The kids are officially registered for school next year with classes starting in just a few weeks. I look forward to registration mostly so that I can find out the kids' teachers class list. Cate stays with Leigh this year as her teacher in 2nd grade. I love having the same teacher for two years. That second year is just such a breeze for parents, teacher, and kids. The kids know what the expectations are, how the classroom is managed, and what they need to do. They have seen the older kids doing the next grade's work, so they have a sense of where they are going. The teachers already know the kids from the previous year, where they are academically, and what will help them move forward. Easy, peasy!

This year, Christopher moves into "Upper" Group at Chugach (that's Chugach vocabulary for the 5th and 6th grade grouping). We found out his teacher will be Kate. I must admit, I don't know her much. Word is that she is the most kind-hearted of the upper group teachers. Kids who are self-starters are said to do best with her - -she's not as likely to push kids or stand over their shoulders every moment. I talked with Pam (his 4th grade teacher) this morning and she explained that she thinks Christopher is a kid who can work well with that latitude. At home that isn't always true, but it's good to hear that it is true at school. She also wanted to give that class some good, strong leaders and so she placed a few strong, well-behaved boys in the class together. I guess we'll see how it works.

Since I don't really know Kate as a teacher, it's hard to say whether that is good news. But what I do know is good news is that Pam put some of the most wonderful 5th grade boys together in Christopher's class. I really couldn't have picked better boys I'd rather see Christopher hanging with during this transition into the tween years. He is excited that he has again been placed with his best friend Elias. I also am excited for several of the other boys. They are boys who are strong academically, well-behaved, and focused self-starters.