Kindergarten!

Today was the big day--the beginning of Evan's formal education in the Wachusett Regional School District! To say that he has been excited would be an understatement. Other than a brief outfit snafu (new track pants were too big), he showed no sign of nerves which certainly helped the nerves of the parents. The minute that breakfast was complete, he wanted to leave for school, but he had to wait an hour until the school opened.

At 8:30 AM, we headed for the end of the street where we would meet the neighborhood friends to walk to the "busy street," aka Route 31. There was plenty of time to get some first day of school shots with the friends.

















Then, it was off to meet the walking line that would greet us with a crossing guard at Route 31. The walking line contains at least 30 kids and their parents, younger siblings, and dogs. When the walking line leaves Route 31 for the side street that takes us to the school, the kids all broke loose from the line and ran to the school.
















We caught up with Evan in the throngs of children and parents waiting for the doors to open at 8:50 AM. What an operation with the buses, walkers, and drop-offs!


Evan tried to say goodbye to us at the door and head directly to his classroom with his older friends, and I had to chase him down at the stairs to bring him to the cafeteria where the kindergarteners were gathering. He was a little shy at first, but he quickly caught up with his girlfriends from ChildWorks, Jasira and Holly, and gained a new girlfriend, Danielle. All was fine at that point.

















Then, the ChildWorks friends waited for the rest of the kindergarteners to arrive so that their teacher, Ms. Benoit, would lead them to their classroom.
















At this point, the parents had to separate from the children. As you can see in the video, Evan was eager to get started with the business of kindergarten. The goodbyes weren't too traumatic for many of the kids and more traumatic for many of the parents, but I was happy to have the emotions under control. How teary could I get with Evan's being that excited.



It was a long day waiting to pick up Evan. It seemed like he was gone such a long time. Of course, the details of the day have been coming in dribs and drabs. There will surely be a post later next week describing kindergarten in more detail, but for now here are some highlights:

• Evan used a urinal for the first time in the boys room.
• There was a fire drill.
• The cafeteria served Indian food for lunch (doubtful), and Evan wished he had money to buy lunch.
• Evan had to save a girl from soccer camp from some other boys.
• Evan will get a school library card once he learns some rules.
• There is no nap only quiet time to do puzzles.
• His favorite thing was coloring.

The information sent home for the parents details a very structured day with plenty of time for play and learning. He already has a home project assigned that is due at the end of the month. As you can see, he has plenty of room for any homework assignments, and possibly even Liam, in his big new backpack. We might need to save the LL Bean backpack for later and get a smaller one.