We've been back in school for nearly two weeks. Everyone seems to be adjusting well.
Tristan is in sixth grade with an infamous teacher whom everyone (students and parents alike) both fear and admire. She's super tough but I hear students go back to her years later to thank her for all that she taught them. She laid it all out on the first day- she told the kids that she's been teaching for 25 years and knows all the tricks that sixth graders try to pull. Tristan's retold these stories several times over the past two weeks. I can't tell if he's trying to figure out a way around her or if he simply admires the ones who went before and the tricks they've tried to pull. He's playing football right now so his life consists of getting up, doing homework, going to school, coming home, having a snack while he does a bit of homework, getting ready for football, two hours of football practice, coming home, eating dinner, doing more homework and going to bed. That's five days a week except for the day that he fits scouts in between football practice and dinner.
Jolie is in fourth grade. Her school career seems to be about breaking in new teachers. She's had a new (to the school) teacher for every grade now except for one (second grade). Jolie's first assessment of her fourth grade teacher was that she was mean. That was the word on the street last week. This week it's loosened up to her being "strict". Yes, there's a difference. I'm still trying to figure this teacher out myself and trying not to rush to judgement.
Gavin is loving first grade! Eating lunch at school is an amazing experience. There are three (yes, three!) recesses! You get more time in P.E. than kindergarteners. I'd been making lunch for all the kids just as I have been for years and one night Gavin started crying, saying that he felt left out. He was the only one of his friends who hadn't experienced school lunch. Truthfully, I was surprised that anyone would want to eat that crap. But just like all new first graders, you have to taste the crap to figure out what it is.
I keep waiting for the first grade meltdown but it hasn't happened yet. Both of the other kids have come home at some point during the beginning of first grade, when they're not used to being at school all day and they become overwhelmed and have a crying, screaming, fit-throwing meltdown. It's usually provoked by some innocent action on my part, like asking them to pick up their shoes. So far Gavin as been o.k. I'm watching and waiting, though.
I'm super excited about Gavin's French immersion program. Last year was fun but I can tell he's starting to pick things up and that being in a French classroom for more time is helping him progress. Last year he would count in French or ask me which day of the week it was (mommy, is it mercredi or jeudi aujourd-hui?). Last week, after his second day in Mme Dean's class, we were eating dinner and he said, "Mom, quel temps fait-il?" Just completely out of the blue he was attempting to have a conversation with me. After we had a little exchange back and forth, the other kids asked us to translate. Gavin got a huge rush from the fact that they wanted to know what we were saying. We decided that we'd have a French conversation every night at dinner. In fact, the next afternoon Gavin caught me away from the other kids and asked what we should talk about that night. I've also started doing my $450 Pimsleur lessons so that I can get myself up to speed. It's amazing how things start to come back from the rusty crevices of your brain if you practice them. I'm hoping to help in Gavin's French classroom and it would be pretty embarassing for a bunch of first graders to be able to say more than me. Plus I need to keep up on what they're learning so that we can continue to have our secret conversations at dinner.
