First Day of Kindergarten for Ellie

Today was Ellie's first day of kindergarten at Daniel Webster Elementary School in Pasadena. She was a little nervous this morning, asking to go back to preschool and telling me she was scared. But after she was dressed and she saw her backpack and lunch bag by the door waiting for her, she was excited to head to school. School starts at 7:50am and while it is less than 3/4 mile away from our house, we left around 7:20am so that there would be plenty of time for photos. We started with some photos in front of the house by our big tree.

Then we got to school to take even more photos! She was excited and happy to be there. She played a little bit on the kindergarten playground (showing off her flipping skills on the bar first thing). She saw some familiar faces (as did we) and she was just full of giggles. I'm sure she was a little nervous but she didn't show it to us. When the bell rang she walked into her school and to her classroom. We met her teacher and then Ellie took a seat on the rug in the classroom (one of the first kids). As other kids and parents filtered in we gave a last round of hugs and kisses and left. Nick and I then spent a few minutes at a breakfast arranged by the PTA in the PTA room/Parent Resource Center.

Ellie's school does have a uniform policy. They need to wear khaki or dark blue bottoms with a light blue, dark blue, or white polo shirt on top. We found some really cute polo dresses in the right color and I think she will be wearing these every day, as she loves to wear dresses and these are apparently super comfortable (she didn't even complain about the collar!). And you may recognize her school, it has had some cameos in a few movies (only in Los Angeles) including The Hangover.

Ellie is signed up for an after school program that is on campus for her. They separate the kids by grade level and so she has a dedicated "after school teacher" as well. Today was an early release day, meaning every Monday school is released at 12:35. Normally it is 2:15. And then she has the after school program until we pick her up.

She came home all smiles and excited about her day. She said she had fun on the playground and got to color. She also showed us a workbook page where she was asked to print uppercase and lowercase letter A and then write Alligator. Her letters looked terrific. And the irony was her name was written, in cursive, at the top of the page. She said she got to read a book as well. Apparently the cafeteria was an amazing experience for her and she enjoyed eating lunch (btw, she ate her whole lunch and I packed a lot of food worried about snacks in the afternoon for her). She asked if sometimes I wouldn't pack a lunch for her so that she could eat the lunches at the cafeteria (apparently there is a fruit/salad bar in addition to the hot food). Pizza day is Friday, so maybe I'll send her with a couple of bucks for lunch...maybe next week.

We are so proud of our little kindergartener. She had a lot of fun and she is excited to go back. She was exhausted when she got home. We shall see if tomorrow is as much fun as today was as its a normal day with school going till 2:15.