Back to School

The first day of school this year was Tuesday, August 28. The boys all got new shoes and new backpacks for school. The day before, we attended school orientation all day for the different grades and classes they would be attending this year, and that evening we filled their backpacks with all their school supplies. They were all excited to start school and woke up early on Tuesday morning because they couldn't contain their nervous excitement.

Kanyon is a big Kindergartener now! He was so glad to finally be going to the same school as his bigger brothers. His teacher is Mrs. Foote, and he was so happy to know that! He already knew Mrs. Foote, and really likes having her as his teacher. He goes to school the first half of the day. I take him to school with me in the morning, and then I pick him up at my lunch break, take him to lunch, and drop him off at daycare where Josh picks him up in the afternoons. Kanyon really struggles with change, and had difficulties the first few weeks of school with his new schedule. He had several meltdowns due to his frustrations, but he does like school and has had fun at recess and is slowly making more friends and is doing better at daycare now.

Micah is in the 3rd grade. I put him and Jonah in the same class again this year, because it makes it so much easier for me to be able to volunteer in just one classroom since I'm working full-time and have less time to offer. He chose to wear his new shirt from our trip to Glacier National Park for the first day of school! And he's maintained his mohawk hairstyle to help others discern between which twin he is!

 

Jonah is also in the 3rd grade. The twins' teacher this year is Mr. Lund. Jonah & Micah have never had a male teacher before, but they really like him, and I'm so glad! For the first time, Jonah & Micah both chose to have lace-up shoes for school. Jonah chose the color blue to help people know which twin he is! He also chose to wear his new Glacier t-shirt for the first day of school.

Ammon is now a 7th grader, which makes him an upper classman at the Middle School...I can hardly believe how quickly time passes. He loves his new schedule--he has many of the same teachers he had last year, so he's already familiar with their classrooms and teaching styles, but he also has 2 new teachers, so it's different than his 6th grade schedule. He attends 7 classes daily and gets his own locker again, and is really enjoying school thus far this year! 

I was the only one who wasn't excited to start school...I was still trying to recover from my long (and exhausting) vacation to Utah! My schedule has changed this year--instead of playing piano for the H.S. show choir two hours per week, I was supposed to be teaching a 6th grade vocal & instrumental class. But the week before school began, I learned that that was no longer going to happen due to scheduling conflicts. So I used my two extra hours per week helping out in the PM Kindergarten classroom, which I've really enjoyed. They just hired a para to assist in that classroom, so now my schedule is changing again. The first four weeks of school were extremely difficult because we were short on staff, so everyone was taking on added responsibilities, and the smoke was so bad outside due to local forest fires, so we had indoor recess every day, and it made all the kids (& teachers) go antsy-crazy! But the past two weeks, the smoke finally dissipated, and the school is now fully staffed, so my job as the elementary music teacher has greatly improved. I feel like I'm finally getting in the groove and I'm enjoying working at the school once again.