Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!: First Week of First Grade

The first week of school is over and everyone survived! Imma actually had a really great week. I was a little nervous. I wasn't sure how it would be, getting back into the routine of things, but she did well, despite being very tired in the afternoon/evening, and getting herself into trouble at home--every, single day. As long as she is good at school, that's the most important thing, though I may pull out all of my hair!
We've been very blessed with Imma's teacher once again this year. I taught with Ms. Medford for five years in our previous district and I was thrilled when she decided to make the long drive over to our current district. She is an amazing educator and I know she's going to contribute so much to our district in so many ways. Imma loves her and is always talking about Medford. "When we wake up, I go to Medford's class!" I'm so glad she has a teacher that has known her for her entire life. She knows where she's come from, she knows what her strengths and weaknesses are, and she knows what the vision is for where Imma will be one day. She doesn't baby her, she challenges her in every area, but she also gives her the support she needs to be successful. What more could a parent ask for?
Imma has several students in her classroom this year who are loving, giving children and they are helping her to make sure she knows what to do, which is awesome and amazing for first graders. One of the little girls who helped her a lot last year told the teacher, "You know, I can help Imma, too!" So cute!
Imma is also in a 1-1 iPad classroom, which means that she will have her own iPad to use during the day. A lot of the projects they work on replace worksheets and other not-so-fun activities. The school district we live in has a lot of great technology available and it's awesome that first graders will get to have a piece of technology in their hands, at school, for educational reasons, every day.
We also purchased IStation for all of our K-2 students this year, which will help Imma a lot. It's a computer based reading program. She really enjoyed using it last year but we didn't have enough spots for her to be on it all of the time. There was a rotating schedule for students who needed it. This year, she'll get to use it all of the time.
Another awesome thing about our school is that we have a Student Resource Officer (SRO) strictly dedicated to our campus. There are only 2 elementary schools in the state of Texas with a full-time police officer dedicated solely to their campus. So we are super-safe and I no longer have to worrry about something awful happening at our campus, like Sandy Hook. Officer Vargas is amazing and she does a lot of programs with our students during the day as well as keeping us safe. I honestly feel like this will be a huge incentive to parents looking to purchase a home near our school district. If I had a choice between a school with an SRO or without one, I'd absolutely choose the one with the officer!
Imma will have new speech teachers, new behavior specialists to observe her, and a teacher that is new to our district. She still has the same special education teacher and the same diagnostician will be doing her evaluations this year, which will be in the next few months. That always makes me nervous but I trust our diagnostician. I'm hopeful that we will have some good information that shows how much progress Imma has made at the end of this eval cycle.
I've had a little change, too, which Imma and I are working through. I will now be working out of Central Office on Fridays, so I won't be at our campus to help her with lunch, etc. She did fine yesterday and it definitely helps that so many of our staff members make a special effort to check on her (whether I'm there or not!) but it will be an adjustment for her. Her teacher is great about watching out for her, even if I am at school, so I know she'll be safe, it's just going to be different not seeing her every day at school. I think she'll do just fine though. One day this week, I was a few minutes late heading to the cafeteria to check on her and there were three adults and two children helping her open her lunch!

I am expecting Imma to do very well this year. I am hopeful that she will be reading by the end of the year, that she will continue to grow her friendships, that she will continue to make progress with her expressive and receptive language skills, and that she will continue to teach others that different means extraordinary. She has touched so many people already with her strength, determination, and persistence. Teachers and parents come up to me all the time and tell me how amazing her progress has been and that's always wonderful to hear. Here's to what promises to be an amazing school year!