Fall Fun in Fifth

As a room mom for the last time (a little sad about this but mostly relieved that I don't have to do this next year), we were tasked with planning a Fall Party for our double class.  (Teachers work in pairs in our school - one teaches Math and Science, the other Language Arts and Reading).  We had 2 hours to fill and 46 kids to entertain, so we needed something to keep them busy but still happy.  Enter the escape room.

We found The Lost Mummy online and printed it all out.  And then, we tried to solve it as adults and found it to be a bit challenging for us in our time frame, so we made a few modifications.  We were hoping it was enough.  And since we couldn't have 46 kids working on the escape room at the same time, we also decided to have a "sugar" room with bobbing for donuts and cupcake decorating.  Through in some pizza and fresh fruit and you have a 10-year-olds dream party.

We had a great time, as did the kids.  But we also learned our lesson for the Holiday Party - nothing too complicated and nothing that involves math.

Waiting to get into the Mummy room.

Hard at work solving the mystery and how to escape...

Their team did it!

Pizz and cupcakes.  I missed her decorating hers.

Bobbing for donuts.  Not as easy as it looks.

She finally got it but had powdered sugar everywhere (even her ears)!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

The First First Day

After a busy summer, it was finally time to relax.  And by relax I mean to send the kids back to school so that I could finally sit down and have some free time.  Kidding (sort of).

The day before school started, we had a meet the teacher at the Elementary school.  So Stinkerbell and I drove over and met both of her homeroom teachers and marveled at all of the gorgeous painted murals that had been done over the summer...

 Her teachers are Perez and Rovito - hence, they are the Pros.

 Her class is on Bobcat Boulevard South...

 And this mural is HUGE and so fabulous.  I do love her school.

And then it was off later that afternoon to walk MadHatters schedule.  She was very nervous about Middle School and being able to find all of her classes.  She was afraid she would get turned around and not make it in the 5 minutes allotted to pass.  After getting her schedule, we walked from class to class and then did it again.  And again.  We finally headed home when she felt like she had it down pat.  It truly helped alleviate some of her stress about the next morning.

She has a great schedule and even better teachers.

*Now that we are a couple of weeks in, she laughs about how worried she was to start Middle School*

*Yes, I laminated her schedule.  I love to laminate*

 And suddenly, it was upon us.  The morning dawned early as we tried to wipe the sleep from our eyes and make it to the bus stop on time.  Thankfully this year they pushed back the pick up time by 20 minutes, so we get a bit of extra sleep.  Stinkerbell is my sleeper and no matter what time you put her to bed the night before if you wake her before 8, she is going to be a bit groggy.

She was dressed and ready for her first first day in the U.S.  I say it is the first first day because we moved back last year over 2 months after school had started.  Technically they had the first day, but it wasn't when everyone else did.  So this is the first one at a U.S. school according to my logic :)

 Outfit and hair by Stinkerbell herself.

 And I had to get one of them together - it is tradition after all.  But MadHatter doesn't start school until over an hour after Stinkerbell starts, so she went with us to the bus stop and then had some time to kill.

 Off she went.

 Too cool to have the picture taken without attitude :)

I dropped MadHatter that first morning instead of adding to her anxiety by making her also brave the bus.  It was the last time I drove her.  We left the house at 8:30.  We live less than 3 miles from school.  I dropped her at the front gate of school at 9:17.  47 minutes to go 2.7 miles.  Never again.

They both came home bursting with excitement and stories of their first day.  They both had a fabulous day and loved being back in the swing of things.  Stinkerbell is very excited to be the Big Kid at school, and MadHatter found that being the little kid didn't make much difference.  And they both came home saying that they made new friends already!  Win, win, win.

That's a Wrap

We started the school year in Germany and were so blessed to do so.  The girls got time to say a proper goodbye to their friends and their expat lives (for a while anyway) and embark, yet again, on a new adventure.  They entered school as the new kids about 3 months after the start of the year (difficult at best) and to complicate it further, they were thrown into an entirely new way of teaching and learning (hello tests and grading).  They took it all in stride and, though it was not without struggle and heartache, they came out the other side with a newfound confidence in their abilities.  Thank you for a wonderful year PTE! 

First Day of 5th and 4th grades.

Last day!

Movin' on up

I don't have many words that haven't been said a million times before about how proud we are of this one for all of her hard work, her adaptability and her unwavering good attitude when it comes to school (and actually, life in general).  We asked a lot of her during her 6 years of elementary school and not just academically.  We tasked her with packing up everything she owned, leaving her friends and familiarity behind her and then asked her to start anew.  We did this not only once, but four times.  In four different countries.  On three continents.  That is a lot for anyone to handle, much less someone that is barely into her double digits, and she handled it all with grace.  I am so impossibly in awe of the young woman she is becoming and know that her future is wide open.  Congratulations MadHatter on conquering Elementary School.

Watch out Middle School, here she comes!

At home and outside of school before the ceremony.

She was recognized for being Student of the Month!

Shaking the Mayor's hand.

Her class.

The slide she made for the show.  It's her first day of Kindergarten in Chile and one of her last days of 5th grade in Germany.

1st day of school - again

Finally, the girls are in school.  You would have thought it would be an easy process since it's public and the neighborhood school.  But nothing is ever that easy, is it?

We moved into our house on the 12th, which was a Friday.  First thing Monday morning, Nana, the girls and I were in the office of their new school.  I had all of the forms and documentation needed to enroll them in my hands.  Not so fast!  First, we have something called School Choice here in Broward County.  This means that even though you have a school assigned to you if you would prefer to have your children attend a different school you can apply, and if they have space at your preferred school, you are enrolled there.  It did not matter that we wanted the girls to go to their assigned elementary school, we still had to fill out the forms stating this.  But first, they needed ID #s.  Request forms turned in while standing at the front desk we had nothing left to do except wait for the email that would give us their numbers so we could fill out School Choice paperwork.

Late in the afternoon on Wednesday, we got the email with their ID #s.  Paperwork was filled out immediately but there was another snag - we had to mail them in!  Snail mail - no emailing the forms, no faxing, not even able to take them to the office - they had to arrive by USPS.  So first thing Thursday morning the paperwork went out.  And then we waited.  Again.

I finally got an email from the school district on Tuesday with the confirmation that Stinkerbell would be assigned to our neighborhood school.  But somehow MadHatters was missing.  Seems that they forgot to tell me that you had to put both kids on the paperwork, but each child still needed to send in a copy.  It is now Wednesday, and by some miracle, MadHatters paperwork came through late in the afternoon.  The girls were finally enrolled in school.  And it only took us 10 days!

No matter that it was Thursday already - they had a school - they had teachers - they were going.  I dropped them off, looking none too thrilled to be doing this again...  

I don't blame them, this is MadHatter's 4th and Stinkerbell's 3rd new school in 6 years. That's a lot of upheavals and making new friends, and they aren't even out of elementary yet.  They are just hoping we can stay awhile this time.  So am I girls, so am I.