Well Dante’s fist day of school went very well indeed. He got his same teacher as preschool which he was very happy about. He only had class for one hour today and was also happy to inform me there were only a little bit of kids in his class. He will be in class full day by Friday, the school has a gradual transition for all kindergardeners. There were several kids I had expected to be in his class from preschool last year who were not which was a little bummer but he was just fine.Anika will have a full day and upon meeting her teacher this morning I knew she was going to love her, very sweet teacher. Anika was a little concerned her teacher might be mean. Most of the kids in her class were the same as last year so I am sure she will find much comfort in the familiarity of that.Well here goes….a new school year and a much anticipated year at that. I am besides myself…excited yet at the same time feeling an unusual amount of anxiety about this new season in life for myself. I wonder if this is similar to empty nest syndrome…i would guess in some minor way there are similarities.
So I ended up not getting the High School Musical shirts because the girl cut was just not working for Dante but here they are in the dressing room trying them on.Both kids are so totally into HSM I’m not sure if and when I should be concerned. Already the teenie bopper posters are on the wall and on their school notebooks, they know way more facts and trivia than I care to admit, and the fact that HSM2 comes out Friday has got us postponing cancelling cable….ay…ay…aySent from my iPhone 
at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. The museum is still under major renovation and what is there is not necessarily the greatest but this little stage made the trip completely worthwhile. Kids just go behind the curtain, dress up and make-up whatever they want (no adult direction whatsoever). It is total creative play all on their own and the longer we were there (hours) the more ideas they came up with and the more confident they became in their stage presence…even Dante. Also, it turns out, Anika is quite the director though she says acting is the best part. Lots of other kids came and went and Anika and Dante would somehow just work (play) with whoever happened to be around at the time. And to think they both started out as just wanting to be curtain opener and closers…
Today was Parent/Teacher Conference day (AKA report card day) for both kids. It is the end of the second trimester of this school year. YAY!!!Dante doesn’t really get a report card yet though I did meet with his teacher and saw some of his work. He’s doing great! Even at home I’ve noticed a big jump in social and cognitive development lately. He’s not one to initiate interaction with other kids but nonetheless he’s managed to make many friends in his class. He’s not an attention seeker (go getter/aggressive) which I definitely see as a personally trait. I would describe him more as compassionate/ conscientious/ creative type. There is much methodical depth and focus to what he does. He gets along easily with all kinds of kids.Anika has continued to show great academic aptitude and performance. Initially I was quite concerned about her placement in a general ed/ special ed combo class though I understood that we really had no other option given the NYC public school system and this particular school. Most kids here are tested in preschool for Gifted & Talented programs which happens to be 90% of the population of this school (which by the way is one of the most sought after schools in the city). Anika has never been tested thus there was no way she could go into such a class even with a previous history of above grade level performance. The reason she’s in a mixed class is because there really just weren’t enough general ed 2nd graders (there’s only like 10) to warrant a class of their own thus the combination class and two fully trained teachers plus 2 full time aides. That’s like a ration of 1:5! On top of that all the kids in the school get gym, art, music, chess, and Spanish once a week.That said as time has gone on I’ve been very happy with how things have developed. She’s got excellent teachers trained to teach all ability levels. The curriculum is open ended enough to leave much room for Anika to work at her own pace and I’ve seen much progress in her academic development. Her teacher did comment that though they(speaking for both teachers in this class) love to have her in the class she really would like to see Anika in a G&T program because of the peer stimulation she can experience there. For that we need to wait to go through the whole application process for testing next year. I’ll cross that bridge when it comes. For now the goal is to make the most of the current situation.Another thing that I was initially bummed about was that class is 95% minority as opposed to the G&T classes which tend to be about 70% affluent anglo. I’m sure it’s not just me that sees the discrepancy here. That said, Anika has got the most interesting kid mix in her class and lots of great girls who “look” like her which I’m very happy about because for a while there Anika was a little too focused on blond hair and blue eyes. From what she knows there’s kids from Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Columbia, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Armenia, Moroccan/Japanese African American and Anglo American. How absolutely cool is that!!! THIS is NYC! In Dante’s class (which is a mix of all kids before G&T separation) there’s Korean/Am., Japanese/Am., Chinese/ Am., (all mixed heritage kids), Pakistani, Puerto Rican, Eastern European, Russian, Black Caribbean (don’t know exactly where), Jewish American (btw I’ve learned quite a bit about Jewish culture around here), and good old plain American. People out here definitely have more of a sense of heritage regardless of how many generations they’ve been here though I do acknowledge there are many 1st and 2nd generation immigrants from all over the world both from wealthy educated backgrounds and not. Cultural and religious diversity are not just celebrated but practiced and believed with a depth I had not previously experienced. I guess everyone just lives much closer to each other in this city so you rub elbows easier with all kinds of people (way more than in Los Angeles). What I love about all of this is not just the diversity but the global culture and awareness we get to experience first hand here.Well enough said….here it is….Anika’s first New York City school report card (she’s in second grade, this is just the form for grades 1 and 2) …
