Meeting Simon's teacher: Ms. Liso

On Friday afternoon, we took Simon to his new school for the kindergartners' "Meet the Teacher" event.  Simon was indeed assigned to Ms. Liso's class.  She seems really nice, but she also seems pregnant, so we're worried about him having some crazy sub during her maternity leave, but otherwise, everything seems great.

During the visit, he built structures out of the blocks while Zac kept and eye on him and I filled out paperwork.

Simon with Ms. Liso and Ms. Dunn (the TA)

Simon builds a volcano

He also made a bunch of these "windows."



Simon builds a lot of really cool stuff, most of which we forget to photograph before it gets destroyed.

Simon's Kindergarten Practice Day

For the kindergartners, they do staggered entry. This means each kindergartner comes in for one day in the week prior to starting for real.  We'd been talking to Simon about this practice day for a long time. Zac drove both kids to school, since he had to drop Simon off personally.

Simon was a bit grumpy and didn't want his picture taken.

Zac did drop off, and apparently it was pretty rough.

But when I picked the kids up, Simon said he had a great day. He said the morning was sad, but the afternoon was fun.  My guess is he was partly hungry in the morning, and a good lunch revived him.

For Alice, at Cary Elementary, they had the kids do a variety of activities and meet all the teachers, but in Simon's case, he seemed to already be assigned to a class (Ms. Liso), and just spent the day in one room. We'll find out for sure who his teacher is on the kindergarten "Meet the Teacher" event on Friday afternoon.

Alice's first day of SECOND GRADE

On Monday, this young lady started 2nd grade.

Off she goes! (Sadly, no Parker at the bus stop with us this year.)

Here's some work she came home with this week:

Translations:

I am special because: I am the only one with blond hair.

Favorite color: The rainbow.

My teacher is: Ms. (incomplete)

My birthday is: E6 (???)

The members of my family are: ASSZ (our initials, presumably, or she's calling us asses.)

When I grow up, I want to be: an artist.

Something I like to do at school is: recess.

Something I like to do at home is: watch TV.

Favorite animal: horse.

Favorite book: Barbie.

I help other by: Making friends.

Favorite food: Chinese food.

Grandparents!

It's so nice having the grandparents around these two weeks to help with everything and keep the kids occupied!

Simon's creepy crawlies

He's back into bugs and critters.

And let's not forget the cicada shells he loves to gather:

Jack Smith Park

My parents took the kids to nearby Jack Smith Park (which has a sprayground) to play in the morning.  Looks like they had a great time!

Kids on Big Bikes

The kids have each graduated to a bigger bike now, and they're doing great! Simon is on Alice's old blue bike, and Alice is now on my old childhood bike (she's been riding it for a while now, actually).