First day of 3rd grade

Today is Abbie's first day of 3rd grade. With the way that Montessori schools are structured, the 1st through 3rd graders are all grouped together in one Lower Elementary classroom. This means that Abbie is now essentially a "senior" - one of the oldest and most knowledgeable kids in the classroom. I think she is looking forward to this new level of responsibility, and presumably the respect that comes with it. One of her goals this year is to be a positive role model, and there are all sorts of "newbies" - kids just coming into 1st grade this year - that she can help along.

We have also started with a new level of responsibility for her at home. This year, she is responsible for packing her lunch every day. Over the weekend, she needs to plan out what she is going to have to eat each day and then we get the things she needs from the grocery store. Each morning, I am going to leave it up to her to get everything packed and ready to go. We practiced with it over the summer a little bit, so this morning it went pretty smoothly. She packed milk, apples, triscuits, and turkey and lettuce roll ups, so I think she'll be in good shape.