Tears

Tears......that is what we had on Julia's last day of school.  She was fine and dandy until it came time to leave the school.  She got into the van and I knew there was gonna be tears.  Her aide said there had been some at school, too.  She is heartbroken.  Her beloved teacher will not be going to 3rd grade with her.  She has known this all along but the actual ending of 2nd grade (which she has LOVED) is very sad for her.  When nothing has ever been consistent in your life you hold onto anything and everyone you can.  Because they just might leave you.  I explained that school is not China and her teacher will be there in the Fall.  I explained that her teacher will still love a hug from her.  But it's not enough.  She doesn't want things to change.  At all!

On the up side......she has come soooooo far!!!!!!!  At the beginning of the year she didn't know most of her letters or sounds.....now she's reading!  She and Joy are at about the same level there.  Kind of cool cause they help each other.............and fight over who got the word right first!  Her math skills are through the roof.  She can count from 1-100 in less than a minute.  And she can count backwards from 100 as well.  She is a wiz at addition and subtraction, but forgets them if we don't practice so guess what we're doing this summer?  Mean mom!  In 3rd grade they will be doing more division and multiplication so we need to practice more on that.  She's very good at it though.  Better than addition/subtraction.  Her spelling has come a long way too.  Her first spelling words were words like: the, am, it......her last group of words were the months of the year.  She and Joy are about the same place there too. 

Some of her personal goals this year were: walking to/from school.....did it, getting to the bathroom in time.....done it and getting her clip (for behavior) onto the principal's shirt.......did it!  She also sang one of her Chinese songs for her class, the principal and her music teacher.  She had a great year!  I can see why she is so sad to see it end.  She was thrilled to be allowed to go to school and didn't waste a second learning as much as she could.  She was even given a couple of awards for her awesome attitude!  Today she was telling me that the kids have started talking to her at recess and in gym.  This is big news!  When you don't speak the language it's very hard to make friends.  They have been wonderful to her but she has still been the odd man out.  That's starting to change!  She has even been invited to a birthday party this summer! 

So......a few tears today.....but overall she's very happy and super proud of herself!  As are her parents!