 
Ryan and I had our Open House days, and had a blast showing each other all the cool stuff in our new classrooms. Ryan's preschool even had a HARP PLAYER in the lobby. They play for keeps.
 Mom has had an equally amusing time learning about elementary school social etiquette. She was a psychology minor in college, so she always thinks she is qualified to make grand observations like these.
  • Moms have to wear cute exercise gear in the mornings, because it is assumed that you will be doing Cross Fit and eating Paleo at some point in the day.
  • The car dropoff and pickup line is an intensely competitive hierarchy, with harsh punishment for those who break line or otherwise inconvenience the Queens of The Car Line.
  • There really is such a thing as Queens of The Car Line, designated by the PTA.
  • The PTA is comparable to any of the best sororities at huge universities. Mom is confident she will win them over by bringing Ooey Gooey Bars to the bake sale. 
  •  If your child is a repeat offender on the bad behavior scale and you get called in for a parent teacher conference, your best defense should be to insult the teacher by saying your child is "just bored" and "not being challenged enough to pay attention".
  • If you are a child who is a repeat offender on the bad behavior scale, it is probably because you constantly tell your classmates "I don't want to be your friend because my house is bigger than yours.", or "You're not invited to my birthday party.".
  We've already dealt with a bully in my after school program. She's a first grader and she was mean to my old VPK friend the first week of school. Mom loved the fact that the group of us from VPK banded together and told her we won't be her friend if she is mean to anyone else. We simply won't have it. I'm going to teach Ryan how to have a No Tolerance policy when he goes to elementary school, too.
 
 My parents love all the learning I am doing in big kid school, like writing my own sentences. I keep a journal at home where I like to jot down my thoughts, like "I once went to walk my dog around the block." I just sound out the words and put the letters wherever they fit on the page.
And "I was swinging on the monkey bars". This whole writing thing is really fun!
This weekend I took an entire block of Post It notes and wrote little messages with Dad. I hope Kindergarten stays this fun! Here is a sample of my writing so far:
  • "I like puzzles and coloring."
  • "My favorite thing to do is color."
  • "I want to go see a dolphin."
  • "I can go to the library and pick out books."
 
And: 
  • "I want to go fishing with my Dad."
  • "I went to the Disney store with my Mom."
  • "I want to go walk Maggie around the block."

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