School Update

Week 3 is in the books and we are chugging along!  The girls are so happy at school, and have made so many friends.  During week 3, dance practice and soccer practice started!  Both practices are right at school, so I am able to work in my classroom while they enjoy those after school activities.  They are especially excited about dance, and LOVE their teacher.  Both girls have been correcting Chris and I's posture already.
I think school at this point is mostly review for Gianna, so right now her favorite class is Latin.  She takes it twice a week.  I think she likes it so much because it is brand new and exciting for her.  Her Latin teacher is so wonderful, and comes up with all these cute little songs to help them remember certain words.  The Latin teacher also goes down to the pre-k once a week, so Elia has learned 2 words and thinks she is the coolest.  It is so cute to hear her say Salve or Salvete!
This school is very small- only one class per grade, so it has allowed me to see them many times a day!  My classroom is right next to the cafeteria, so I usually see them walking to lunch.  Their classrooms are right next to each other, and also on the way to PE, so I often see them when I take my class their way.  Elia's recess time overlaps with my 3rd graders recess time, so when I go to pick up my class from recess, there is little Elia running towards me to give me a hug and say hello!  The first day of school when I started to take my class back to the building she started crying because she thought I was going to stay out there with her!  She has since learned that I can't always be there with her.  I pick my students up at noon, and the whole school stops what they are doing at noon and prays the Angelus.  So she will come over, say the Angelus with my class, gives me a hug, and then runs off to play with her friends.
My students also have taken to Gianna and Elia.  They think its pretty cool I have kids at this school and I talk about them all the time so they are always saying hi to the girls and trying to get on my good side by being nice to them.  :)  What else could a working mom ask for?
I am still adjusting to this new curriculum and there are still a lot of late nights!  The commute isn't so bad with the HOV lane, but there was one day this week it took us 50 minutes to get there.  It is really motivating me to move out of our house and move closer!  Definitely thinking about putting our house up for sale in the early spring.
Last night, Chris and I went to the parent teacher social.  It was at a beautiful house in Highland Park.  It started at 7, and I thought maybe we would be there for an hour or so because I was worried it might be awkward and parents might turn this time into a conference- "so how is my child doing in your class?" kind of situation.  We ended up staying until 11, mostly because I was trying to introduce Chris to co-workers as we were leaving, and everyone wanted to talk to him about Manila and such.  Also, I talked with quite a few parents who were just fun, and wanted to know more about me and didn't even bring their children up! There is one social per semester.  Such a positive experience and fun evening.
And lastly, there is this great reading competition that Gianna is getting into.  It goes by non- homework reading minutes.  G is required to read 15 minutes each night for homework, so any minutes after that go toward the competition.  So in 3 weeks, she has racked up over 100 extra minutes for the competition.  She loves reading, and Elia loves listening to her read.

With the Carse kiddos last weekend.