Without my glasses and with the sun in my eyes, I snapped a few pictures of Little Missy Em's first day of first grade. It was Tuesday. She didn't eat much breakfast. But I was consoled by the fact that from now on she'll have hot lunch at school (and judging from the menus, Canyons School District does a far, far better job of lunch than I ever have).
Oh, the sun it was bright as the neighborhood kids gathered at the right spot/right time.
I asked her to give me a little wave as she boarded the bus, which she did, but as you can see, she was more interested in getting on with things than in sappy good-byes.
She has two first-grade teachers, Ms. Snow and Mrs. Lee. Mrs. Lee is her Chinese teacher and just moved here from Taiwan (leaving her husband behind so she can teach 50+ Draper, Utah, kids Mandarin). She's about 4'10" and has a great big smile with dimples. I hope Mr. Lee will be okay. Emma starts her day with a couple hours of non-stop Chinese with Mrs. Lee, then has hot lunch (oh, it thrills me), then has English language arts in the afternoon with Ms. Snow, a 30-year first grade veteran teacher who has been the district literacy specialist, so she's great with teaching reading.
Emma is already speaking lots of Chinese at home. It's quite remarkable. Lots of songs and little phrases. She just pops out with stuff. ("Almost as if she's wired for it," says Joe.) I'm excited for her. A whole Mandarin universe awaits.
