Back in Business

I went back for teacher inservice days, oh, it seems like a month ago. Nick started shortly thereafter. Nathan officially began his year in kindergarten. Michael waltzed right into his toddler class. My students came through my door yesterday morning. The Cobb Family is in full swing for the 2008 - 2009 school year.

My overall impression of my students is that this is going to be a nice year. They seem like happy little creatures, and they're fairly eager to please. I love the age of fourth graders. It is the perfect intermission between childhood and the opinionated teenage years.

Nathan LOVES kindergarten. Curious George runs away and escapes to various locations in the school and the class must find him based upon hidden clues. It's a clever way for the children to learn the layout and personnel of the school. Hopefully the running-away part isn't emphasized too much! :) We get daily play-by-plays of his days. I know this might seem shocking, but the first words that he learned from his Spanish class were "silencio, por favor." Twenty-some-odd five year olds? I can't imagine why those were the words of the day! HA!

After his first day, he went into great detail about what they did. He told us about a pesky kid who was mean to him (and rightfully so, I think the kid was pretty harsh with his words), and all about the fun things they did. I asked him to tell me about his most favorite part of the day. I was thinking that it would be something monumental like circle time, a craft, his magnetic center name tags, or a story. He pondered for a moment and then his eyes lit up with a shiver of his head. In a shy, coy little voice, he said, "The cafeteria had CHOICE of milks. I could get regular milk or CHOCOLATE milk!" And that isn't even part of the tuition! He's such a precious little piece of art. I love him and Michael with every part of my existence. They have begun their new chapters in his life filled with wonder, excitement, and the outlook that life is amazing and worthy of savoring.