Have you ever heard of the First Grade Wave? I just learned about it yesterday and even got to be Logan’s volunteer after dinner last night to demonstrate it. One does the First Grade Wave while walking in the hallway past another class containing friends. Since this school is hugely strict about staying quiet in the hallways, the wave became an outlet for expressing greetings without ending up in refocus or missing recess (seriously!). Here’s how it’s done. As you’re walking and you spot a friend coming towards you in line with his or her class, you instinctually want to jump up and shout “hello!” to them, but instead, you bend your arm just a little so your hand is at your waist, tilt your hand up and give a little wave. You can smile a little, but Logan’s demonstration made it very obvious that  a simple wave might have to encompass all of your feelings at that moment. He was pretty excited about the wave actually. It’s nice that the teachers let them at least acknowledge one another in that fashion. Chris, Eli and I all got to practice the wave last night. Eli might need a little practice yet, he was a little shy!

Here are five other highlights from Logan’s first day of school yesterday:

1. Recess-He got to run around with friends from Kindergarten whom, some, he hasn’t seen all summer.

2. He doesn’t have to ask to get up and get a drink in Spanish class.

3. Mrs. Caceres read the class a book about a boy who wanted to become a cowboy and when the boy asked his mother if he could go outside to become a cowboy, she said, “ok!”

4. There is a boy duck and a girl duck that the children take and place on their desk when they go to the restroom so the teacher knows that’s where they are. Unlike Kindergarten, there isn’t a restroom built into the first grade classroom, so they have to walk down the hall to go. He said they just grab the duck, put it on their desk and go! They don’t even have to ask first!

5. He really enjoyed making a bubble map that included Slave 1 – of Star Wars fame. He got to stand up in front of his class and explain his map to them and why he chose Slave 1.

 

It took several tries to wake Logan up this morning. I think that might be the hardest adjustment for all of us. But, once we arrive to school, Logan is eager to play with his friends and Eli is just as eager to run around the playground for a while. Turns out it’s a pretty good gig for Eli, getting to play on the big kid playground first thing in the morning each day!