First Week of School

So here it is – the weekend after our first week of school.  We are tired, but hanging in there.  I forget how much energy it takes to start the school year.  Don’t get me wrong, it takes a lot of energy all year long, but somehow the first week is unique.  There is routine making and expectation setting and lots and lots of me talking and modeling.

And as a mom, there is an extra energy I pour into making lunches, cleaning backpacks, doing homework, filling out papers, filling out more papers, managing bedtime, and all the things we do as parents to help our kids be successful in school.

But we made it.

Here’s how we looked on the first day of school.

We look ready for a new year of learning

Here are the highs and lows from Evelyn:

Evelyn had good things and challenges

that is a big binder!

As for me and my highs and lows?  I’ll try to summarize:

Top 3 Things from this week:

1.  Lower class size – my school purposefully bought down class size in 3rd grade and it is nice.  I have 20 on my list, and so far 17 have shown up.

2.  Supportive team and colleagues – I know I say this a lot, but I am grateful everyday for the people I work with.  They are amazing men and women who work hard alongside me and with me.  This job can be difficult, and I couldn’t do it without their support.

3.  Genuine excitement about learning.  I have a great group of enthusiastic learners.  They have areas for growth, but I think they are ready for it.  When we passed around an envelope and tried to guess what was inside, they waited with anticipation.  It was a pencil (on day 1) and they shouted and clapped and were truly excited to learn how we use pencils in third grade.  This kind of enthusiasm for learning will make this year fantastic!

And now for the more difficult moments this week:

1.  I win the prize for first student (k-5) suspended.  He got in a fight at the end of the day, and let’s just say it ended poorly.  I guess I also win the prize for first readmit conference first thing Tuesday morning.

2.  Juliana left behind.  On the first day of school, Juliana, who is new to our school, did not know which bus to take home.  I sent her to the place where kids who did not know how they were getting home were supposed to go.  Foolish me.  I thought someone would tell her.  Instead she just sat there until the buses pulled away and I found her still waiting there.  After a few phone calls and help from someone who speaks Spanish (thanks Jose), we got it figured out and her uncle came to get her.  It was so upsetting for her, which made it hard for me.   And just for the record – she rides bus 10 with her cousin Estaban.

3.  Balance!  It was hard this week to come home and maintain the high level of energy needed to be the mom of Lars and Evelyn.  I’m sure I was quite the grouch some nights.  We’re just not in a school year groove yet.  We will be.  But I’m afraid it will take time.  Until then, I’ll keep drinking my coffee, and asking for forgiveness from the people that live with me.

And now – bring on week 2!  There are a couple of Ramgren gals ready!

Anxiety and Anticipation

Here it is, Sunday night.  Tomorrow is the first day of school.  We are feeling some of the excitement that comes with that.  And we are feeling some of the uncertainty.

I thought it would be a good idea to blog about both of these feelings.  It was a good exercise for both of us.

Evelyn admitted it was easier for her to think of things she is worried about, which led to a great discussion on how we can choose what we spend time focusing on.  I’m hoping we can both spend more time thinking about the positives on our lists, than on the things that make us nervous.  Easier said than done.

Here are 3 things we are looking forward to this school year:

Trying to look on the bright side of things

Here are mine:

1.  My students – Workshop week feels strange to be working in my classroom without the students

2.  My colleagues – I work with amazing and wonderful people

3.  Continuing to improve my literacy block with my students

But of course there are things we are both a little worried about.  Here are some of the things that trouble us:

We've all got our worries

My list looks like this:

1.  changes in my schedule

2.  staff changes – additions, subtractions, and movement

3.  finding balance

Evelyn said it well when she told me she has mixed emotions.  So do I.  But as we are frantically getting organized for tomorrow we are feeling both anticipation and anxiety.

Good luck to all of the rest of you starting school this week!  It’s going to be a great year!

Meet the Teacher

Yesterday we had a “meet the teacher” time at Evelyn’s new school Keewaydin. The name of our school is Lake Nokomis Community School – but it is divided into two campuses.  The Wenonah campus is for kindergarten through 3rd grade.  Keewaydin is 4th – 8th grade.  So this is a big jump for us.  This is a big jump for Evelyn.

