First Day of School! (week 506)

On Wednesday, we officially kicked off the new school year at Patrick Henry Elementary School @ 900 am by walking to school together as a family.  Actually, it is not a very big walk--about 2 big blocks from our front door to the front door of 1st Grade (Chris) and 4th Grade (Ben).  The school campus was packed with excited parents and kids (some crying) by the time that we got there and we saw lots of our friends--some of which we see all the time and others that we hadn't seen since last year--collecting around their new classroom doors. 

For Chris, who is Ms. Avila's class this year, it was the first time that he had a class outside the Kinder compound, and got to join the big kids on the big playground.  He brought her big red flowers (his idea) and made sure that he was the last guy in line to enter the class so that he had some time to properly greet her (and himself) to the new class.  He was very excited to get the new year going and had an awesome first day--first week of 1st Grade.  In fact, after the first day he told Mom not to come and get him so that he could spend some extra time on the playground with his friends.  The PTA bought a bunch of new table games for kids to kill time on the playground before and after school, so Chris loves to hang out.

For me, the move to 4th Grade meant that we are in the classroom hallway that is as far away from Kinder as you can get.  We have finally moved to the last row of classroom (4th and 5th Grades), and I have a new teacher Ms. Meragette who seems pretty cool.  My class has a few familiar faces--Nate Huber, Nate Gonzales, Sammy Figueroa--from my soccer team, and some faces that go all the way back to Kinder.  I am excited for the year so far and most impressed with the binders and notebooks that we put together for the year.  I recently got my SBAC test scores from 3rd Grade and got advanced proficient on everything.  After all the complaining about 3rd Grade, the endless tests, and the complaints that I didn't understand anything it seemed to work out.  Mom and dad say that they both loved school, but I don't understand how anyone can hold that opinion.  Although I complain all the time, I think it is going to be a good year and I am excited to be back on the playground playing games with my buddies.

Mom and dad are both really involved this year.  Mom is the PTA President and dad is the Foundation President, so they are always working on some email announcement or back to school night event.  I am not sure what they are up to, but I know that they are always meeting with someone about something related to the school.  I just hope is doesn't mean that Chris and I have to attend lots of late meetings in the library.

This weekend was also Labor Day Weekend! It was off to a great start until USC got smashed by Alabama in the worst season opener in school history.  A huge embarrassment to USC and the Pac12.  With the Angels in last place and the Vikings lost their starting quarterback to injury, it looks like it is going to be another disappointing sports season in the Keisler household.