Finally Finished

This kid has been in Grade 1 for 18 months. Six months in Australia and a year in Canada.

She adores her Canadian teacher and is sad that she may not have her again next year. 

She's the type of teacher who focuses on scholastics but also takes time to ensure kids are working on their weaknesses. Poppet has been forced to confront tormentors (in the guise of 7 year old girls) from time to time and her teacher has gently encouraged her to stand up for herself, to articulate her feelings. We have a long way to go but my child is finally able to take things people say with a grain of salt, most of the time, and to tell them when it's not ok. We have a very feisty and quite often bossy group of ladies in that class so Poppet has had no option but to toughen up. Not a bad thing at all. But her teacher is also there with the cuddles and the support if it's needed. She strikes a great balance.

Meanwhile, my daughter is using terms like 'inference' and already starting on fractions and developing her passion for reading and writing. She has never once asked to stay home from school, regardless of what's been going on in the yard. I think that is a great testament to her teacher.

It's that time of year when everyone is rushing around buying/making gifts for their teachers and Poppet decided to write a poem. We put it together on a poster and framed it for her classroom. I think she'll love it...

The poem reads as follows...

To Mrs Nitsis,

Extra love for you!

A teacher that is nice!

Care for your students!

Help children learn!

Every one likes you!

Room 213.

After this Thursday I will have a child at home for almost 10 weeks. It will be a long haul, but we have some visitors and a couple of camps, and possibly a holiday to break it up. When it's hot, the splashpads at the playgrounds will be open to frolick in, and when it's not we will go for lazy cycles through the park on our new bikes (more on that later). I'm hoping I'll actually manage to enjoy the holidays, embrace them. It's not really one of my strong suits but I'll give it a good shot!