Reuniting with the Sparkle Diamonds

I have had a wonderful first two days of school. We have most of our kids returning and three new ones. But they have all been to AISL in first grade and so they know me already. Today we had all of our students except one who is still on holidays. This is so much better than the beginning of last year where I had four students who were on holidays for an extra month and one girl out for three months due to visa problems.

It's funny because I've noticed some slight differences in them. Some were expected; they are taller, or Tyron's four front teeth grew in only for the other two next to them to have fallen out, or they are more reserved and quite, Yousouf refuses to smile again. But, some changes were unexpected, Bofe has chunked out and gained weight while his sister and brothers that make up the quadruplet are still string beans. Lilly doesn't wear her hair in two braids that stick straight out the sides of her head but instead has one fat braid down the back. They have their original accents back. Gradually as last year progressed their accents became more like mine. They pronounced words the way I did and less like their parents. But, now after speaking other languages all summer they have those beautiful accents back.

I continue to enjoy the help and company of Patricia. She is so joyful and really makes me relax and be more playful and social. Today we got excited as we made plans for me to spent a weekend at her house and she is going to teach me how to cook Nigerian food. I'll sleep in the bedroom with her son and daughter. And visit their church. She said "Oh, I'll begin to tell everyone that I have a very special friend visiting!"

We've been busy getting to know each other all over again. Today through our bio poems I learned things about them that I didn't even know. Liana knew that bio was short for biography. I learned that Toyah, who is new, fears tarantulas. Yousouf never wants to be alone. Moji is a student of life. However, I did know that Kaelan is a lover of Roxy his dog and that Bella loves to read her favorite book Fame School curled up in her bed. We painted self portraits with watercolors and made face glyphs with curly cues that told how many siblings we have. Surprisingly they were really responsible with the paint leaving no puddles or mixed paint boxes.

Great news! Mary Ann has decided to do the National Boards as well. Now, we can be motivated and work together on getting it done. This is getting better every day.