First Day of School 2013!

Big day today!

Gabby started SECOND GRADE and Rocco started KINDERGARTEN at a new school, in a new state. And, on August 7th no less! The sun was shining, the kids were excited and happy and it was a great morning.

Both kids were very much looking forward to starting school and meeting friends in their new hometown. The early school start date could not have been a better fit for this family! I love it... because it gets them back into a routine and meeting new friends just 1.5 weeks after we arrived in CA. And, I also love a shorter summer break for kids because I feel like they lose less of what they've learned over the summer months.

Gabby was very particular with choosing her 1st day of school outfit. Rocco could have cared less what he wore... as long as it was shorts and a t-shirt. The temperature hit 98, which is pretty average for this time of year here. Thank goodness for air conditioning in the classrooms!

I love the kids new school campus... it's clean and has a few nice playground areas. The school ranks very high in the state of CA, the teachers I've met seem on top of their game, and I love that they will pretty much get to eat lunch outside every day. And, I am also thrilled that I will no longer have to bundle them up in waterproof, cold weather gear as I had to do in Washington 90% of the time.

Rocco was only a tad bit bummed about not getting to ride a bus to school. If we would have been in WA still... he would have been riding a bus to school with Gabby. In CA, there is no bus service... unless you purchase it for your child. I think Gabby was fine with this... she's probably had her fill of the bus riding experience for now. So, add school drop-off and pick-up to the mommy taxi to-do list!

Since this elementary school does not have a full day program (which I was admittedly very bummed about... because Gabby thrived in all day kindergarten), Rocco is in the p.m. kindergarten class. And, since he's in p.m. kindergarten... I have 4 different drop off/pickup times. Gabby starts school at 8am. Rocco starts at 11:16am. Gabby finishes at 2:15pm. Rocco finishes at 2:45. Not sure how a family with two parents working outside the home would even handle this. Well, actually I do... they would HAVE to have a full-time nanny or au.pair on staff. To make things a little easier... we do one drop-off in the morning which means Rocco starts his day in extended care. Extended care basically lets him play with other pals in his kindergarten class before school starts.

The first day ended with a school P.TA hosted frozen yogurt celebration... complete with photo booths and a DJ for the kids. It was a great event and the perfect way to top off the FUN day that both kids had on their first day at the new school!

Rocco's Pre-K.indergarten Graduation

 

Rocco graduated from pre-kindergarten today.

I can't believe my baby boy is going to be a kindergartener in the fall!

His school held a super-cute graduation ceremony. They put together a nice slideshow of all the kids, they sang songs, they were all dressed in little gowns and caps, and cake was served afterwards.

Rocco had a great experience at his school. He went to school 3 days a week from 9am-4 or 5pm. He loved it and had made a number of friends. There were maybe 4 or 5 little guys that he talked about often - so we know he was maturing in that he was able to develop true friendships... not just parallel play anymore. This seems to happen later for little boys than girls (based on our own experience, of course). He gravitated toward one friend more than the others, so we had that little boy, Ian, over to play at our house once, and Rocco also played at his house once too.

I really liked Rocco's teachers. I loved the school. I liked that they provided so many opportunities to learn and practice writing and numbers and science projects, etc. But, they always made it FUN. Rocco frequently came home with worksheets completed, and sometimes an art project or two. It was obvious art was not a serious area of interest for him though! ha!

We also learned that Rocco was a good friend to his classmates. We received an email from a parent of one of his classmates. This mother told us that her daughter would often get teased by one of the little boys in the class. And, she proceeded to tell us how Rocco would stick up for her little girl, Mary, and that he would deflect the other little boy so he would leave Mary alone. This mother seemed so thankful for Rocco's kindness... and Mary clearly thought Rocco was a champ. I was SO PROUD when I read this email from Mary's mother. I knew we were raising a kind, sweet, little boy... but this just reinforced it. I told Rocco all about it and how proud we are of him and the young man he is becoming. He was clearly very proud and talked about this for days.

All in all... I think our little guy is ready for k.indergarten.

