Natalie's open house

Last night we went to Natalie's school to meet her teachers and find out what is expected of her this year. And because she made it into the AVID program they started out the evening for those 50 students and their families with a BBQ. They even had a raffle drawing which Kaitlyn ended up winning a $5 Target gift card. How cool is that?

So we learned a little more about the AVID program and met some of the other families that are involved and then we went to the auditorium to listen to the principal speak. Because of the percentage of students who did so well on the state testing last year they are raising the expectations of the students. So they are going to be pushed this year.

Also the principal had to address the new laws on bullying and cyber-bullying. If a student partakes in cyber-bullying even if it's at home, then the school by law has to take action. They have been talking to the children about how to become the person in the circle of bullies who stands up and tells someone. It's so good to hear them taking a huge proactive stance against bullying. Especially considering just yesterday on my Monica's Mom Musings' blog Natalie shared a personal story there.

Then we got to go meet her team teachers. They seem so young. They all seem nice so far though. I did not really talk to them. After that we went back to the auditorium to hear from the Unified Arts teachers. And finally it was done.

Kaitlyn and CJ went to childcare. CJ was a huge hit there. As a matter of fact so much so that one of the middle school kids that was watching them took a picture of him with her phone and said she was going to have it as her screen saver. Hmmm, that seems a little creepy. Some girl I don't know has a picture of my son on her phone. Wonder what she'll tell people about who he is? Sounds like he had fun though and so did Kaitlyn.

It was a super late night for all. When we got home at nearly 9 we had to send Kaitlyn and CJ to bed right away. Natalie had stayed after at school yesterday to make cupcakes for the BBQ and hadn't come home. We ended up meeting her at the school last night. She did do most of her homework, but still had stuff to do when we got home. So she had to finish that and then I had to type something out for her so she could get to bed at a semi decent time last night.

Thankfully the morning didn't go too bad this morning. Although, I did send Natalie to school without breakfast because we had to stretch her paper some to make it the length her teacher wanted it to be. So she was going to get breakfast at school, but apparently her bus was too late for her to do that. Poor thing must have been starving all day. I think this is going to be a very challenging year for Natalie, but a good one. Lots of new stuff for her. Including getting to march in a parade on Sunday carrying a banner that shows her school as ranked #1 middle school in the state. What an awesome opportunity for her to get to do that and so great that she's a part of the #1 middle school in the state.