And she is ready.

We had visited the school and had a chance to see the 2 fourth grade classrooms a few weeks ago.  I was trying to lower any anxiety that might have been felt about the new school.

So now we’ve visited twice.

Here is what Evelyn had to say about her visit:

Evelyn already likes her teacher!

I love Keewaydin.  It is one of those old school buildings – built in the 1928.  It has beautiful wood floors and lovely huge windows.  There are amazing wooden shelves and closets.  Evelyn’s classroom even has a coat room.  Classic!

built in 1928 - Keewaydin is a classic

And yet it feels a lot like my classroom and my school.  There was the buzz of getting ready the Friday before school starts.  There were teachers in the hallways making plans.  There were supplies being delivered.  There were bulletin boards being made.

And there was Ms. Hall, greeting her families and students.  She is already an important person in our lives and we are thankful for her.  She was smiling and positive and made us feel good about leaving our 4th grader in her care this school year.

Evelyn and Ms. Hall - in Room 103

As a mom, it was wonderful to see Evelyn excited about this new adventure.  She was thrilled to find some names she knew on the desks.  She was chatting with classmates she hadn’t seen for awhile.  She is ready for 4th grade.

Am I?

a 4th grader

A New Name

Well here it is – the weekend before school starts.

And we can no longer be Tales from Third Grade.

I knew this was coming, but it is upon us now.  Evelyn is no longer a 3rd grader.  She really hasn’t been all summer, but I just hadn’t figured out what to do about that.

We have been tossing around a number of possible titles.  I came up with 3rd/4th split.  My cousin Sarah thought of Tales of a 4th grade something.  We thought about Tales from Fourth Grade.

But then Evelyn thought of one of her favorite books by E.L. Konigsburg called From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  What if our blog was titled something about being “mixed up”?

Our new header shows our mixed-upness.  A special thanks goes to our good friend and fellow blogger Steve Date for helping us with the picture.  We wouldn’t be nearly as mixed up without that great shot.

That’s how we came to this:  The Mixed Up Files of 3rd and 4th grade.

Maybe I have been avoiding this reality for a number of reasons.  Last school year was something special for me – having Evelyn in my grade.  Maybe I thought our blog would be done.   Maybe I was worried that Evelyn wouldn’t want to continue writing with me. Maybe I am afraid for what it means – Evelyn moving on to 4th, while I stay in 3rd.  It is kind of a reality for me as a mom.  Evelyn will continue to move forward in her life – I guess that’s what we do as parents…

But maybe I thought if we just stayed Tales from Third Grade, I could slow down the growing up…

But then again, I don’t really want that.  I want Evelyn to become the amazing young woman she is.  I am so proud of who she is and who she will be.

And hopefully our blog will continue to share our adventures this year – even if we are mixed up.

Summer Reading

We have had an enjoyable summer of reading.  I have done some catching up on some books that have been collecting dust on my shelf.  And I managed to get in a couple of light reads as well.  I’m currently reading A Wrinkle In Time.  Evelyn read it this summer, and I wanted to reread before we see the play at the Children’s Theater.  I’m also excited that I finally got the new Jodi Picoult book Sing You Home from the library.  I had been on the waiting list for months.  I’ve also been into reading magazines – easy to bring on an airplane.  I’ve enjoyed finding new recipes and clever ideas in both Real Simple and O.

Evelyn has also been doing a lot of reading.  I’ll let her tell you about it…

Evelyn wrote a lot about reading

just some of the good summer books

Evelyn's 2nd reading record

As a reader, I am so thankful for the fact that Evelyn loves to read.  I love that we have time in the summer to go to the library more than once a week.  I love our local library and knowing that each time we go there, my children will come away with something they are excited about reading.

As my children get older, and more independent, I am thoroughly enjoying time in the summer to read.  I know a few years ago I didn’t have time (or energy) to read – I am so glad the reader in me is back.

Here’s to books and authors and libraries and book clubs and words and the pure delight of losing yourself in a book!

