Monday, September 29, 2008

The SECOND First Day of School

Sydney is a little smartie. We have all known that for a while. She spent the summer reading chapter books. She says Jordan taught her how to read, but she taught herself how to read chapter books! When I need a break from little toddler Tanner, I tell him to take a book to Sydney, and she reads to him. She'll keep reading to him until he runs out of books to bring her!

Sydney loves school. She came home from the first day of kindergarten just glowing. She loves her teacher, her new friends, the bus - all of it. Around the third day of school I asked her a question, and her answer cracked me up.

"Did you learn anything today?"

"Yeah. We learned a new letter. But I already knew it."

"What letter did you learn?"

"Little m." Sigh.

I think she was disappointed that there were no new letters to be learned in kindergarten. Too bad they use the same alphabet in kindergarten that they use in preschool! 26 letters just isn't enough for Sydney.

Anyway, after a couple of weeks of research, meetings, testing (which, of course, she loved), and pondering, we moved her up to first grade. She is now in Mrs. Christensen's class (which, again, she is loving!)

Tanner and Sydney loved the whole first-day-of-school-photo-session thing all over again. This time, I told Tanner ahead of time that he was NOT getting on the bus. Things were much smoother this time around.



Another cool thing about first grade -- you get to eat lunch AT SCHOOL! Sydney was thrilled. I got a bill from the cafeteria. But Sydney takes her lunch! Apparently someone showed her the a la carte section. She's been loving it.

8 comments:

Hansen Family said...

Val, was that a hard decision to move her up a grade? Jacob is way advanced but we wonder if moving him up would be smart. I know that girls can handle being the youngest far more than boys. Boys are so much more immature than girls throughout their school years.

Heather

Ashley said...

How cool is that? Way cool. I love your photos. Your children are gorgeous.

Twinlinebackers said...

She sure is a cute little 1st grader. =)

Rynell said...

What a smart little cutie!

Valerie said...

Heather, it was a hard decision. Especially since initially I didn't get much support from her school or the district. But after the first week, I'm feeling happy about the whole thing, and I think this really is what she needed. I know it would have been a more difficult decision if she had been a boy!

Emily said...

Good for you! We all have to do what is best for our children. I'm so happy that she is doing so well.

Jackie said...

Good for her! She probably loves school more now and won't be bored. Tell her to come over and teach Logan a few things.... :-)

Liz said...

What a smarty! You can take all the credit for that. :-)