School

My twins R and J started "big school" this year.

Here is a class photo.

These are some highlights of their time so far...


1. First Day
The first day of school was emotional. There was a steady flow of tears... from mum. R and J handled it without any major dramas.

The kid that struggled to adjust most to the change was actually toddler O. He was used to attending childcare with his brothers, and didn't understand his exclusion from the morning rush to get ready.

"Where my backpack?", he asked.

Then, "where my drinkabottlewater?", which is what he calls a drink bottle, a little more forcefully.

"Where my lunch, DADA?", desperately.

"Where my hat, MAMA?", screaming.


2. Getting Ready
That first day, R and J did really well getting ready. Then the novelty wore off and things often move very slowly now. Mostly though, it is just being absent-minded rather than deliberately not getting ready.

For example, J has forgotten to wear underwear to school. Twice. He realised at some stage during the school day.

Another time he did the opposite - I stopped him from putting a second pair of underwear over the top of the first.

Recently, he proudly told me he was ready early. I looked at him, and noticed he was wearing his pyjama shirt under his school polo.


3. Friends
The first year of school is still more about emotional intelligence than book learning, which is why I was keen to hear about any friends made.

On the first day they both said they had friends. "What are there names?", I asked.

R said, "I forget."

J said, "I didn't ask."

The next week J proudly told me, "I have one boy friend, and one girl friend."

In kindy, the girls are often taller than the boys. Which is how it came to pass that R told me a girl lifted him up.

I asked, "did you find that funny or did you find it mean?", trying to work out whether he was playing or being bullied. "I found it ridiculous!", he said. A five-year-old saying ridiculous is really funny, by the way. Ridicolos!

R has one clear best friend. Walking home from school one day, he told me in great detail about their escapades. "He likes doing imagination and adventure", he said about his friend, making him sound completely awesome, like Robin Hood or Indiana Jones. He then described at great lengths their lunchtime game involving an elaborate backstory and a series of surprising plot twists.

I was impressed, and also pretty sure I wanted to be his best friend too.

"Do you make up games as well?", I asked.

"I more just act crazy", he replied.

And two weeks later, R told mum that he got separated from his best friend in class "because we are chatterboxes."


4. "What Did You Do Today?"
We have a walk home from school of just under 10 minutes, and whichever parent is collecting the twins will ask this question and hope for the best.

Mostly, you get nothing. The epic best friend story above was preceded by about eight consecutive days of gathering no intelligence at all, other than complaints about their lunch.

My favourite is that they often tell you what they didn't do...

"We didn't get to use the play equipment today."

"We did have sport but I didn't get to do basketball."


5. Curriculum
One time I did learn what they did!

"Today was a very special days for kindies", J solemnly told me as we walked home. "We did PBL."

After a brief pause, perhaps to allow me to gather my senses after this huge news, he continued.

"And normally I'm in Room 1 but for PBL I moved to Room 10!"

"I stayed in Room 1", R added.

"What is PBL?", I asked.

"I don't know, it was our first day of it dude", J responded.

(It's Positive Behaviours for Learning.)


6. Points
Aside from what the acronymn is, all I know about PBL is that each student gets a point when they demonstrate a positive behaviour, and these go to their houses. Like a more rigourous and transparent version of Hogwarts I guess.

One afternoon, J excitedly told me, "I have 12 points!"

"Is that a lot?", I asked. It did seem like a lot

"Well it's more than 11!", he helpfully stated.


7. Food
R's best friend got food from the canteen sometime in week 2, and then all we heard about was the canteen. Based on the version of their day R and J were telling us, school was an orderly six-hour line to get ice blocks and mini pizzas. Nothing else existed.

So we relented, and I gave them one dollar each, zipped in their shorts pocket. J lost his money.

Eventually we ordered a full lunch - mini ham and cheese pizzas and flavoured milk! R lost his milk.


8. After School Care
R and J go to before and after school care two days a week.

The first time they went, I asked them how it was.

"I didn't like it", R said.

I was concerned because I really need him to go there, so I can work and stuff, but I also don't want him to be miserable. "Why didn't you like it?", I asked.

"They tried to make me eat afternoon tea but I wasn't hungry."

The boys soon got over somebody trying to give them food. Last week, I went to pick them up and J wailed, "I don't want to go yet, you're too early!"

It was 5:55pm. They close at 6:00pm and there were only three other kids still in attendance.

Yesterday when I picked them up they excitedly told me they'd "invented" a skin cream "to make my feet smooth."

After a series of probing questions, I ascertained they each had put crushed rocks and sand into an empty ice cream wrappers they'd found in the playground.

"So you've put sand inside garbage?", I inquired.

"You have to use this on your rough feet every day", J declared.

Once we got home, R cried when I wouldn't allow him to bring his sand inside garbage into the house.