O'Neal Happenings: Boys 1st day of School

Since I have been horrible at blogging lately, I have a lot to catch you up on, including the boys first day of school. It's funny how the more they attend school, the more excited they are about it starting. They could hardly wait for school to start. I guess two months away from all your friends will do that to you.

Both boys were up, dressed, had eaten and were playing video games by the time Chris and I got up. Does that tell you how excited they were?!?! We headed off to school and went on in to find their classes. Okay, we actually knew where their classes were so it was just really a matter of getting settled.

Liam has Mrs. Young, who happened to be Declan's 2nd grade teacher, how convenient! He was excited to be in her class although it meant not being with either of his best friends. Which I found out is a big deal because he doesn't get to see them at recess so he doesn't get to spend much time with them. Anyway, he does have a couple kids in his class that he knows so he is okay with that. And his classroom is the only 2nd grade classroom with a promethean board - a state of the art, interactive teaching board. It is amazing. The kids love it and it is a great teaching tool for the teachers. Mrs. Young said that Liam is an amazing child (which we already knew!!). She said he is excited about learning and so sweet. She said it is great to see the differences between Declan and Liam.

Declan has Mrs. Dreyer, who happened to also be his third grade teacher. He was so excited to be back in his class and I am too! She is a great teacher and he did great in her class in third grade (straight A's). She teaches in a fun way so that they don't realize that they are actually learning. He switches teachers for reading, language arts & social studies and the teacher he has used to be the reading specialist for the school so she definitely knows how to teach about reading in a way that kids enjoy. His classroom is in a portable this year (meaning it is in a double-wide trailer). There are pros & cons to them being in the "learning cottage" as they call them but as long as they are learning, that is all that matters. Mrs. Dreyer said that Declan is more outgoing now than he was when he was in third grade. Guess he has come out of his shell. Everyone loved his haircut and I think that has made a big difference.

When Teah and I got to the school to pick the boys up, we were pleasantly surprised to find a HUGE line that was wrapped around the building and out to the main road. We sat for over an hour waiting to pick the boys up. They have a new pick up procedure that had not been put into place properly, so there was a learning curve as to how it was going to be handled. Teah decided she would take some pictures while we were waiting.....

a couple self-portraits