Head Lice

Earlier this summer we had an infestation of head lice.  It was really horrible.  Evelyn had been scratching her head like crazy and complaining of an itchy scalp – but like all good parents we told her to wash her hair carefully and be sure to rinse her head after swimming.  We didn’t check her head until those little buggers had made quite a home for themselves in her thick head of hair.  I’m sure they were loving it in there!

glad Evelyn had the insect identification cards

I now know why my students get repeated cases of head lice.  It took a lot of work to get rid of them.  We seriously spent an entire day cleaning our house and cleaning our children’s heads.

Lars would let us take his picture with the chemical in his hair - If only you could smell it. Yuck!

tools of the trade

We threw away combs and brushes.  We washed clothing, bedding and towels in hot water.  We threw other things in the dryer for at least 20 minutes.  We bagged all other items in large black trash bags and have left them in the garage for 3 weeks.  Lice can’t live without human hair for more than 24 hours.  I’m still a little afraid to open the black bags.

The black bags are waiting to be opened....

Here is what Evelyn thought about the head lice.

She had a lot to say - I love that she said we were in a frantic panic - so true!

So now we are lice free.  We all have new combs and brushes.  We no longer share.  We all sleep with a sprig of rosemary in our pillow cases (it is rumored that the smell of rosemary repels lice – and that’s a rumor I can believe!)  We now know what to do when that letter comes home from school saying someone in your child’s class has a confirmed case of head lice.  We will nit pick.  We have sort of become expert nit-pickers.

And while I can not say I am thankful for head lice – I am thankful for time we spent combing through hair each day for 2 weeks.  Evelyn really does have a lot of hair and we really did comb through it thoroughly for 2 weeks.  It gave us time to talk about a lot of things.  We had good conversations, and discussed topics we needed to talk about.  We talked about hopes and dreams and fears and success.  Sitting on the back step combing hair gave us the perfect opportunity to converse.  And for that I am thankful.

But I’d be O.K. if we never had to do that again.  Here’s to being lice free!

Our Trip out East

We have been busy traveling this summer.  I feel fortunate that we have both the time and the resources to do that.

It’s been about 10 years since we have visited Steve’s brother Jon and his family out in Maine.  We decided this would be a good family destination for us this summer, so we headed out east July 5.

I’ll let Evelyn give you her synopsis of the trip.

Evelyn wrote a lot!

For those of you who would like a visual tour of our trip – I’ll give you a sampling.  I’m afraid the sampling got a little extensive.  Feel free to skip the pictures if it is too much for you.  It was fun to see them again, and share our memories.

Holding sea stars is something we don't do in Minnesota.

the top of Cadillac Mountain

the view from our hotel room in Bar Harbor

the top of Bubble Rock

the cousins at the summit

Our first stop!

at the start of the freedom trail (the point at which lars was ready to stop)

action shot - walking the freedom trail

we had to jump in this fountain!

old north church

We realized upon walking around Boston in a heat wave, there are not readily accessible pools or beaches.  We are spoiled here in Minneapolis to have a variety of swimming options all around us.  So we found where the Bostonians go to cool off.  The Frog Pond in the Boston Common is the place to splash in the summer.  It is an ice rink in the winter and just a wonderful place to people watch.  Even the parents had to get wet.

the fountain

what a pair

those fountains can really spray long distance

As for me – here are a few things I’ll take away…

1.  Acadia National Park is a true treasure!  My trip highlights were time spent there – enjoying nature, the ocean, the hiking, and views like none other.  I can’t wait to get back there.

2.  Family is important.  It is silly that we waited 10 years to visit our family.  We enjoyed our time with Jon and Sarah and their kids Anna and David.  It was nice to see them in their home and letting them show us Maine.  We won’t wait another 10 years (we hope).

3.  When it is hot in Boston, it is really really hot.

4.  It was hard to end the trip back in Boston – we were tired (both physically and a little of each other) and so it was more challenging to fully enjoy the Boston experience.  We tried (smile and pretend we’re happy for the picture) and we did enjoy our time there – but in hindsight I would have done Boston first.

5.  There’s no place like home!

our "home" away from home - until next time...