First Day of 3rd Grade

I started teaching in my district on Tuesday but the girls' district didn't start school until today. I teach third grade and have two third graders at home. Since our districts use the same math program I'll see the same math homework coming home that I am also sending out on my end. This should be an interesting year.

Poor girls - when you hit third grade and have a sister to help you find your class you get dropped off in the car lane rather than walked to the classroom door, even on the first day of school! I did take a photo though so I must get some parental points for that, right? (Click on the photo for a larger version.)

Last night I had them decide what to wear for the first day of school. Lydia first picked out a summer shirt with spaghetti straps. No. Then she came in wearing a tank top that would show her belly if she put her arms up at all. No. Drat! Finally, she settled on this t-shirt. Two of the three shirts she tried out were Lalie's. It seems that to Lydia everything of Lalie's is always better than whatever Lydia has. But, they were both happy so that makes me happy. :-)

Their school asks for so many school supplies that I couldn't even fit them all into their backpacks the first day. They had to hold their lunches and take more supplies tomorrow. Crazy. It looks like the next two grade level lists are even worse.

They enjoyed their first day of third grade. They were both a little nervous but excited. This year they get to have music consistently for the first time so that is a big plus as they both love music. They have some new iPods that somehow they use and Lydia said she got to play the drums today. Lalie's teacher apparently cried a bit when telling her class she will be absent a fair amount this year for chemo treatments and surgery for breast cancer. Lalie was prepped for it because her teacher has a cool blog she started this summer which even showed her shaving her hair and having a wig made of her own hair before losing it to chemo. It looks amazing! Lydia told stories at dinner of how they learned to close their hallway lockers a certain way so as to avoid the slamming noise (good plan!) and how their class is so good at crossing their arms and giving their teacher attention right away - nice! Both school and daycare noticed how much Lydia's English has improved over the summer.