School’s In

School is back in session… for three of my four children.  Wahoooo!  Gabe and Ari are now in 1st Grade, and Bella has begun Kindergarten.  Their first day back was July 22, so they’ve already been in the swing of things for a little while now.  I have to admit that I have been missing them from time to time.  It’s been especially difficult for me to send Bella off to Kindergarten and be apart from my little side-kick all day.  But she loves it.  Actually, they are all loving it, but Bella most of all, so I can’t regret testing her in early I guess :).

Gabe is doing an outstanding job at reading and math.  So far, this year, he has already read The Twits, The Witches, George’s Marvelous Medicine, Fantastic Mr. Fox (all by Roald Dahl), several Junie B. Jones books, and more picture and Ninjago books than I can count.  He and Jake practice math “tricks” every night and he is able to do addition problems out to the thousands and single-digit multiplication.  He loves school, and tells me that his favorite subject is P.E.  His favorite part of the day is playing tetherball with his friends at recess.

Ari is doing a great job at school.  She has a new aide, who Ari likes a lot.  Her teacher is also wonderful and a perfect fit for Ari.  Ari’s teacher has told me many times how happy she is to have Ari in her class.  Ari has been mastering her letter identification as well as her letter sounds (single letter phonograms).  Ari can verbally say 15 of the 26 letter sounds correctly, and she can identify almost all of them when asked to point to the correct letter that makes the sound.  She is getting better at number identification, counting up to ten, and understanding number quantities.  She is struggling with her new muscle weakness, especially in her trunk, when it comes to sitting up straight in her chair all day.  We hope that she will be able to overcome this with time and persistent exercise.  Ari has been making friends at school, and enjoys seeing her friends from her class last year as well. 

Bella loves every single thing about school.  Her teacher adores her and always tells me so :).  Bella has been doing well on early reading, and she is passing her sight words tests very quickly.  She has a creative flair, which she applies to everything that she does.  She simply cannot complete her homework without coloring or doodling in excess of the directions.  She was Star Student the first week of school, and I got to have lunch with her in the cafeteria and play at recess with her on the playground.  She seemed so happy to be there and show me off to her friends. 

Of course I want my kids to excel academically, but in my heart, I want what every mom wants and that is just to see my kids happy.  I am glad that this year is off to a great start for everyone, and I’m excited for what is to come.

Gabe was anxious about not being on time, so he isn’t pictured individually.  I didn’t want to make him late :).