First day of school, by everybody

Tessa:
Mommy came in and found me a seat and then she told me the other kid's names. Then mommy left and we started talking and then I didn't talk because I didn't know what they were saying. And we went and saw the other classes and I thought Autumn was sleeping in her class. And my teacher gave us a squirt of sanitizer and then we had to wash our hands. Isn't that weird? and then I ate my cheese balls. And then I ate one and then she was saying "only one" and then she walked out and asked mommy if I had anything to eat and mommy said "yes" and then mommy and my teacher came in and she said "don't you have your cheese balls?" and then mommy said "your teacher was coming out to ask me if you have anything to eat" and I said, "yeah, but she wouldn't let me have my cheese balls." and then I went home. And then I washed my hands and then I went home. And whatever time I did a drawing, she gave me a piece of paper and some crayons to draw a picture. She read us a story about little bunnies. And in the class when we were drawing, she put music on. I kind of liked it, but it was kind of a baby one.

Sadie:
When I went in, the chairs and the desks were kind of organized. And the teacher went out and got me a desk. So I just sat next to a certain person and no one really talked when we were in the classroom. Only two people tried to talk to me when I was in the classroom. And then we were singing songs and the teacher was asking people things, I don't know what though. And then we went outside and we went to the recess type area. But there's no playground. And then we all gathered up in a circle and held hands and I was holding hands with one of the people that were fighting over who got to hold my hand. And I was holding hands with Keyla on the other hand. And then we were singing songs and going up, down, and right, left, right left feet. And then we went inside. And then we sang some other songs and the teacher started talking again. And then we went back outside and it was talking time for outside. And then we went back inside. We were outside for like 25 minutes. And then one of the girls was pushing the other girl away so she could hurry and get my hand. I kind of just walked away with Keyla. And they both came running up. And then like 2 minutes later they started fighting again. And then 10 minutes later we went back inside and then we were singing lots of songs and the teacher just said like "you do this and sing this." And then it was over.
Oh, and when it was time to get a snack from the school, there was a really, really gross drink. It was like "fresco" or something. And then they gave you crackers with it and the crackers were ok. They were a little too sugary for me.

Jack:
I got there and there wasn't a desk. So she just took a chair and set it in the very back and it wasn't organized at all. And then she went out to get a desk by Sadie's classroom and she put me in the very back. And the rows weren't organized at all. They looked like the kids just came in, got a chair, got a desk and sat down. And there was graffiti on the desk. Real graffiti, the "g" work and in parentheses, "d" word in spanish. The teacher wrote something on the board and it was mainly in spanish. She wrote the date and then a story and it was "the rabbit of bread." "la conejo de pan." I opened my notebook and thought I was supposed to write a journal entry. So, I wrote a whole page and the teacher came over and said "that's graffiti." and then i said "no" and pointed at the desk and said "es graffiti" and she said "no, es messy" and she pointed at my notebook and said "es graffiti" because I wrote in brown and I was supposed to write in blue.
So then she had me write the title of the story in english. And then she had me write a little bit more and then she had me write the questions and then a-c and then I had to answer in spanglish. And then I answered in spanglish.
And the kids were trying to talk to me in spanish, but they didn't know a single word in english. So all of it was in spanish. And then I just looked at them and said "no entiendo espanol."
There was recess and then what I did was just take out my bag of cheese balls and then I just walked around and played a little bit of tag. And then, one by one the kids kept getting smaller and then I looked in the classroom and there were kids getting into the classroom and then the teacher said "vamos" and the other kids in my class raced down. The kids were playing cards. And we went back in and did "mathematicas" and then the assignment was to write 1 to 100. And then, there was another recess. And then I did the same thing as last time, just walked around. And then we went back in. And then I saw mom. And then I knew it was time to go, so I went in, grabbed my backpack, and went outside the gate.


Jodi:
I keep trying to get Autumn to type up her account of the first day, but we keep forgetting. For me, the day was a total joke. Kevin had gotten the kids registered the day before and they said Autumn needed to be there at 7 a.m. and the others started at 10:30. So, we got up early, went to school, and found out that it was the opposite--Autumn was at 10:30 and the others were at 7. So we raced home, got the others ready, raced back to the school, got everyone in their classrooms...except Tessa. She wasn't on the role. Turns out, she was at 10:30 also. And, I had the wrong uniform for her. Apparently, Kindergartners wear their own special uniform. Luckily, Jose's sister, Fanny, was there and offered me her daughter's old Kinder uniform. So, we walked over to her house, got the dress and drove home. Then we were back at 10 to pick up Sadie and Jack, cruised home, and traded them for Autumn and Tessa. Tessa was pretty nervous about going, but her teacher was adamant that I was not allowed to stay in the classroom. I had promised Tessa that I would stay, so I found a nice little curb next to the sidewalk outside her room and parked myself for the next hour or so. Then, her teacher came out asking if I'd brought her a lunch, which they'd told Kevin at registration we didn't need. So, I ran out to the car to grab whatever snacks we had and when I came back, they'd locked the gate and wouldn't let me back in. The guy that guards the gate, Jordan, told me I could give him the food through the hole in the gate and he'd take it to Tessa. So sad. Jose was out there waiting for his granddaughter, Sophia, who turned out to be in Tessa's class. So we hung out until Kindergarten got out.

Autumn came up to me at the gate during her recess and asked how much time was left in school and I told her 17 minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that Kinder got out an hour earlier that her. So, she was really confused when her class kept dragging on and on. After Tessa got out, we waited a while for Autumn's class to get out before I finally went and asked what time they got out. Sure enough, it was an hour later. So, Tessa and I headed home and I went back for Autumn when it was time.

1 week later:

I've been amazed how quickly they've all made friends, despite the language barrier. It has made a world of difference. The schedule is still really quirky and I'm regularly confused and show up with the wrong kids at the wrong times. Today, Jack had the 7 a.m. schedule, Sadie and Tessa had the 10:30 a.m. schedule, and Autumn doesn't have school this week. Too bad no one told us any of this and even when we showed up, Jordan kept giving us the wrong information. So, I was back and forth between the school with different kids about 7 different times today. First I took Autumn, then we came back because we forgot her backpack. Then, when I got home from dropping her off the second time, she called to say that I'd dropped her off at the wrong time. So, Kevin went and got her while I got Jack and Sadie ready. Then I took them and Sadie was there at the wrong time, so we just left Jack. Then we were back at 10:15 to pick up Jack and drop off Sadie and Tess and Autumn, I thought. But, no. I still have no idea why 5th grade has no school this week. I'm pretty sure the security guard at our gate for our complex thinks we're crazy, though, driving in and out every 5 minutes.

I had to take Tessa to school in her pj's today, crying, because she didn't want to go. But, she ended up letting Sadie help her get dressed on the way. I had to coax Jordan into letting me carry her into class, because she was too sad to walk in. He told me "rapido" and as soon as I walked in, the teacher told me I couldn't stay. But, Tessa stayed and was great afterwards.
Sadie's teacher apparently claps in their faces and says, "no" really loudly when they do anything she doesn't like, like when Sadie laid her head on her desk once or when she was braiding her hair during class.
Jack's class has been crazy and he's had 3 different teachers and been combined with 2 other classes in one regular sized classroom. But, he just rolls with it and this week he's got a normal sized class with one regular teacher.
I sure hope they learn Spanish after all the torture we're putting them through. :)