Admittedly, I was overly anxious about Grant's transition to FIRST grade. It's a big deal! You are no longer sheltered from the rest of the school by kindergarten teachers and gates. You have to be dropped off on the big kids playground and find your spot to go to class when its time. You have to eat lunch at school (a huge concern for me since Grant doesn't really eat "cold" food). You are no longer dismissed after the day to your parents. In fact, you can walk away from the teacher, and find your parent all by yourself (yikes...I preferred knowing the teacher would hang on to them until I was there to get them). And to make it all a little more nerve wracking, Grant was assigned to a 1-2 combination class. I had known this was a possibility as our school was being forced to finally have combo classes due to budget constraints. Mrs. Swanson told me she had submitted Grant's name for the class, but told me I would be notified over the summer via a letter and that we could opt out if it was something we did not want our child to do. I never received a letter and confidently thought that meant that Grant would be in one of the traditional first grade classes. Boy, did I get a surprise when I showed up to look at the class lists back in August. I had heard so many different things about combination classes and not many of them were positive. Teachers hated to teach them, students fell through the cracks, etc, etc. And then there were the things I heard from people hoping to make me feel better. "You're child is bright, he has not discipline problems, he is an independent worker, you are a great mom who is involved with her son's education, etc." I was still so nervous. I want Grant to have the best education he can possibly get and despite what his teachers said, I had a hard time believing that he worked well independently. After all, this is the child I have to tell 25 times to get dressed in the morning, haha!
I'm happy to report though that I opted to pray and pray and pray that Grant was where he was supposed to be. I began to feel more comfortable, more at ease. He was going to have three little girls that we knew in his class, Avery, Kammy and Lily. He makes friends pretty quickly and he didn't seem to care otherwise. Honestly though, I didn't become completely at ease until I attended "Back to School" night and that is when I fell in love with Grant's teacher, Mrs. Maynard. She has so much experience. She had taught 1st grade at Creekside for 8 years and had been teaching 2nd grade at Lincoln Crossing since it opened five years ago. Neither of these curriculums would be new to her and she had plenty of experience. The other thing that is unique about Mrs. Maynard is that she has animals in her class. She has a canine companion dog that she has been training and it will be in her class. Her name is Garbo. She also has two pet rats. Grant loves animals and I knew this would be exciting for him. I also felt that Mrs. Maynard was completely approachable and open. I loved her classroom discipline, but also that she was loving and nurturing. I had a good feeling after that night and knew that Grant would do just fine.
Here is a few things about the first month of school that I want to remember:
- I always ask the kids after school to tell me their best and worst part of their day. For the first few weeks of school, Grant said the worst part of his day was lunch. His friends from last year were all having lunch with the other first graders while Grant's combo class was having lunch with the second graders. This was a difficult adjustment for him, but as he has made more friends in the second grade, it hasn't been an issue at all.
- Grant loves to play tether ball at recess and lunchtime
- Another time when I asked Grant about the worst part of his day, he said, "Are you kidding? I love everything about first grade. Can I have Mrs. Maynard next year too?"
- Grant loves the class pets and tells me Garbo likes to lick him.
- Grant is really motivated by the opportunity to "have a job" at school. About a week into school, he told me "Mom, I behave sooooo good today because I wanted to earn a job." When I inquired about the different jobs, he told me that he chose the "pet job." I think you get to feed Garbo or change his water, etc. I'm so glad that he is having this great opportunity to be around pets.
- Homework is going well and I am pleased to say that it is way better than I expected. He only gets some reading comprehension pages for the week and then one math page each night. He has some spelling words for the week that he is supposed to practice and take a test on at home as well. The spelling words are pretty easy at this point so it's not too much work. That might change as the year goes on.
- Grant talks endlessly about a little boy, Tommy who is in his class. I have no idea who Tommy is, but I do know that he is a second grader in Grant's class and they have similar interests and play together at recess/lunch.
- Lunch continues to be a struggle. Grant ate sandwiches for a week and then didn't want that anymore. I tried graham crackers with peanut butter between them (something my mom always fed my picky eater brother) and he didn't care for that. I need to find a source of protein for this boy to eat for lunch. Right now, we have settled on "oatmeal to go" bars and fruit. I occasionally give him a protein meal bar or something like that, but I'm concerned about that and need to consult with his pediatrician. I noticed he doesn't eat much and so I'm trying to limit what I send him and sometimes it's only the oatmeal and the fruit and a drink. He is usually ready to eat something bigger when he comes home. I was hoping he would try the hot lunches at school, but he hasn't been quite brave enough yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment