Yep, survived the 3 km walk to school, arrived with time to run and play with friends. (We're in the zone that gets bussed for grades 1 and 2, then get to walk.) Seeing as he ran and played, I'd say the walk wasn't too long.
After a bit of chatting with other parents, I wandered to the back and looked at the class lists. He proudly showed me his name on the list. Yes! Reading is useful and kewl. And I heard the teacher ask him short or long version of his name; he chose long. Maybe he'll start writing the whole thing!
New principal. I feel for him. After two years of a formulaic, make it easier for the school kind-of-teacher, we've got one who makes it easier for the kids. As in, a parent of a special needs kid spent 45 minutes explaining her kid to him, and he then said, "So, what should we do? I think, seeing as she worked well with her assistant last year, we should keep them together." Apparently it took her three weeks to convince the previous principal of that. She then mentioned her other kid. "Oh, yeah, the diabetic." "Yep, he needs to eat at 12." (We've just switched to a "balanced school day", which is two long meal/recess breaks, but neither one at 12:00.) His answer? "Well, he'll have to leave the room, eat quickly, and then go back in." No shenanigins about "We can't accomodate the need, it'll be disruptive to the rest of the class."
Only 17 kids in his class, and only one is disruptive (that I know of). Last year, each teacher got 24 kids, and that meant 5 split classes. This year, they've got max 19/class, and only two split classes -- and that's 4/5 and 5/6.
Almost changed my mind about daughter. Son's old kindergarten teacher was confirming numbers for January (we finally get JK, and it starts in January.), and I told her we'd keep her in playschool rather than JK -- it's a good school, and 2:16 ratio under the daycare act is better than 1:20 under the school act.
Only thing left to do is buy him new shoes. Finally got him to try on his four pairs just before leaving for the long weekend; he's outgrown them all, even the ones that were so large we only used them for backup! And we need three pairs: indoor to leave at school, outdoor, and car (for music and other "indoor" events.) I'll pick him up in the car tonight and race right to the mall. Better check out her shoe situation as well, but I think it'll be fine.
So far, so good!
__________________
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
- Viktor E. Frankl
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