First day of kindergarten!

It's hard to believe, but the school year has already begun, and the scene was a mixture of excited kids, apprehensive kids, crying parents, and parents counting down the minutes until their "vacations" began.

In preparation for the big day, Sonali did her first homework assignment which was an "All about me" poster. It included pictures drawn by Sonali, a paragraph she wrote about herself, family photos, and pictures of her bharatnatyam teacher. We brought the poster with us to the practice drop off and popsicle party on Tuesday.

Here is Sonali on the big morning sporting her first day of school outfit and big girl backpack. She was ready to go well before the rest of us!

This is the gang getting ready to head up the street to the neighborhood meeting point.

Every year, the families gather to take a picture of everyone setting off for Hunnewell Elementary. Nalini wanted to be part of the action, but she got bored by all of the flashing cameras.

Then the mob of us walked to school together. When we arrived at school, Miss McFarlane had already put lots of fun activities out on the classroom tables. Nalini sat right down with Sonali and didn't want to leave. On our way home, she kept saying, "I want to go to kindergarten. I NEED to go to kindergarten!"

After kindergarten, Sonali rode the bus to her after kindergarten school (in a local branch library) which is operated by Wellesley College. She will eat her lunch there most days (until kindergarten starts having 2 long days per week in late September) and will spend the afternoon with them. They have already started journals in the after kindergarten school, and they will be doing other educational activities throughout the year.

It looks like they are off to a great start! Sonali summed it up by saying it was a great day and couldn't wait to go back today.