Meet the Teacher Night

This is a before and after for J's hair. The first one was on Sunday (wearing his Star Trek shirt he made) and the other one was on Thursday (at one of the trains, where he liked Lincoln's arm coming out of the sculpture). He looks like two different people! Back-to-School haircut for Meet the Teacher Night.

And that is our topic for the evening. MtT night, which was Thursday. B has a male teacher this year named Mr. Yanez. B will still be switching back and forth a lot in Spanish and English between her homeroom teacher and the other 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Castillo, who is a long-term sub. She is subbing for a teacher who is coming from Mexico, who's papers got delayed (apparently with a lot of others who were coming on a work Visa to the US.) Mr. Yanez is also from Mexico, but has been here since he was in 7th grade. B has a new principal, the vice principal from last year.

J has a teacher he had for part of the day in 3rd grade: Mrs. Villareal. This year there is only one teacher for the 5th grade, 28 kids in a class. I think that will be fine. Big 'ol class, but two classes last year was sort of weird.

The kids' MtT times were overlapping, so the family split. I went with J over to his school, and then went to B's school with J. J will be in the oldest grade in his school, 5th grade. His classroom has a window looking out the front of the building where I'll be picking him up. He's very close to the office----I have many hopes and prayers about him not being in there this year. J has a new principal and a new associate principal (what happened to "Vice"?). I shook the hand of the principal and introduced myself, and she knew I went to the Biligual conference in Phoenix! Kinda scary, since I only heard her name a few days ago. My reputation precedes me? I talked to the VIPS (volunteers) coordinator and will call and get an appointment with him on Tuesday. I wanted to get my idea going about the writing club. It was a quick in and out over there. Mrs. Villareal said, "If you have any questions, we can set up a conference." Uh . . . okay . . . Bye!

We walked betweeen the two schools in about 8 minutes. In. the. heat. It gave me a headache from dehydration! L went with B to her class, and met Mr. Yanez, who's new to this school. We picked up the lunch calendar---oh joy! I use that thing religiously with the kids. I only let them mark about a week at a time, but they mark which days they will buy lunch and I know I have to pack lunches the other days. We got some free school supplies in B's class---all those donated supplies have to go somewhere, and it's to this school, for one. So now I need to go buy the rest of the list. Both kids cannot wait to do that shopping.

After the Meeting of Teachers, we had a supper at the park across the street. It was hot dogs (my favorite! not!) and watermelon (a redeeming feature). Larry left to go to a Boy Scout meeting, so I mingled and talked to teachers and families I knew. I learned that my little student D (from Sonshine School last year with me) will have the teacher J and B had in Kinder. I learned that the teachers will not have Block time at j's school, so maybe there will not be two and 3 classes of kids in one specials class at a time. I learned there are 600 kids at J's school, most are from 3rd-5th (next year they transition to K-5, as will B's school, so she'll stay where she is). I learned that B's computer teacher will not be doing that at all but will be a pre-K teacher's aid.

But then I heard a child crying, and it was my J. (he was quite upset and loud in his pain!) Someone was giving him ice for his ear. He got stung by some sort of wasp. I pulled the stinger out, and another parent suggested I talk to the school nurse. Duh! Why didn't I think of that! She was able to take us over to the school and put baking soda on it and put the ice in a little plastic bag. We made a quick exit and come on home. (But we had to walk in the heat back to my car at the other school, and it. was. so. hot.) I gave J some Benadryl, and it seemed to swell less. But even today it's red and swollen. I have a picture on the camera still and may add it later! I wondered if it need some other care, but it does not hurt him, he says.

All in all, it was a good night for the family, exceptfor the wasp thing.