Field trip and school update.

Arantxa was really looking forward to riding the school bus and was disappointed when she learned she would not be taking it. However, she saw a small bus parked in the school in one of the new family events. she wondered if they used it for field trips, so she asked her friend's brother. She has been waiting for the day where she'd ride it ever since.

The day came last week when the K class had their first field trip. They went to see the locks (exclusas), where Lake Union communicates to the Puget Sound (mar).

It was interesting because she came back from school, the day before, repeating almost word by word I am guessing the instructions. "Since Kindergarteners can't reach the floor on the bus, whenever the bus is breaking or taking a sharp turn, we have to extend our arms like this, and hold on to the seat in front of us. It can be very cold next to the water, and it is a rain or shine field trip, therefore we have to dress in layers". Am I glad she is an auditory learner and that she pays so much attention! I later remembered to look in her backpack and found the flyer with all the details.

She gave us a full report: they saw hydroplanes taking off and landing (is that the right word?); they saw seagulls, including one seated and one standing. The current main theme for their class is SALMON, so she was very excited to share that they had seen a ton of salmon jumping! "Even better, once your eyes got adjusted to the light, you could even see them, a lot of them, swimming", she said.

The bus was super late to pick them up, so they passed the time singing and playing games. I am glad I did not get to volunteer to go: "this is my very first field trip on my own".

I drop them ( she and Bailey, our carpool buddy) off that day and stayed in school helping out by stuffing envelopes. I later was a "lunch room volunteer". It was lots of fun to see the kids eating, and to note the differences between the younger and the older students. Joanna had already mentioned that by 3rd or 4th grade, they completely segregate themselves by gender. Another big difference was how they asked for food; a typical 5th grader said "pasta in a bowl with meat sauce and 2 breadsticks". The little ones still are figuring it all out. It is like standing in line in Starbucks and hearing the novices or casual goers, and contrast them with the typical Seattle costumer that can blurt out a 7 word coffee order.

One of the perks for volunteering for the cafeteria is that you get to eat lunch with your child.

I have to share more about the school later on, but it is really an amazing place. There are so many books in the Kindergarten classroom that it really looks like a small library. I have to ask Ms. L. if she has an estimate! One of Arantxa's favorite places is the reading loft (tapanco). I really love that they have books in many different levels: a ton of super early BOB type readers (Sid sat on the mat); but you can also see books such as Charlotte's web (about 4th grade level).

They have "specialists" like Technology, Music, Art, P.E. (Educación Fisica), and Spanish twice a week. For those classes, they form a line and go as a class to the other teachers' rooms. They also go to the library once a week and they are allowed to check 3 books for a week. Parents can check out more books for them. They have 3 recesses (15", 20", 10") and snack and lunch separate from those.

Arantxa is bringing lunch 4 times a week, and we are letting her buy at the cafeteria on Wednesdays.

Her favorite class is ART. Here is a cool project she did in Technology, a self-portrait. She was wearing a blue shirt with a busy print that day;).



She just started her first after school activity and she absolutely adores it. It is DRAMA (K and 1st grade). They will be performing "The Valiant Taylor". We got the script yesterday. I was surprised that it was a real script! We'll see how that goes, their show is in early December.