No Brain, No Gain

The girls have been doing so awesome at school!!

Lia seems so much older lately and everything seems to be going so much more smoothly than in previous years.  She loves her teacher and it is really fun to hear where she chooses to sit each day in their "flexible seating" arrangement.  So far her favorite is the bouncy ball chairs.  Lia knew several kids in her class and for the first few days, those were the only kids we heard about after school.  Recently she has started talking about some new kids that she has started befriending.  Todd asked her recently how she knows if she wants to be friends with someone.  She gave a brillant answer.  "I just watch them with other people and see if they are kind and nice to them and if they do things that I would like to do too and then I know they are nice.  Then I see if they want to sit next to me at lunch and then I know they want to be my friend too."  I adore this so much.

Cute activity the kids did the first week of school.  

Lia LOVES that her teacher incorporates technology more into the classroom.  I'm skeptical of the true educational value, but getting these videos sure is fun!!  

Erin is rocking and rolling.  She loves school and is completely head over heels for her teacher.  Her teacher called me the other day and said that she sees a little mini teacher in Erin.  She loves being a leader in class and having the "job" of calling on kids to answer questions.  She's adjusted well to the change, but never forgets to give her kinder teacher a big hug at every opportunity.  :)  Erin loves that she is the only one in the family to have a class pet and Neptune is the best bunny ever.  haha.  I've already seen a shift in her reading since the beginning of school - like things just clicked back into place.  She is more eager to read out loud and seems to have gained the confidence back that was lost a little over the summer.  I'm excited to see her growth this year!!

Great drawing and amazing caption!!  :)  AND - check out that cursive name!!!

Neptune

Halle (as expected) has hit the ground running and seems unaffected by the shift from summer to school.  She already "knows all the kids in my class" and is happy her friend Brooklynn is in the same class as well.  She's slightly bummed she doesn't have "wiggle chairs" or a class pet like her sisters, but that is easily followed with "but I don't really care because I like my class and my teacher."  haha.  Halle went from the most photographed class with her kinder teacher to probably the least photographed this year.  Her teacher is amazing and super experienced, but Facebook doesn't hit her priority list very often.  Which I totally get - but I miss seeing my sweet Halle at school!  Halle's teacher called the other day to check in and said that she is "just a sweet little love bug" and she "is always ready to help and responds well to positive praise.  I can also tell that she loves to read." - uh, yep.  Nailed it.  

It is going to be amazing to see these kiddos continue to grow and mature this year.  Let's do this!