Jaiden's first day was not the same first day as Alyssa's... however, this year he did go to school on Alyssa's first day but as a WEB leader ... which is basically an 8th grade role model to help orientate the 6th graders but it's a year long commitment. It's a bit of an honor to be part of this group because you need to demonstrate leadership qualities, good behavior (no lunch or iPad detention), good grades and a few other things. And you have to apply giving reasons why you think you'd be a good WEB leader.
At first, he wasn't sure he wanted to apply except that he really did want to sign up but none of his friends were. We talked about how he has wanted to be a WEB leader since 6th grade and it didn't matter if friends were in it or not, and maybe you should just try it out and see what happens. To my delight, he applied.
He stayed signed up even when he found out he'd have to do 2 half day from 8am - noon workshops just before school starts in August.
He stayed signed up even when that meant he'd be at school on the 1st day for 6th graders while his buddies had one more day of summer.
He stayed signed up even when going to school on the 1st day for 6th graders meant he had to be there at 7 am! An hour and 20 minutes earlier than when school starts!
He headed out of the house Tuesday at 6:45 am like this...
I should have taken a photo of the back of his shirt as it says WEB leader but I loved that he wrote his name so creatively. He did get to come home at 1 pm and we went to the comic shop and lunch before Alyssa returned. The best part was how he told me all about the details of what it was like to be a WEB leader. Three interesting things he said was:
1. that as WEB leaders they are supposed to be dispersed among the 6th graders, not clumped together but how hard it was when they sorted the 6th graders into Oldest child, Middle kids, Youngest child and Only child. He said most the WEB leaders were oldest kids and most the 6th graders were not!
2. He sat between 2 chatty 6th grade boys and then when the teachers were making jokes or getting kids to dance, he'd get up and get silly (they were told to do this), but what he thought was funny is the surprised looks on the 6th graders as they were trying to figure out if this was cool or not!
3. Finally, the most hilarious part was he told me how the WEB leaders debriefed with the WEB teachers and when asked what was most hard or challenging? All of the leaders commented how rowdy, not paying attention the 6th graders were. The WEB teachers chuckled and said that happens every year! Even I chuckled over that one but it was great because they also talked about how the WEB leaders can work through that next time in all the other activities the WEB leaders host during the year.
So proud of him!
He did finally have his first "official" day of school on Wednesday, and I had to be quick with his photos especially when he tried to tell me the one above counted for the first day. Out of 5 photos total, here are my 2 favorites...
I tried to get him to pose with this photo but he was like "mom, just take the photo!"
So there it is, his last first day of middle school... sigh, just where did the time go?
