Monday, September 1, 2014

First Day At School

DD and I are both night owls so mornings are not our best time of the day. While I've been clicking 'like' on tens of back to school photos on fb, all smiling with backpacks at the ready, these were our back to school photos:

I only managed to get her to agree to these because I told her it's school rules to have your photo taken on the first day of school.

We were [amazingly] up at 6.30 and DD even ate some breakfast which she never does usually as she's not hungry till lunchtime.

So we got to school in plenty of time for another photo...


Still not exactly happy but luckily we got a better photo last Thursday when they had a 'meet the class' lesson at 5pm (a much more civilised time imo).


Back to today, school started at 8 am but the parents had to be there for a 'Welcome 1st Grade' ceremony at 9 (Israel is big on ceremonies). I blubbed all the way through. DD at least sat with her class instead of running to sit on my lap like she did at the kindergarten ceremonies last year.

Filing in with her class
At the end of the ceremony we sang Hatikva and the headmistress announced that later they were going to have an air-raid drill to show the 1st graders where the bomb shelters are. "It's not a real air-raid," she explained to the little ones, "it's just a practise."

And school finished at 12.45 on the first day. Not my most productive morning.

DD came home with homework but it was just colouring and some sticking - I can deal with that. Obviously we haven't finished it yet as I have to teach her how to do it on her knees in bed at 11 pm. it's still early. :)

The verdict: "Mummy, I made a new friend but I just can't remember her name." That's good enough for me.

*I've linked this post to The Gallery at Sticky Fingers. Pop over to see more 'School' themed posts with photos. 

18 comments:

  1. First grade is such a huge thing, Mazal tov to both of you!

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    1. Thanks Doc, and i wish you and RR a successful academic year as well.

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  2. Can I high five you as a fellow night owl. Gosh the school early starts will be like a baptism of fire for Aaron and I. He used to be late at 21:30 for the past nearly 3 years but over the Summer holiday it got EVEN later.... and Me, I often sleep at 3. 1 a.m. is like an early night..... School starts at 08:45 and we normally get up 10:30 (or 09:30 at the earliest). I got him to go to bed early Saturday night in readiness for school starting Wednesday. Saturday night he was ASLEEP by 21:30 - I thought hoorah. Then next day up at 08:30 which I thought would enable another early night. But no, just because of the excitement of the new lunchbox he slept at midnight............ school won't be easy for us, but probably much needed routine. Or perhaps I should be kind to myself and simply say a different one.

    Love this post btw. DD is SUCH a cutie. So over there you start school this time of year too?

    Liska xx

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    1. We were also sleeping from after midnight till 10 or even 10.30 during the holidays. I'm noe off to bed and it's only 11. DD went to sleep at 8.30. It's just a matter of shifting the whole household a few hours back. And it takes loads of discipline for me to leave the computer at a reasonable hour and go to bed myself so that I don't have a problem getting up in the morning.

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  3. Congratulations. That's a big deal! I can't remember a lot of my friend's names either! :D

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    1. LOL, I don't even remember if they are my friends - I keep hearing myself saying, I know you from somewhere don't I?

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  4. Good to hear from you. New friends are good, names can wait.

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    1. I think she is having fun but she'd never admit it.

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  6. Lovely to hear about school in another country. x

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    1. I also like reading other expat blogs and seeing how they do things differently.

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  7. Aha, 'made a friend' fab :) you know now it's all going ok. ps we hate mornings too. I still, after 12 years, get everything ready the night before and stick to a rigid routine to get us throug it and out the door on time!

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    1. I keep meaning to do that getting everything ready the night before thing but actually, the snacks do taste better if they are prepared that morning and the cucumber dries out if it's cut too early. Her school bag only takes two secs as she only had a handful of lessons with homework and never more than two homeworks a night.

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  8. How different to our back to school and how lovely to read a different experience

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    1. Thanks Mari. Now I want to go to your blog and read about your back to school.

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  9. It's really interesting to hear about the experiences of another school different from what we experience in the UK. Hope to hear more!

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    1. I have a feeling you're going to regret saying that. We've got 12 more years of this. LOL.

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