Evie's erster Schultag

 

Our baby girl was off to school!  Officially starting school is a pretty big deal to every kid and for our kiddo it meant skipping over the traditional Kindergarten that she would have been starting in (America) Fall 2020 and going right into the 1.Klass in Germany.  

• Children in Germany go to "Kindergarten" from age 2-6, basically their days are full of fun and play with no major school structure, so to speak
• After Kindergarten they are off to the Grundschule (Primary) for Classes 1-4

In the states Evie had the opportunity to attend an awesome preschool with great structure, many learning and growth opportunities, a loving environment and fun activities.  After pre-school she attended Transitional Kindergarten, which we sometimes referred to it as Kindergarten for kids with summer birthdays!  It was a wonderful small class from 9:00-3:00 everyday with wonderful teachers and Evie really loved it and learned a lot.  Now, a month into German school we are feeling very thankful for what she has already learned and experienced because her current curriculum is mostly review but now it is all in German!

Our week leading up to the first day of school was pretty busy.

1. Tuesday, ElternAbend - this is the parents information night for everyone in Evie's class.  My friend Monica went with me that evening to help translate all that was being said.  After 2 hours of introductions from the Director, Teacher and parents along with a quick glimpse of her classroom my head was about to explode. I spent over an hour after I got home translating the pile of paperwork I received, preparing anything I needed to hand in by the end of the week.  
2. Thursday, Ökumenischer - Schulanfangsgottesdienst für die 1. Klasse - This is a wonderful church service the night before the 1st day where the priest blesses the children and families and offers words of encouragement through prayers and songs.  Granted it was all auf Deutsch but I got the gist of it.
3. The erster Schultag - Friday, September 18th we presented Evie with her Schultüte and big backpack and marched off to join the other 21 children in welcoming them to the 1.Klasse

The Schultüte is an old German tradition, a symbol of tradition filled with goodies both sweet and useful in school or anything special to give the children on their 1st day.  Evie had a new umbrella, 1st Day School book, German workbook, stickers, erasers, things she can use in school and a few sweet treats. 

The enrollment ceremony on Friday morning was quite the event.  Two parents were allowed to come into the Schulhof to sit (at 1,5 meters or more apart from the others) to hear a few words from the Director, the teacher Frau Thomas and watch a welcoming song presentation from the 2. Klasse.  After that, each child's name was called to join the teacher and go to their classroom.  Evie ran like the wind when her name was called!  The kids spent about a half hour with their teacher while we waited on the other side of the school (William played and ran around the playground).  When the kids rejoined I looked out for Ev so that she could see me and when I saw her little face there was this look of panic, fear, confusion - I think all of the above.  We knew she was going to be confused not knowing anything that was being said but we tried to keep it as positive as possible telling her it's only going to get easier! 

Pictures from events of the first week.

Evie was pretty happy after we were home and discussed everything about school.  She seemed excited to start fresh on Monday.  It is also traditional to have a family dinner on this night with the school child deciding what to eat and finish off with a cake or something to celebrate.  Well we had already done the cake at the beginning of the week - Evie couldn't wait to make it :)  Since we had that to finish up she decided on pizza for dinner!

After a good, fun weekend our little Smurf was ready to roll into her first week of school. (She is in the 1c. Klasse and they all (1a. & 1b.) had a theme - Evie's being the Smurf/Schlumpf Klasse!) 

The first full week was great.  There was homework to do!  It was/is definitely a tough transition and information overload on a daily basis we are sure.  Six year olds do not know quite yet how to handle their emotions so there were some tough moments out of sheer exhaustion where she had to let some of it out.  Overall she has done really well.  I often explain that how she is feeling is exactly how it was for me when I attended the Volkhochschule every single day for hours a day back in 2011.  I didn't know anyone or have any idea of what was being said but it got easier day after day. 

By the second week Evie had caught the "welcome back to school cold" but it was accompanied by a fever and cough so it was best to miss two days and recuperate.  It was during these 2 days I realized the major struggle to get the school work done at home.  Part of it was because the material she was learning in school is "stupid and for babies" she said but really what that meant was that she has learned it already.  That is great though!  The struggle is with the language so the challenge for us is to keep it positive and tell her that she needs to review what she has already learned but this is in German.  We encourage her to write the letters and numbers and color the shapes as good as she can so that Frau Thomas knows she can do it!

It got better, the 3rd and 4th weeks were good.  Full weeks and a happy school girl.  She loves making friends and everyday has a new best friend.  She loves recess of course because it is her social time.  She likes to give "English lessons" on the playground and collect Kastanien (chestnuts).  We try to make the Hausaufgabe (homework) fun each day - for example I will do it with her, we make copies on the printer of whatever it is so that we can all do it or daddy does push-ups while Evie writes her rows of 1, 2, 3, etc.!

Week 2 - Here we go!

Week 3 - Here we go!

On to week 4!

The walks to and from school are great (as long as little brother is being cooperative - ugh!) We have a Laufgruppe (walking group) that we meet everyday to walk to school.  There are a few others in our neighborhood and it's wonderful for the kids to walk together and for me to chat with the other parents.  (Great for my German speaking especially :)

We are now in the 5th week and next week is the Herbst-Ferien (fall break) which will be a good time to rest her brain for a bit.  So far it has been going really well.  Evie is happy and excited to go to school each day.  We don't ask too many questions to frustrate her and let her discuss whatever she wants to discuss about school.  I do communicate with the teacher through an app called SchoolFox and she agrees that Evie is doing well.  She is adjusting and certainly needs time to learn the language, but it will be so neat when she really gets it!  Evie has already corrected me a few times with my pronunciation of certain words!

I swear, she seems a year older to me only after a few weeks right now.  Maybe because this new experience has forced her to mature a little bit.  I don't know, but she is in good spirits regardless of the language barrier and continues to go with the flow.  Fingers crossed for our good roll to continue.  We know there will be ups and downs.  This is a really great and exciting opportunity for our kids and I'm happy they are experiencing another culture and learning another language at such a young age.  Now hurry up and learn so you can translate for us hahahahaha!

Bis zum nächsten Mal,

Tschüss!