The First Week of School

And thus concludes the first week of school for the Matteson kids. Both of them are really glad to be back in school, see their friends, and settle into the school routine.

Fourth Grade
Cassie is so far really enjoying fourth grade. she was somewhat disappointed that the teacher just dived right in and they did actual schoolwork even on the first day, however, homework doesn't start until next week. This year each 3-5th grader has a planner, and they record notes about what they're doing in different subjects, as well as the homework they have to do each night. Then we, the parents, have to review the planner, sign it, and confirm the homework is done every evening. Cassie is a bit disappointed at the more rigid structure, because she manages her homework quite well on her own, but I think she's going to have more homework and more subjects to manage this year.

Cassie is starting to organize her life differently and be more aware of needing some space and time to her self. We have a long-term plan to move the computers out of our computer room and give each girl their own space. But as it requires a complete redesign of how our house is organized, this isn't happening very fast.

First Grade
Zoe complained on the first day of school that we told her it would be longer than kindergarten but it wasn't. We smiled and explained that it really was longer, but she must have had lots of fun for it to fly by so quickly. It took her a few days to adjust, but by Friday she was really really excited about her new teacher, class, and schedule. Eating lunch at school is the biggest adjustment- self-managing her time so that she gets to eat something during their 20 minute lunch-break.

I took the first day of school off and volunteered to help kids get to their classrooms, but they had so many 5th grade helpers that they didn't really need me. I helped the TAG/Reading teacher catalog some new books, and delivered a car-load of paper to the high and middle schools. The paper was leftover from media testing at work, and slated to be recycled or sent to schools. I choose to help out with the latter, realizing that getting a hold of nice paper for art projects is really difficult for schools.