Alex's first month of school has passed fairly smoothly. He's in the same multi-age class as last year, with the same teachers and many of the same kids. (The kindergartners are new but most of the first graders were together last year.) We knew a few of the younger friends already so that helped even more. I'm happy that the three teachers know Alex and all of his many quirks - it cut down on the learning curve tremendously.
The teachers explained to the first graders that now they were the older friends and with seniority came responsibility. (It cracks me up that first graders are the older, more seasoned mentors; at least it did until I saw some kindergartners at After School Care. They look so tiny and young! I can't believe that was Alex just a year ago.) The older friends are teaching the younger friends class songs, the rules and where things are in the school. The teachers told them that they were to set the example and that they would have to follow the rules more carefully since they already knew them. You could almost see Alex's chest swell out with pride as he talked about helping the "younger friends".
Four weeks in and things are going well. He's only been denied a star on his card at After School Care one day. When I asked the counselor what happened, she consulted the log book and reported that he bothered a girl. That seemed vague, so I asked Alex about it. Of course, he had a much more detailed tale. Alex, Augustus, Jack and Patricia were playing some sort of zombie-princess-medieval game. (The point of things was unclear, even for the players apparently.) Augustus was the king, Jack was a prince and Patricia was the princess. Alex couldn't remember if he was a zombie or a troll. Either way, he was attacking the princess and the others were defending her from the monster. Patricia seemed to be a willing participant but something went awry and the authorities entered the fray. It's possible that Patricia just looks too sweet to be voluntarily involved in something like this. Alex didn't seem worried and it hasn't happened again. I've got my fingers crossed.
A couple of weeks in, homework started. I have to say, first grade homework is much harder than kindergarten homework. I may be totally out of my depth before elementary school is over, if it continues at this pace. There are usually 3 tasks for homework: take-home readers, spelling words and math. Take-home readers are small books that Alex works on at school as well and he usually zips right through them. He's doing much better with his reading, especially when he takes his time and actually reads what's there instead of guessing what it should be.
Spelling words? No problem. The first two sets have been so easy that he's spelled them correctly the first day. (I do expect them to get harder.) He had his first spelling test last Friday. I didn't think to discuss what that would be like ahead of time. He seemed surprised that his teacher only asked them to write the words down once. He thought that was a piece of cake. I guess he expected something more demanding - writing the words two or three times, a speed round - I'm not sure. The only thing he had trouble with was getting his b's and d's backwards.
Math homework? Also not a problem, at least for Alex. I was flummoxed on the very first night. I couldn't even get my head wrapped around what the questions meant. When I read them aloud with Alex he said he knew just what to do. I'm so glad because I was terribly unhelpful. In high school Algebra 2 I Ms. Gleason made me promise that I would never again voluntarily attend a math class. (The idea was not to torture another teacher or myself but I had never voluntarily attended any math class BEFORE the 11th grade! They were all attended under duress.) After the first night I did okay. Then came this week's homework. It involved polygons. What?! What are polygons? I asked Alex, and he replied, "You should know this stuff," a little smugly I might add. That's just wonderful. Art said it was a many-sided shape but that I could look it up if it made me feel better. I decided not to do so. My head's already too full of stuff to try to jam in geometry trivia. Last night Alex drew lines of symmetry to make two equal halves of shapes. I'm pretty sure I didn't do that in the first grade. I don't know if I even did that in high school geometry - probably not.
Our other challenge this month has been sitting still. The summer break was so long because of school constructions and I think it's been difficult for everyone to get back into their routine and sit calmly. When I picked up Alex yesterday, his teacher was parked next to me and came over to talk. First she told me that Alex was supposed to explain polygons to me, which he did. Then she mentioned that Alex had trouble sitting during instruction time and that she'd told him she might have to sit on him. I told her we'd talk about it at home. As we drove out I told him he had to work on it, or he might get sat on.
Alex: "I think that's just a saying."
Me: "Really?"
Alex: "Yeah, if she meant it she'd have done it by now."
I guess he's heard this before. That guess was confirmed later in the evening when he mentioned gym class. He liked the game they played then mentioned in passing that their teacher took them down to the gym for class and told the P.E. teacher to run some of Alex's energy out. Maybe we should keep him awake longer at night! So 17 days down, 163 to go. Keep your fingers crossed.
LATE BREAKING NEWS: I should have known that everything I wrote this afternoon was going to jinx the kid. Today was his the first "3rd Anthill" day of the year. At least it took almost a three weeks of school. Alex reportedly talked during instruction time, didn't sing when he was supposed to and talked back to the teacher. He said that the talking back was when the teacher asked if he knew what his third strike meant, and he said, "Yeah, the third anthill." I'm guessing the tone was the problem, not the words. Tonight was no TV or computer time. I made him walk with me, too, which he considers torture. Well, tomorrow is another day.
