Houston, we've completed week one of our mission

Week one over with. I must admit, I'm exhausted. I know Robyn is exhausted as well. However, I must say, we had a HUGE day today.

1. We ACED our first fire drill. We lined up, followed Ms. Stern, and were almost entirely quiet the whole time! Patrick told us that the whole school was going to blow up, so we had to remind our friends that it was only practice and nothing was actually on fire.

2. We played with playdough when Ms. Stern had a meeting. At first, we did a great job. It did become messier as we continued and Ms. Stern came back to a very colorful, but fun, room.

3. We had calendar time today. While it was hard, we tried to turn it around. Guess what, we got x's to sit on now so that we can remember where we should be. Ms. Stern is thinking about using chairs so that we can remember that we have to sit instead of sprawl all over!

4. Ms. Lunsford helped us write a poem about our color words. Purple is Barney, Blue is a shirt (almost everyone was wearing blue today!), Yellow is a school bus, and more. Ms. Stern's memory sure is fading that she can't remember all of it.

5. Ms. Smith came in to watch us when we were cutting, coloring and writing. She said that she is going to be with us a lot and help us to learn to ace those things before you know it!

6. Ms. Stern talked with some of us about not giving our parents a hard time about doing our homework. She said that it's not a good idea to be mean and whiny. Some of us were wondering how she found out what we do at home!

7. One of our friends tried to use our electric pencil sharpener to help his crayons. It was a learning experience for all of us!

8. Mrs. Robertson went to PE with Hendrick, Patrick and David today. Everyone said that they had so much fun running up and down and all around the brand new gym!

9. Mrs. Robertson has been working so hard on creating what we are going to be calling "CharacterLand." We're going to be learning about it soon, but think Candyland but on a bulletin board. We're going to learn about being good citizens, making great choices, and earning chances to move our "players piece" to the finish line. There are going to be obstacles and friends to meet along the way like Respect Rhino, Trustworthy Tiger, and more. Ms. Stern is really excited for the pieces that look like sorry pieces with each players pictures on it!

10. Invite your family to view the blog and keep up on our adventures. While I will never post photos, know that we are taking plenty and will be glad to share them with you individually through email! (Mrs. Robertson got a great shot of all the boys together in the lounging area yesterday...it's already my desktop photo!)


**Picture day will be on September 17th. Please look for more information when it gets sent home.

I believe that back to school night is September 19th. Please come, Mrs. Robertson and I will make it a great time. We already see a great deal of each other, so adding other fun people to the mix will be good for us!

All of our friends picked their very own desks today and put their names on it. We had so much fun at them. Almost all of us can find our names located around the room and we can help those who can't! How much fun!

Mrs. Cassarino came and sat with us during lunch today. Hendrick and Patrick loved her so much that they wanted to go with her when she had to leave. Grant greeted her and showed her all of his cookies and banana! David bought lunch for the first time and while at first he wasn't quite sure about this fish that he ordered, he grew to be fond of it!

Aldair got to spend some more time with Ms. Spencer today in the afternoon. He made a beautiful garden picture to take home. He was a little scared to go in by himself, but when Ms. Stern came to pick him up, he wasn't sure he was ready to leave!

Luis and Darius learned a great deal in computers. Darius waited so patiently when Ms. Stern realized that she forgot to bring his lunch and Mrs. Robertson went back to get it. Luis read Hop on Pop to Ms. Stern when they got some 1:1 time together and chose to do some puzzles as a choice activity that his friends hadn't had time to finish the other day.

Tiffany spent almost the entire week in Ms. Kessler's room and did a great job. Way to go!

Next week, we're going to get class jobs, begin with a social skills program Ms. Stern is working on, and begin speech and occupational therapy. It's going to be a HUGE second week so I hope everyone rests up this weekend! I know I will!!!

Also, beginning next Thursday through Saturday, I may be harder to get a hold of by phone at home. My parents will be visiting and we'll be doing things like picking out a wedding dress and wandering around Manassas together. Email is probably best although if you leave messages on my voicemail, I will respond!

Enjoy your weekend!