Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Observations from First Grade - Day One

Frank, who's always been off the Growth Charts (90th%-100th+%) came home from his first day at Public School and said "there's some small kids in the class AND THEY'RE FIRST GRADERS!" He almost sounded sorry for them, and a ...little protective too.


Frank's perception is a bit skewed... he's wearing size 4.5W shoes, size L/10-12 clothes... and he's SIX!!!


The best part of school was that they "lightened my stuff", by keeping all the "donations" and his pencil box at school.


Here are a few other observations after Frank returned from his first day in First Grade (and first day as a "full-time" Public School Student!)


Frank remembers the shirt (Batman) his "New Best Buddy" was wearing, but not his name.


Frank remembers a girl he's "seen before", who's also in his class, "Lacey".


Frank only ate half his lunch, because he "sat at the wrong table" and "forgot to get in line to buy his milk".


When, at dinner time I snapped at Frank after he ask me for the third time to "guess where my socks are", he walked off mumbling to himself "okay, no guessing games with Mom!" I'd *guess* they played some guessing games at school today! ;P


Frank was tired and emotional when I picked him up (one sentence from Jack triggered tears). I think Frank had a good day, just half a lunch, no good snacks, and no quiet time, plus A LOT of new situations and stimuli, along with his more quiet, observant personality led to a brief break down.


Tonight, he was all excited to see if he could get ready for school in 15 minutes again tomorrow like he did today. I'll take that as a good sign that he enjoyed himself!


In what universe are MARSHMALLOWS considered a good idea for snack time for a classroom of six year olds?~!?!?


Perhaps the Marshmallows come from the same universe where "standing in line" means the same thing as jumping up two feet off the ground, onto the brick dais, and then pretending you are a Transformer, complete with statutory pauses.


All-in-all, I trust Frank had a good day. He didn't talk about it much, but then, he's always been quiet and observant when in new situations. He'll open up soon, and there will be no stopping him! :D

5 comments:

Celise said...

First Grade?!! He's tall for first grade. Wow, how time does fly. Look at how handsome he's getting. I love the pic of the two boys hugging. Too cute! Was Jack saying goodbye?

SuzyQSparkles said...

Yep. The brother's saying goodbye (complete with kisses). Look how Jack's toes are barely touching the ground from the bear hug Frank is giving!

Anonymous said...

your pictures and comentary makes me feel like I was there.

Mom

Anonymous said...

To offset the inappropriate snacks, maybe ask the teacher if you could propose that you take a class vote as to what healthy snack they would like to request and then write a note and distribute it to the parents. I am sure his teacher would appreciate any extra organizational help from a healthy mom and maybe address the principle about the line up behavior before school, maybe they need extra teachers on the grounds, unless of course this was all in a day's fun. Looks like alot of fun. Best advice when bringing kids home after a long day, reserve 1 hour for healthy snack and listening, nothing else if possible, makes a small boy feel very big to his favorite teacher! It seems to work for me!wyogirl1

SuzyQSparkles said...

Snacks -
Day 1 - Marshmallows
Day 2 - Fruit Snacks
Day 3 - Teacher forgot them; sitting on her kitchen counter.
Day 4 - Chocolate Chip Cookies

So. Now we know, daily snacks have zero nutritional content and lots of sugar. We also suspect they are coming from the teacher (and probably her own pocketbook). Time to mobilize the parents in the class to donate healthy snacks (one per month for the class should just about cover it) and or each child bringing their own (which would be far more work for everyone).

I've set aside time on Thursday's to volunteer at the school. I'll observe then and probably begin to address this item and possible alternatives.