First Grade Fun

I thought maybe it was time to do a general update on how school's been going for Jake this year.  Overall, I'd say good...definitely a much better start than kindergarten, which was pretty rocky for him.  A much smoother transition this year.  I'm sure he took comfort in the fact that while he had a new teacher and new classmates, not everything was new...he knew his way around the school and there are now many familiar faces.

He really likes his teacher, and so do we.  She's been fantastic with communication (sends emails as necessary, sends home a weekly newsletter, etc), is very responsive, and seems very kind.  She gets bonus points from Jake because she has a Steelers themed classroom :)

She seems to have a great sense of humor, as I received this picture in my email from her over the weekend recently:

Her email said:

Seeing "Jake from State Farm" (jake frum stat form-- with backwards f's) was the BEST part of my week. We'll work on the f's and keep the sense of humor! Have a great weekend :)

In case you don't get the reference:

One thing that has really differentiated this year from last is the amount of homework.  Apparently, you really step it up in first grade!!  In addition to nearly nightly math worksheets, he also has an ongoing list of things he should be working on nightly (weekly sets of vocab words, sight words, and spelling words....they are tested on these once a week) 

Hard at work.

It's only a matter of time before he surpasses my ability to help him with math homework.  There have been a few assignments that have stumped me!  Here is a math test he took 2 weeks ago:

See on that last one how the teacher wrote "wanted to skip?"....yeah, I was about thisclose to writing back "I want to skip it, too!"  (again...love his teacher, nothing against her writing that....this was a test he did that they went over in class, she just asks that parents review it again at home so that we can report back if they are still having trouble grasping it since the students often won't speak up about that in class)  But seriously...look at those symbols, it's like pre-algebra for first graders!  I'll be in serious trouble by the time he hits middle school. 

He's been rocking his spelling, vocab, and sight word tests, which is awesome.  He also rocked his school picture this year....check out that pose! 

Picture of a picture, so not the best quality....but who is this handsome young man, looking oh so grown up?  I just know this year is going to fly by and he will be in 2nd grade before I know it....hold me.