First Day of School, Texas Edition

Well, Eleanor started school this morning at her new, Texas school.  She was nervous and excited both, and the reception from the kids was kind of incredible.

First thing, the principal saw us in the office and exclaimed, “Is this our new first grader?!”  Reportedly, only a few minutes earlier a first grade kid had asked him when “the new kid” was going to arrive.  He showed us into the cafeteria, where the kids collect in class groups in the morning.  The kids in her new classroom were super friendly, introducing themselves and trying to tell her how things work and asking her questions.  At one point there was a very brief lull in the chatter and I heard one little girl say, “well, she’s kind of cute.”  Then another one agreed and another one agreed and it was a crack up.  One of the girls asked, “are you friendly?”  Eleanor was silent, as she was through most of this.  Mostly, the kids and I talked about Eleanor while she just sat there smiling a little nervous smile.  I established that she was indeed friendly, but that sometimes she is shy and it takes a while for her to talk.  A girl proposed friendship, an offer which Eleanor immediately accepted (one of the only things she said so far) and then the girl exclaimed, “Well, you are friendly.” 

I’m going back for lunch today, but I think she’ll have a positive (if overwhelming) day. 

I am optimistic about the whole experience.  The school looks and feels a lot like our school back home = older, kind of beat up, yet well loved.  There are a few significant differences, not the least of which being the class size.  We’ve moved from a 27 student classroom in Oregon, to a 17 student classroom in Texas.  That’s a difference!   It is confusing to me, in fact, the differences I’m seeing.  They have smaller class sizes with a similar overall student body population AND a smaller building (this has required the addition of mobile buildings to keep the class sizes small, so, they're going out of there way to keep class sizes small).  They have more of everything.  They have science experiments, great social studies discussions (it is black history month, and you can tell that here), music, PE, real art, library, computer lab, and Spanish ... all at least once a week (more than once a week for some of them).  Wha?!?!  Fingers crossed that all will continue so positively.