Good Gracious ~ 3rd Grade Already?!!

Father Time --- please take a break and slow down!

The new school year is now in session and our big girl is ready to take on the challenges of 3rd Grade.  This last week has been filled with lots of preparations:  finding a cool backpack online (with a matching lunch box, of course), browsing the "Back to School" aisles of Target to buy supplies for her new teacher as well as Kristina, and find that special outfit to wear on the first day.

Last night's preparations started out with such good intentions:  prepping lunch ahead of time, setting out the morning's clothes so no last minute wardrobe changes, and getting to bed super early.  Got 2 out of 3 ---- this girl tossed and turned for over 90 minutes before falling into a deep slumber.

This is how Kristina preps her clothes the night before!

My sleeping angel will wake up a 3rd Grader!

 


Lunch was ready to go:  Chicken noodle soup - her favorite!
 

Upon waking up in the morning, this is our ritual for 5 minutes...she hugs me tight...I never want to let go.  I will do it as long as I can have her sit on my lap!

Knowing that Kristina is a talker in class and quite distractible, I made sure she had a good, healthy breakfast and took all her vitamins...staying away from anything sugary.  Everything went like clock-work on Day 1 and we made it out the door on time!

Ready to walk to school!

Just as we were walking out the front door, Adam and his family were walking to school, too!  Adam and Kristina were in the same 2nd Grade Class and made their First Holy Communion together.

Our little girl

At the point where she'd rather walk with friends vs. hold onto mom and dad's hands...

Friends reunited after summer break!

Third Grade Girlfriends:
(L->R) Gabrielle, Casey, Maya, Avery and Kristina

As much as she was looking forward to seeing her friends today, Kristina was really looking forward to seeing her 2nd Grade Teacher, Mrs. Ro, again.  She missed her and wrote her a notecard over the weekend telling her so.

Mrs. Ro, 2nd Grade Teacher, greets all the students and asks them what they did over the summer.  Kristina responded "I went to Florida!"

Mrs. Ro writes each student's name up on the board indicating which Classroom they are to go to.  Kristina heads to Room 11.  Hmmmmm, wonder who the teacher will be!

The Anticipation....

When we learned that Kristina was going to be in Mrs. Temple's class, I nearly cried.  I was overjoyed!  We met Mrs. Temple last year at the school's Open House and really hit it off.  Mrs. Temple was born in the Bronx (one of my peeps!) and is a huge NY Yankees fan.  But more importantly and seriously, she is so down to earth and very "team" oriented with parents.  She's a hands-on teacher who gets the kids involved in lots of projects (vs. pencil-to-paper in silence, like other teachers), believes in physical activity as well as mental activity (even requested that each child bring a mitt from home as she gets them out there every week to play baseball), makes sure that they pay homage to the US Flag every morning (not all teachers do, unfortunately), and made it known that our children will be writing in cursive throughout the year. :)

Arriving at Mrs. Temple's Classroom

Assigned to the desk right up front...someone knows our little social butterfly already!

Awww, saying good-bye and not too big to get a bear hug!  Pretty sure we won't see this in 4th Grade...

I said a prayer last night just hoping that no matter what teacher Kristina would be assigned to, that it would be the one who would help guide our daughter on the path to liking to read (which she doesn't like to do, because it's difficult for her).  Jon and I met with Mrs. Temple briefly after school and she was so approachable stating "I've been doing this a long time [>14 years].  I'll keep an eye on her and let you know how she's doing."   {Insert Happy Dance!!!}

Best wishes, sweetheart ~
it's going to be a wonderful year!  xoxo