And of coure, with each life milestone like this... I can't help but feel a strong pain in my chest and a heavy heart. Matteo should be here too. He should have had this pre-K experience. He should be going to k.indergarten too. The pain just never goes away.

Gabby started 1st grade!

Gabby was SO EXCITED for school to start. She truly loves learning and she also really enjoys the social aspect.

Two weeks before school started, we received a letter telling us which teacher and classroom she would have. She was thrilled to learn she would have Mrs C... the same teacher that two of her very best friends from kindergarten were assigned. The letter also came with a school supply list, so I invited her to join me to pick out her new school supplies.

While a lot of the schol supplies were pretty standard, Gabby enjoyed picking out a wide-ruled notebook decorated with hearts, 2 folders decorated with the "peace" signs, and a pink pencil pouch (vs. a pencil box). I talked her into keeping her same backpack from last year since it was still in great condition.

Coincidentally, we had also purged Gabby's closet the week before... so it gave us a great excuse to also do a little back-to-school clothes shopping. She needed new jeans, a few new long sleeve shirts, and a few new t-shirts.

Her school held a "meet the teacher" event the Friday before school started. It was nice for Gabby to be able to see her new classroom, meet and talk with her new teacher, see where her desk and locker areas were. When we got home, Michalina asked her what she thought of "meet the teacher", and Gabby's response was "my new teacher has brown and gray hair".

Glad she got something out of it! ha!

The night before the first day of school, I think she fell asleep close to 10pm... maybe even a little later. Crazy little girl... so excited she couldn't sleep. Granted, I remember that always happening to me too!

I hope it will be a great year ahead for her!

Rocco started pre-Kindergarten!

Rocco started pre-Kindergarten!

He's at the same school, but a different classroom with a lot of the friends from his old classroom. preK means he gets to do more big-kid stuff... practice writing his full name, practice writing letters and numbers, and classroom projects and experiments.

He's very excited about preK and is quick to boast that he's now preK, in the big kid classroom that Gabby was also once in when we first moved here.

Kindergarten Graduate!

We went to Gabby’s kindergarten graduation today. It was very informal and super cute. Each child wore a graduation cap that they made, and they each received a little diploma from Ms. T. They performed a song for us, and there was also a special DVD show that we watched. Each of the kids had colored a picture of something they weren’t able to do before they entered kindergarten, and then a picture of them being able to do it after being in kindergarten. They each did their own voiceover explaining their pictures and what it was they couldn’t do before, but could now do after. Gabby said “I couldn’t read before kindergarten, but now I am really good at reading and can even read books to my brother and sister!” Gabby could read ver little before entering kindergarten - just very basic words. And, it was a challenge for her… so she didn’t really enjoy trying to read and would get frustrated easily. Now, she loves it! She reads often and really does read books to Giuliana and Rocco quite frequently. It’s so fun to see her doing this!

It was so fun to hear what all the kids said while watching the DVD show. Some kids said how they couldn’t do the monkey bars, or how they couldn’t eat lunch by themselves, or how they didn’t know the alphabet… and then, now, how they are *awesome* at the monkey bars, or how they know how to eat lunch with friends, and how they now know the alphabet. Super-duper cute!

I have to give HUGE props to Gabby’s teacher. Seriously one of the greatest teachers out there! Some of the kids in Gabby’s class didn’t know the entire alphabet, or couldn’t even recognize all the letters of the alphabet at the beginning of the school year. And now, every single one of those kids is testing out at reading first grade level or above. Gabby actually tests out at reading above first grade level and we are SO proud of her. Ms. T really pushed the kids AND the parents. Gabby had almost 45 mins of homework several days a week, which was definitely a challenge for all of us. But, it truly paid off!

Gabby LOVED kindergarten so much that she would often tell us she wished it was a school day on the weekends. I think that had a LOT to do with Ms. T. I seriously LOVE great teachers! And, I’m so happy that Gabby was able to enjoy such an amazing kindergarten experience.

 Watch out first grade… here we come!

 (Rocco is clearly VERY excited for his sister... nice face, buddy!)

Gabby started KINDERGARTEN!

