Here is Kayden's school. It is BRAND NEW!!! Which is good because the old one looked pretty shady. They have all day kindergarten here so he is getting thrown right in. Kayden has never gone to preschool, so I was a little nervous about him being able to keep up, but he is excited for school and is doing great!We had to go to registration the week before school started. They did a whole health assessment. They checked Kayden's hearing, seeing, weight, height, BMI, teeth, and had behavioral assessment survey. Plus Kayden got his last chicken pox shot for FREE! (Which he cried and freaked out at.) Of course Steve had work so I got to go to this madhouse by myself with all 3 kids. I must say they were pretty good going from line to line. (I guess it might be time to try Disneyland.)
Here is Kayden doing his vision test. They recommended that he be tested again by the school nurse. Not sure if that is because he really does have trouble seeing, or because he kept uncovering his eye. (Kayden is in the blue shorts and white shirt)
Jenna just wanted to try it too. (This is the computer room. Plus all of the classrooms have computers in them.)
Here is Kayden the first day of school. The kindergarteners got to go to school the day before everyone else with their parents. Kayden was so excited. I woke him up, and of course he started whining saying that he was tired still. When I told him he had to get ready to go to school he jumped up. That is the fastest he has ever gotten dressed. (We are back to the whining now.)
He has also worn basketball shorts to school EVERYDAY!! It is below 40 degrees here in the mornings now. I am going to try and persuade him to wear jeans or khaki shorts for picture day tomorrow. I bet he ends up in basketball shorts though.
My pictures didn't load in order for some reason. So here is his school from farther away. The K-2 building is on the left (it is in the back) and the 3-5 building is on the right. There is only one way in and out for both buildings. The parking and drop off is in between the buildings (you can see the cars) and the playgrounds and fields are down at the far end between the buildings behind the parking lots. IT IS CRAZY!!! They usually have the police out directing traffic now, but the first week we were dead stopped out on the highway when the TARDY bell rang.
Doesn't it look like we could be in Vegas for all of the change of scenery? :)
Kayden came home from school on Friday and told me there was a fire at the big kids school. I got a little concerned. He was so excited and went on and on about how they saw the smoke and everything. Finally he said there was a fire at the junkyard to. When Steve came home later and I asked him about it, he said there weren't any fires at the school, but there was a fire at the junkyard that day. It is really smart to build elementary schools in the middle of the desert across from a junkyard? Just saying. I did feel better though that the brand new school didn't have a fire.
Here is Kayden sitting at his table. Look at those chairs!! I for sure did not get a chair like that ever in school. His classroom is more high tech than some colleges I went to.
He has an awesome teacher.
The teacher talked to the parents and the students about the school year and her class. (They call the kids "friends" here instead of "students". There are 22 "friends" in Kayden's class.) Then the parents went to the cafeteria for Q&A with the principal while the kids had their morning snack. They get a snack every morning. (So I don't feel bad when Kayden takes too long eating his cereal and I make him leave it.) I also did not ever get a morning snack at school!
After their snack the kids got to go on a tour of the school, while the parents came back and got to sit in those awesome little chairs and have Q&A with the teacher.
Then the parents got kicked out. As we were leaving Kayden and his class happened to be out on the playground. We had a hard time getting them to stop playing so we could take a picture.
This is Kayden's friend Keawe. She is the basketball coach's daughter, and we take her to school with us, while Jenna and Drew stay at her house during the day.
And me and my son who I am so proud of. He wants me to walk him to his classroom every morning, and then he has to give me a big hug and a big kiss, and he also wants one in return. I don't know how long it will last for.
And here is Drew on Kayden's first day of school. (I think Dad was about to cry too. Don't worry Mom didn't though.)
Drew asks me every morning as soon as he wakes up if he gets to go to preschool today, and it breaks my heart to tell him "no." We have tried to get him in, but he is still too young and they won't let him go (we were even going to lie about his birthday to get him in). Here the birthday deadline for schools is June 1st, so he misses it by a ways.
We had parent teacher conference today with Kayden's teacher and she said he is doing really well. He listens, obeys, and knows what he needs to do and how to follow directions. She said she never would have known he hadn't had any kind of schooling before. For kindergarten here, they need to know how to write all of their letters, count to 100, and be able to read and write about 30-40 different words by the end of the year. Kayden knows all of his alphabet now, and counted to 64 so far for his teacher. And he can read the words they have learned so far.
He comes home everyday saying a new little chant that Ms. Abeyta has taught them. For example: "The days of the week are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc." or "a straight line down is lots of fun, and that is how you make a one."
We got a little confused though when he brought home the Spanish packet for September announcements. We got the gist of most of it, but told Kayden to try and get an English one next time. Kayden's reply was, "or the Portuguese one?"
Everyday when I ask Kayden what he did at school, I usually get something like this: "I only got to play outside for one time today." It is always about how many times he had recess, and how long it was, and who he played with, or what they did. Sometimes he will tell me what activity center he played at before school ended. I have to give him 20 questions to find out what letter they learned, or if he went to music or PE. Such a boy. :)
Just something else I wanted to write down before I forget:
We spoke in church this last Sunday, and I of course cried and had that high crying voice all through my talk. When I was done and came to sit back down in our row, Drew asked, "Mom, why are you crying?" "Because that's what Moms do." He proudly replied, "But Dads don't cry." He makes me laugh everyday!! He also gives me stress anxiety everyday, but it's worth it!!
