First Day of School – 2011

It feels like a long time ago – the first day of school. We have already spent many long nights doing homework. We have already gone into and out of a lice outbreak. We have already had crying fits, tantrums, and flat-out ‘No, I’m NOT going to do my homework!’s.

This year we were ‘prepared’ for the start of school earlier than ever. We had to be; we were going on vacation the week before. Yet, for some reason, we were completely UNprepared for what going back to school really meant. Two kids with serious homework. Exhausted and grumpy.

As we are getting back in the swing of things, more homework is getting done in aftercare, so we are spending less time doing it at home. Though, Ryan has a long way to go on this. He seems to not realize that the packets he gets in his homework are HOMEWORK. “Yes, I did all my homework.” “What about this?” “I had to do that? It didn’t say that in my agenda.” “It’s right here, Ryan.” “Oh.” And he seems to forget that all these handouts should go into his homework folder, not shoved into the depths of his backpack. We went through this with Isabel; I just forgot about it. She is so responsible with her homework now. (Thank you, Ms. Levine!)

But on the first day of school, no one is thinking about all the homework. Especially, not a first grader. A first grader has no clue – being used to the Kindergarten version of homework: coloring, cutting, pasting. Not vocabulary sentences and reading logs (where summaries are required, nightly).

On the first day of school, eyes sparkle with the excitement of seeing ‘old’ friends and meeting a new teacher. Getting dressed in new clothes. Sporting a new lunch box.
 

 

I got the idea for the photo signs here: http://pinterest.com/pin/97520897/ I didn’t have time to play around with composition because, as usual, we were running late. But I really like having added the signs to our standard ‘in front of our car’ shots. Side note: I was able to add the teachers’ names this year because a friend of mine had the clever idea of checking the Parent Portal, which listed each child’s teacher.
 

 

 

 
And this last picture shows just how far I still have to go. I was so worried about putting the focal point on Ryan, it did not occur to me that it should be nice to show more of the classmates, and less of the carpet! More of Ryan, less of the YELLOW bulletin board. Ugh. Composition under time constraints – it’s what I need to work on right now. I am so looking forward to the beginning of my second round at The Photographer’s Workshop!