Gabby started all-day kindergarten recently - and she is in HEAVEN!

This child was beyond ready to start kindergarten... literally counting down the weeks and days since June. Every time she would talk about kindergarten... it would be followed with a very girly, high-pitched scream. So fun to see her so excited! She also picked out her new backpack, and jumped with joy the day it arrived.

There were many little steps leading up to the big day... we got our list of supplies that we needed to bring in, along with our date & time for her kindergarten assessment. At the assessment, they basically tested her reading skills, asked her to do some simple rhyming, asked her to identify her name, shapes and numbers and I think they also did a little writing. I think Gabby did really well and was able to read all the pages in the book the teacher went through with her with just a little help from the teacher on a few words.

Then, we had her orientation on the Thursday after Labor Day. (By that point... Gabby was ITCHING to be in school every day and was SO JEALOUS that Rocco had already started school.) Gabby really enjoyed the orientation... it allowed her to meet some new friends and hear more about rules, the routines and what her school day was going to be like. There are 18 boys in her class and 5 girls (including Gabby). I'd say the girls are a bit outnumbered!

Her first day of school was the next day - Friday. We drove her to school and picked her up on the first day... and let's just say she was NOT a fan of us picking her up. She really wanted to ride the bus that day. I was met with tears, instead of a hug... from a VERY, very tired and new little kindergartener. She had SUCH a great time at school though and was sad that she had to wait all weekend to go again. When Monday arrived, I walked her to the bus stop for her very first bus ride... and to say she was excited to ride the bus is an extreme understatement. As Gabby said "Mom, I've waited my WHOLE LIFE to ride the bus!!"

Gabby's all day kindergarten goes from 9:15-3:25. Her teacher, Ms. T, told us to expect our little ones to be very tired when they arrive home for the first two months. But, after that, they should be adjusted to the new schedule and stimulation. Gabby, by the way, LOVES her teacher. And, I really like her too! She has so much energy, has the kids doing neat learning projects and I love the constant communications from her via backpack mail and email.

In addition to adjusting to a new school schedule, Gabby also is involved in swimming, gymnastics and dance. Dance class started last Monday. She's in a tap & ballet class that she really enjoyed last year with the same instructor. Swimming class is on Sundays. And, she's in an invite-only developmental gymnastics class. The class is twice weekly, from 5-7pm, and they work those girls hard. Seriously. I watch them, and wish I was out there doing all the strength training, stretching and fun gymnastics moves with them. I hesitated a bit with the advanced gym class for several reasons... I was worried about Gabby adjusting to all day kindergarten, and thought a twice weekly, 2 hour class would be too much for her... and maybe for us too (with having to taxi her there & back), especially with having two other little ones at home. But, the Level I coaches started telling me that Gabby was getting bored in class and needed more of a challenge. They said strength-wise and skill-wise, she was more than capable of handling the invite class. So, I caved... and enrolled her in that class. Honestly though.... she is MUCH happier in this new, more difficult class and it so far hasn't been too difficult to juggle with everything else. It definitely messes up dinner on Tuesday nights, as Rocco's gym class starts when Gabby's does... it just ends an hour and 15 mins before Gabby's. But, I now send the kids off to they gym with PB&J sandwiches, milk and that seems to work fine. Then when they get home, they usually eat a second dinner.

Gabby is LOVING all of her activities. I would say it is a toss-up between dance & gymnastics for her favorite activity. Swimming is not really an option in our house... we feel strongly about the kids having to learn to swim for safety reasons. But, the other activities are up to the kids. As long as they are having fun, it isn't making them too tired or impacting school/homework (which is the top priority!), then we'll support them in whatever.

Gabby seems to have grown-up so much lately... in a kindergarten sort of way. And, I also had to go through her closet again recently - she's growing so fast! Very tall & lean (making it really hard to find pants that are long enough but not falling off of her). And, she happily does her homework each night and looks forward to our half hour of reading. She is also really starting to get confident with her own reading and will often attempt to read books to her brother and sister now. Super cute to see! We are SO proud of her... love her to bits!