First Report Card

We had our first parent teacher conference for Elizabeth at the end of October. We were a little nervous about it. After 2 years of preschool where we were constantly talking with the teachers about Elizabeth's progress, it was strange not to have such a day to day report. I'm sure that it was just the transition from the preschool environment to grade school environment.

We were very concerned about the speech sessions since we had not seen anything from the speech teacher. I had spoken to her at the curriculum night so I at least knew that Elizabeth was going to speech two times a week. We were not receiving homework or even a note of what they were working on though. It's pretty hard to carry over the lessons at home if you don't know what they are doing in school.

All of that not knowing, but feeling like if there were issues we would have heard something were confirmed by the conference. Elizabeth received a great report card with all 3's and a few 2's (most were area's we expected). The official report card came home about a week after the conference. Elizabeth was very proud of her report card, just like her Mommy, Daddy, and little Sister.

Anne Springs Greenway

Elizabeth's first field trip as a Kindergartner. It was quite interesting. There are three entry points for the Anne Springs Close Greenway and we clearly didn't know which one we were suppose to be entering at. Once we finally arrived the kids had a great time. They had several different stations so we split off by class.

Elizabeth's class started out listening to a talk about trees and why they lose their leaves. Then they entered the house where they played skittles bingo and learned about the indigenous animals. The kids were great listeners and learned a lot.
Then they headed to the hay maze. It was quite a bit smaller and easier than I expected it to be. The kids had a blast racing though it as quick as they could. It was a great opportunity for them to run of some of their energy. The previous class that was there were climbing on top of the bales, but Elizabeth's class was instructed not to do that. We took the opportunity to snap a nice class picture shot.
They received a branded (with the springs logo) tree trunk slice. It was a necklace that they could then string beads on. They all had fun stringing the beads. From there we went to a large picnic pavilion where they made pumpkin faces on paper bags and leave rubbings while learning about how trees produce food. They then searched for a small pumpkin to take home. They finished up with a wagon ride pulled by a tractor where the guide pointed out a bee hive and various types of trees. We were suppose to have lunch there, but that was cut short as the buses needed to be back to school. The kids had a blast and the teachers let them have picnic lunch back at school.

(I have a few more pictures to add to this entry.)

Our Kinder-gator

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.