Samantha is happy to be back at school as a first grader!
Here's Charlotte and Samantha having a hula hooping contest before the morning bell rings.
These two started to develop a crowd around them watching to see who would drop the hula hoop first.
They went until the bell rang and called it a tie!
Thatcher and I love joining Samantha for lunch. This particular day was Pizza Friday!
Besides getting to be on a bigger playground in first grade, another perk is getting to sit wherever you want during lunch.
This is where some of the first grade girls like to eat. I was told, no boys allowed. Fine with me.
Thatcher was feeling a little unwelcome by the girls and headed over to where the boys eat.
Friday is also $1 ice cream day, a fundraiser, of course. So, Fridays begin with cinnamon rolls then pizza and then ice cream. I will say, the cinnamon rolls and pizza are whole-wheat so they are kinda healthy, kind of….
Samantha chose to do the Dance and Drama after-school class for fall quarter.
Steven Lovelace of Santa Barbara Dance Arts is the Peabody dance teacher who does an amazing job with the kids.
Samantha's buddy Claire is also in the class.
Off to a good start with reading and spelling.
Pretty water color butterfly art.
We are so happy with Samantha's teachers this year. Every single worksheet she turns in comes back with feedback, even if it is just a "good!" or a star, it's nice to know they are taking the time to acknowledge her work. They even caught that she spelled her name wrong ;)
Those riddles were left blank because mom and dad couldn't figure out with they were asking for ;)
Last year in Kindergarten we were notified that Samantha's artwork was chosen for the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum art show by Peabody's ceramics teacher, Mrs. Pinner. The show was this past weekend and we couldn't have been more proud of Samantha.
Only 10 students from each of the city schools were picked.
"Snails on a Leaf"
So proud of our first grader! It is going to be a great year!
And then there is Thatcher…. This note made me laugh. It is typical Thatcher. I know that he is a bit wild at preschool. His class is very boy-heavy and there are a group of them that are notorious for just being boys all. day. long. I am sure it is exhausting for the preschool teachers. Hey, that is why I am not one ;)
One thing that we have noticed so far this year is the art work he is bringing home. He rarely brought any home last year and when I asked Ms. Katie she said honestly he never would sit down and focus long enough to do any. So as you can see, a definite improvement! We can actually tell this is a rainbow!
"Waffles"
"A Roller Coaster"
I snuck up on him at lunch and snapped this picture.
You can see from Ms. Laurie's lunch bench, there are 7 boys and just 3 girls.
Thankfully this little lady, Jessie, has also contributed to calming our little guy down. The teachers have all said he is very protective and sweet to her.
Another big milestone, Thatcher can spell his name. Ask him next time you see him, he will be happy to tell you ;) I am sure he would have been able to do this sooner but I have to cut him some slack as it isn't the easiest name to spell. We found ourselves spelling it wrong when we kept having him repeat the letters to us. "T-H-A-T-C-H-E-R….T-C-A-T-H-E-R…no wait…T-H-A-T-C-H-E-R….T-C-A..."and so on and so on. Seriously, spell his name over and over and you will get it mixed up too. Or else we just need to go back to preschool.
Here's Thatcher singing some preschool songs and of course, spelling his name.
