The lunch Gordon packed for "Buzz Lightyear School." He coined this term for the pre-school co-op he'll be in next week. I love this kid. A large bowl of chocolate pudding, water, and Oreos minus the white, creamy filling. (I have two children who only eat the filling, so I'll scrape it off and save the cookie parts for ice cream or something.)
Jillian was
anxiously awaiting for school to start, in positive and negative terms. I'd been assured that Evelyn's kindergarten teacher would also be Jilly's. (She told me that unless she got Mrs. K, she would not be going to kindergarten at all). So when school lists were posted online the night before school, and we could not see either girls' teacher, Jilly wasn't too bothered by it. Evelyn on the other hand, was a mess. She was so disappointed to not know this great secret. Then, after one of the many times I hit the refresh button on the web browser, a teacher's name appeared, but it was a teacher who had been teaching first grade for several years. Evelyn was adamant that this woman was NOT her teacher, that the school was stupid, the computer, everything was stupid. (Drama.) And except for this one instance, no teacher's name was shown on the system for Evelyn. So we told Ev she'd just have to wait until school to find out what was going on.
Leaving the house.
For the first time this year, the school district asked parents to find classroom assignments for their kids online. Unfortunately, the school district underestimated the mess that would be caused by all the schools submitting their assignments at the same time, and then all the parents that would be invading the server searching for this information. So the system crashed, and we were not the only ones in the dark about classroom assignments. We found the lady with the assignment clipboard at school, who found that Evelyn's classroom was indeed the first grade teacher (now former first grade teacher). It was right next door to Ev's classroom from last year. She thought she'd been placed in first grade. Again. Enter complete emotional breakdown. She's crying that she didn't get Mrs. Lee like she wanted (an older friend had really talked up Mrs. Lee to her), and that she'd be in boring first grade all over. I couldn't even get her to walk in the general direction of her classroom. Meanwhile, Jilly's chilling in the kindergarten line, looking all grown-up. So I give up trying to talk to Ev, and she just keeps crying for a while.
Eventually, a kindergarten aide who remembered Evelyn came over to see why she was so upset. I tried explaining it, but then found myself in tears over the frustration and stress of the last 24 hours, so Ben finished the story for me. The aide explained that this had been frustrating for many parents, and told Ev that Mrs. Lee was actually not teaching at the school anymore. She'd moved, and so Mrs. T had to take her place teaching 2nd grade. Ev almost stopped crying on the spot. (Thank you nice teacher's aide. Sorry you have to deal with emotional children and their parents). Ben asked her if she would like to go to class now, and she replied, "Yes, let me walk around a little bit to stop crying." And she went to class (30 minutes late), and her teacher knew exactly who she was because she got to know her last year, and everything has been fine for both girls in school so far.
Gordon was happy to drag the pointy end of the umbrella through the dirt, as, gasp! It had actually rained a bit that morning.
The End, and thank goodness!
4 comments:
Poor babies! I can imagine the anxiety and drama that would ensue had that been our house. I am impressed Ev it it together so quickly afterward. Way to be an awesome second grader. I hope they have a great school year.
I also couldn't believe the picture of your living room. I actually had to stare at it for awhile to make sure the Cluff Household actually experienced a huge mess and it wasn't some sneaky trick you were playing.
Oh man! I'm sorry that your first day was so rough. The school tried a different thing for our classroom assignments as well. It involved standing in a line and a school employee writing down the teacher's name and room number on a slip of paper. Something with the new principal and privacy. Odd. But anyway.
Hope they have a great school year! It cracked me up when I heard that Jilly took her blanket for the first few days. :) Glad she doesn't need it anymore!
She's actually still using her blanket - she pulls it out to snuggle on the bus and she told me today that the bus driver commented on how cute it was. I LOVE her bus driver.
Fun first day! (sarcasm). We are doing a co-op pre school as well. Does your group have a set curriculum? We are using Bright Star. It is so affordable and they send you just about everything you need.
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