Back to School

Well, actually I guess it's back to school for Jaden and the beginning of school for kindergartener Titus! Last week we got word that Jaden had been picked (lottery style) to fill a spot in the 3rd grade class at Bullard Talent School. For those who aren't familiar, Bullard Talent is a magnet school that buses kids in from all over Fresno to attend a program where "The Arts ARE Academic" (that's the school motto). In Jaden's grade, they get pulled out of class 2 days a week for keyboarding, 2 days a week for rhythym/music class, and 4 days a week for performing arts electives (drama, etc.). That's in addition to math computer lab 2 times a week and library once a week. It's no wonder his teacher told us at Back to School Night, "We do not have any time for holiday or birthday parties in this class. My time is very limited."

Titus had made the lottery for kindergarten at Bullard Talent last spring. In kindergarten, he gets 2 days a week of keyboarding and 1 day/week of music, in addition to 2 days/week of math computer lab. Titus's teacher spent last year writing curriculum for "the arts program" in Fresno Unified; Her husband is the music teacher at Bullard Talent. She has many years of teaching experience, but this is her first year teaching kindergarten...Pray for her!

First Day of School (Wearing their new school shirts):



Titus was told to bring a bear to the first day of kindergarten (he chose the bear Auntie Lydia hand-made):



An excited 5-year-old:



Mrs. Canfield:



The gang dropping Titus off at kindergarten:




I wanted to get pic's of Jaden with his teacher too, but I got the door shut in my face as his busy teacher said, "I'm shutting the door now". In other words, stop hovering and let me start doing my job! We'll have to see how her personality does with Jaden. He was upset the 3rd day of school because he got his "card pulled" (the first discipline step) because he didn't do his homework that she gave out the 2nd day of school. I didn't even think to check because I thought she had said there would be no homework the first week of school, but apparently that was the first DAY of school. OOPS! But she also told us parents that we are NOT to caudle our children anymore (i.e if they forget to put their homework in their backpack, let them face the consequences for it rather than rescuing them from penalty). It just seems so harsh for an 8-year-old, but I bet Jaden will not "forget" about his homework anymore. So, Jaden spent about 3 hours after school and after dinner doing what was supposed to be an hour's worth of homework (1/2 hour/day she said). I'm thinking we may not do sports this semester....Hmmmmm.....