Shane's Back to School Night

There was a wreck on the way to Shane's soccer practice. We would have been a couple of minutes early, but ended up 12 minutes late instead.

During practice, I was a grading machine. I had tests to go through whether I was at work or not!

This offended Shane. He called from the field to tell me to watch.  I kid you not, he gave me the "I'm watching you" gesture.

We had a small talk after practice about how he needs to focus on what he's doing rather than worrying about what's off the practice field (and that I enjoy taking him to soccer, but that doesn't mean I'm going to watch him every minute!).

We were in a rush to leave after practice today, because it was Shane's Back to School Night.

Of course, there was more traffic. Shane and I discovered that all of the Lake Monticello traffic destroys the intersection of 20 and 53. Everyone wants to go left and people jam the lane with people trying to cut in down the entire length. Traffic hopping off I-64 East blocks the straight lane and for the few of us just trying to pass through....well, I'm glad we're not trying to go to Lake Monticello, at least.

We arrived some time after 6:30 PM. There was already a group of parents and kids in the classroom with a presentation underway. The parents listened to the teachers...

...while the kids played! Mr. Bahn had a timer with the Mission Impossible soundtrack when it was time for the kids to rush and clean up.

One topic covered was "the big classroom." There had been two 3rd grade classrooms, but the teachers took down the modular wall in between and combined the whole 3rd grade.

Shane loves it. The more the merrier in his mind. He likes crowds. There's one kid's name who keeps coming up in his classroom that he feels is a bully, so anything to increase the kid pool helps, too.

The kids have been learning a song and drumming technique with a cup that they performed. Shane was doing his own thing and didn't realize they were starting at first. He jumped in late, but had fun. He's shown us some of the drumming at home. The class was supposed to perform Friday morning.

Shane showed me something he made. "You see the frowny face? That's how I felt, because Mr. Bahn made me write that."

"You're not happy with your ability to make friends?" I asked.

"No, I was still thinking of what to write. This other kid wrote the same thing." Shane replied.

I looked and one of the whiteboards next to Shane had wrote mostly the same thing. At the end there was something about, "...like Shane."

I asked Shane if he was friends with the other kid ("Yes") and pointed out that maybe his teacher was trying to reinforce the bond for both kids.

I didn't talk much with Mr. Bahn. I'd love to hear in detail about my kid, but there are lots of parents around and it's not really a good time for a conference. Mr. Bahn did stop by to say that Shane earned some extra free time that morning by knowing his multiplication facts. Mr. Bahn asked Shane, "What's 13 times 3?" Shane said the answer and got out of a worksheet.

"I'm really good at math!" Shane boasted.

He's not lying either. Calculation is a strong point for him. Hopefully, logic and humility will follow soon after.

It's been a decent start to the year. Shane complains about the social components some days, but seems happy, hearty, and hale even while he's complaining. Sometimes he tells a story about what happened that seems highly exaggerated or made-up and it's hard not to be skeptical.

I'm not overly worried about the academic component. Shane's good at that and Mr. Bahn seems to have procedures in place and a plan of where the kids are going.

Next check-in will be in early November when the report card comes home. Until then!