little girl - big school

It was little nael's first day at the big school today!!! Snowboarder and I have been talking to little nael about going to the big school for the last couple of weeks and I think that little nael was pretty excited this morning. I was worried that I had to wake her up and she'd be grumpy but she woke up at 7:15am on her own.

I was fortunate enough to be one of the parent helpers today (BIG thanks to Aunt Sarah who stayed home to watch baby j) which gave me a chance to see how nael interacted and participated in a classroom setting. It also allowed me to see what a typical class day was like. Little nael seemed at ease right from the start which made me realize that I had nothing to worry about.
As a parent helper, I had to bring in snacks for the whole class so I decided to bring watermelon chunks, grapes and little nael's favorite "orange" crackers which everyone loved including the other adults (nael's teacher, Mrs. Mesa and 2 other parent helpers). It was also one of the kid's birthdays so the birthday boy's mom brought in snacks too - watermelon and blueberry muffins!
The kids spent the first hour doing an activity of their choice: painting, playing with playdough or at the water table, etc then they headed to the LMC for an activity led by Mrs Mesa. While they were busy at the LMC, we (parent helpers and our kids) set up the table and prepared for snack time. Soon after, the rest of the kids came back to the classroom. First, they all sang Happy Birthday to Trey who had a little candle on his mini muffin then they munched on some snacks. When we were all done eating, Mrs Mesa had the kids sit in a circle then she read them a book. Afterwards, we headed out to the playground. At 11:30, some of the kids went home while the rest stayed for lunch bunch. Little nael and I didn't stay for lunch bunch but headed home to see baby jeffrey and Aunt Sarah...
I think school wore out little nael today...she napped right after lunch and slept for a couple of hours!