Back-to-School came after a whirlwind three weeks for us. We had the tail end of summer camps, hosted family, a birthday party, quick trip to Grandma’s, and then came right back for Open House.

In between the extra planning for fall sports, we did the school supply shopping on the down low as well as the Costco run, the consignment sale, the haircut appointments, etc. It’s a To-Do List person’s dream.

Throughout the summer, my kids tag-teamed feeling anxious about first grade; whether it was about their own readiness or missing their teachers from last year. They’d go through spurts of “needing” to practice their reading or doing their workbooks. Thus started the cycle of reassurance: You aren’t expected to know everything immediately. Your teachers would not have placed you in first grade if they didn’t think you were ready. If you think you need help, just ask.

The morning of Open House, the girls walked into school like it was old hat. This is their third year at our elementary school. After this year, they will have officially attended a single school longer than I ever did. (My longest stretch was 2 years and maybe 7 months in one place.)

My girls are in separate classrooms again this year. Kudos to their previous Kindergarten teachers for really good pairings. My high-energy, voted most talkative twin is in class with a super nice, young teacher who can keep up. My teacher’s pet, highly particular twin has a veteran teacher who loves disco balls as much as she does. Their classrooms are right next to each other, and every morning they pretty much go on a hug tour of friends and teachers down their hallway.

I also noticed that our teachers this year were beyond prepared. All families had a folder with all of the communications instructions, class rules and schedules, paperwork and even a little get-to-know-you sheet about the teacher. They also started parent text chains and Monday newsletters about that week’s curriculum.

Our school is Title I, so a large percentage of our families are low-income. This also means that a lot of our student population could be transient, food insecure, or have chronic absences that put students further behind when it comes to achievement. In the last two years, they’ve rolled out a number of programs to get kids to class, now including free breakfast and lunch. We have a lot of positive behavior reward incentives and also received a very cool arts immersion grant for this year. These are the types of programs I love because it shows the school’s dedication to its students and community. In addition, the school has a lot of EIP staff, instructional support, ESOL and SLPs.

This ain’t Kindy-garten…

I can already tell the shift from Kindergarten to First grade, not like it’s a huge surprise. The girls are bringing home graded worksheets instead of coloring sheets. Our school is a no-homework school however, we will be getting optional homework each month to do for extra practice.

There have also been shifts in discipline. If a student misbehaves or makes a red choice, they get a reflection sheet and a visit to the counselor. Z said that there was some misbehaving yesterday and the whole class got 3 minutes off of recess. Oh, the drama…. This has resonated with the girls. They are now very aware of their behavior, especially as it relates to their reward points, and they seem to be doing a better job of reading the room.

Overall, my kids are really excited to go to school and have been much more independent in their routine. Z wanted to buy stickers so she could share with her whole class. A showed me all of her reward points and the end-of-the-week treasure she chose was to have lunch with her teacher. So sweet. And on top of the good vibes, they also felt good about their latest round of reading and math testing.

So dare I say it? It’s been a pretty good two weeks.