1. January 2012 Updates: First Day at Emu Plains Public School Year 1

2. As usual, it isn’t easy to wake Hahgoot up in the morning... But this year I told her I will not dress her up, and she has been trying to co-operate, though she still takes a long time in the morning to get ready. Living across the street from the school has reduced a lot of the morning stress. Here is Hahgoot’s school dress (there is no winter\summer divide).

3. Modelling the school’s hat and bag

4. OK, the girls are ready to go! As we live so close, Alma usually walks wearing her elephant lead.

5. When we arrived at the school we waited to meet Mr Best, the principal (Hahgoot is worried he might turn into Mr Worst if he is angry...). Then Hahgoot spent some time in the library doing worksheets till they finalized the class numbers and allocated her into a Year 1 class. She joined 1L, with Mrs Loobeek. She was very happy there and sent me home after two minutes, which was good to see.

6. Back at home Alma and I were busy – two guys arrived from IKEA to assemble our new bookcases\TV area. It took them 2.5 hours – and they knew what they were doing! Alma was the first person to test out the new TV area with a Maisy DVD.

7. When Hahgoot came home we had afternoon tea, TV time with Spot the dog and then a lot of running and crashing upstairs before bath time.

8. Inside the school on the second day. The school is very relaxed and safe. There is no violence and the kids are very nice.

9. The classes are not grouped by age in a certain area but are scattered around the various buildings quite randomly. This is an anti bullying program, where the big and small kids have to learn to live together (it works very well here). Bottom left: the canteen. Bottom right: the library.

10. In the evening Hahgoot read stories in Hebrew and English about Tu Bishvat, did worksheets on the topic and wrote letters.

11. In our next presentation: February Updates!