Elizabeth had her first day as a Kindergartner at River Gate Elementary School on Tuesday, August 25th. The mascot is a Gator so they have dubbed the Kindergartners as Kinder-gators. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system does what is called a staggered start for Kindergarten. They do this so they can do placement testing for them and make any adjustments to their classes. The first week a different group of kindergartners attends each day based on the first letter of their last name.
Elizabeth was really excited about starting school. The first day of school I took her to school and walked in with her. Principal Mrs. Edmond on our way in to the building. Elizabeth had the pleasure of meeting her while at speech at another elementary school last year. We were also surprised to see one of her buddies from preschool helping his Mom direct people into the building. It was so sweet to hear that Jack had been watching the line of cars looking for our car. He was very excited when he finally saw us in the long line to get into the school parking lot. His first day was not until Wednesday and Elizabeth was a little sad that she didn't get to walk into the school with him. His class was across the hall from hers.
We had decided that Elizabeth would ride the bus. It seems almost silly considering the school right out the back of our neighborhood. Her bus stop is the last pick up before going to the school and the first drop off after school. Initially, Elizabeth was not so sure about riding the bus. Then when we left to go to school on the first day she saw one of the older girls that we know in our neighborhood walking to the bus stop with her Mom. From that point on, she was so excited about riding the bus with Hannah. It has been a good experience so far. There are 4 other kindergartners from our neighborhood that ride it with her.About 20 days after school started we received a call from the principal informing us that Elizabeth's teacher was being moved to teach 5th grade. The Kindergarten student to teacher ratio was at 15/1, which was much lower than they had anticipated. On the flip side, the 5th grade class ratio was 32/1. Ms. Hoskin's class was divided up and assigned to the remaining five Kindergarten classes. Elizabeth ended up in the same class as one of the twin boys that live in our neighborhood and her buddy, Jack, from preschool. It was nice to see such a seamless transition and her new teacher, Ms. Tavano, is very nice.
