1st Grade - The real deal!

For most kids 1st grade is serious business because there is a transition from 1/2 day to full day. However, for Griffen it was business as usual. Last year Griffen attended full day Kindergarten so making the move to 1st grade had no effect on him schedule wise.
I call 1st grade the "real deal" because one of the first things that Griffen noticed was there are no longer toys in his classroom. It's time to get down to business! Mrs. Laske is a fantastic teacher and very regimented which I think helps all children when they are in school because structure in the classroom is very important.
A new added event this year is homework! We have now built in 20 minutes to our afternoon schedule for homework time. I love opening Griffen's backpack and checking out what has been placed in the "take home" folder. Each day the children are given an easy reader along with any classwork they have completed. It is nice to go over these things with Griffen and confirm his understanding. During this time if there aren't enough assignments in his backpack to fill 20 minutes then we will work on reading other books or playing online learning games.
Griffen is an extremely bright kid and I look forward to the 1st round of progress reports this fall!

Soccer Season kickoff!

Griffen is now in his 3rd season of soccer and it has bee very exciting to watch the tremendous growth from when he started at age 3!
As I watch him play I notice that he has taken some of the skills he has learned to heart. He now dribbles the ball fairly well and has become much better at passing. As a whole this age group has moved on from the "beehive" strategy of playing soccer where everyone groups together and chases the ball around the field. Now they realize that they need to spread out and pass the ball if they want to score a goal.
The score is also something that Griffen and his teammates has recognized this year. The teams and the league don't keep score but the kids sure do! They are well aware when the opposing team has scored more goals than them. Griffen even made a comment that his team had lost. I tried really hard to cheer him on and let him know that right now we are just playing for fun and not to worry about who wins.
This is going to be a great season and I can't wait to see how Griffen progresses this year!