First Grade

My little Isabelle started 1st grade last week.  My helper is gone and now it's just me and all these cute boys. She's in a Chinese immersion program.  She is going to a brand new school and it was a total fluke she got in.  Many of the Utah schools have different language immersion programs for 1st-6th grade.  We looked into it when we found out we were moving and I tried to get her into a Spanish one and it had a waiting list of over 100 kids! Just so happened they built a new school that our neighborhood would be going to and the language program they had was Chinese.  We got a last spot.  She has a Chinese teacher that only speaks Chinese for half of the day.  She teaches reading, writing, math, science, and social studies.  Then they switch and go to an english teacher that teaches reading and writing.  She can do a quick recap for math in english, but it's just that a quick recap. I was really nervous that first day for her.  I was worried it would be too overwhelming and all sorts of mother anxieties.  When she came home, she was SO excited.  She loved both her teachers and was already catching on to the Chinese. 

We get to ride a bus here!!  YAY!!!!  Our bus is literally just our neighborhood which is our ward and one other ward (we were one ward just a few months ago). It was a rainy morning and she looked so nervous at first. 

But then she was so excited!  

And yes, I was totally THAT mom.  How many pictures can I take?! 

One of my friends was going to the school, and invited me to tag along.  Mike was home with boys, so I did.  It was so cute!  The school had this "orange carpet" (school color) and music and a big group of people cheering everyone as they went in for the first day.  I really like their principal.  I've been impressed with her so far. 

She was happy to see me one more time.  

NO, I didn't go in with her. :)  I contained myself for that one. 

I worried myself about her all day!  I was so relived to see this little face get off the bus.  I'm glad she had a good first day.  The week has continued and gone well.  She's loving it.  She likes both her Chinese and English teachers. She's making lots of new friends and is happy.  The second day of school, she informed me I didn't need to be at the bus stop to pick her up.  And so it starts...