WW: 1st Day of 1st Grade!

Robin's last day of preschool

For this year.

She had an amazing year with two nurturing, fun teachers and a good mix of peers.

And both girls look about 5 years older when they wear pony tails. 

Can someone please send a message to Time to slow it down a bit for this mama? 

Kindergarten

"Scientist" Erin

Erin's classroom has been working the last few months on writing their first book.  It is a book about scientific observations of trees.  Each child illustrated a concept and wrote a sentence.  Today was their "publishing" party.  They were instructed to don a white shirt as their lab coats.  They read each other the stories, then shook each other's hands and congratulated them.  "Well done, Dr. Erin."  "Well done, Dr. J".  

Very cute, and pretty amazing.   

Erin's story: "kitten" edition

Translation: My (mi) kitten (citen) is outside (outsd). 

Pictures and words all by Erin. 

Lunch Lady Brian

Robin's first day of Preschool!

The long awaited day has arrived!  Robin is in preschool!  She's been very excited, and has been wanting to go to preschool ever since, well nearly ever since she was born. Erin helped her this morning by reassuring her it would be fun, she would make new friends, and she wouldn't be sad at all.

 Robin did great at drop off.  She held my had and asked if I  was staying.  I said, no I was going to do a few things then come back to get her after lunch.  Several other kids were, not surprisingly, shrieking at the top of their lungs which is why I think Robin was holding back a bit.  Here she is pointing at a toy and telling me not to put my hand in the scary guy's mouth.

Kindergarten Day 1

Actually hour one, since the first day was basically a 1 hour orientation.

A few pictures:

Fashionista Erin and Robin's First Day

Today was busy!  Erin discovered a new way to accessorize: ribbons twisted and tied on her arm.  I think it makes her look very Renaissance, or maybe it's also the fancy dress she loves to wear:

And.... today is Robin's first day at preschool summer camp.  This marks her entry into real pre-school. She took one look around, clung to my leg for about 5 seconds, then ran off to play.  No kiss goodbye, no hug, no tears.  She had a long, 4-hour day and came home exhaustedly happy.

Preschool Graduation

Friday was a big day.  Erin graduated from her preschool, and officially became part of the class of 2025 (boy, did that statement start the waterworks from all the parents/grandparents!)

Some pictures:

Waiting for the start of the ceremony:

Erin and some of her BFFs:

Robin enjoying the ice cream afterwards:

And movies: 

Again, I can't hear the audio so not sure what's up with vimeo and my computer.  Hopefully you'll hear some of the cuteness.

Graduation

Today is Erin's graduation from her preschool, and from pre-K.  There is a ceremony today.  Brian and I are bringing fistfuls of tissue.

Video to come.

Open House

We went to the open house for Erin's Kindergarden school tonight.  Each grade showcased a dance.  The music moved Robin to heightened affection:

Walk-A-Thon

Our local elementary school had their annual Walk-A-Thon fundraiser.  This is where Erin will be going to Kindergarden, but right now our nephew Brendan is a 5th grader.  I'm not sure yet how many laps he ran during the 2 hour event. (B, when you read this please feel free to tell us in the comments section).

Erin and Robin did two laps with Uncle Jim.  Then Erin went on to do 2 more by herself.  Each lap is 0.4 miles.  We've a little runner in the making!

Erin's VIP day

Today Erin had a VIP day at her school.  It's normally supposed to co-incice with a birthday, but were we that put-together in October?  Nope. 

Grandpa, Grammy, Papa, Dad, Me, and Robin showed up.  She introduced us, said our real names, and said what she liked to do with us.  She made a poster and had to explain all the pictures on the poster.  Then she had to do all the helping jobs. 

I've known about the helping jobs for 2 years now.  There's line leader, snack helper, tapper, calendar, weather, and this year there's also song leader.  Line leader leads the children out to the playground.  Snack helper lays out napkins and cups.  Tapper taps each child, asking a question before they can go to snack.  Erin asked each child how to spell their first name.  Calendar is involved.  Erin had to read the day, the month, the year, and say it all in a row.  She had to count from 17 to 30 (the remaining days in the month), and follow a pattern of red-red-yellow-yellow to choose what color should go on the day.  Weather helper looks out of the window and selects two weather descriptions to fit in the sentence, "Today, the weather is ____ and ___. "  Weather helper must then read the entire sentence. Song leader selects a song and leads the class through it.  Erin chose "This Land is Your Land."

Erin performed all her tasks with confidence and eagerness. Before, she expressed concern that she would be sweaty from doing so many helping jobs.  But she was just fine.

All in all it was a 20 minute affair.  I think the first time I had to do a 20 minute presentation was in grad school.