Alexa's first day of school

Alexa's first day of school in the UK was today. We arrived to the school early to drop off all of her paperwork and meet her teacher. Then we went out to the playground to wait for school to start and mingle with the other parents and students. The mingling was minimal, but the Head Mistress did rustle up another Year 4 girl to help Alexa to her classroom. As she introduced Alexa to Maxine, about 4 other girls ran up to us to see the new girl. Alexa acted shy. Then the bell rang and she was led by Maxine into school, looking back only once. She said she was pretty much over her shyness as soon as I left.

When we picked her up from school this afternoon, she was all smiles.

Unfortunately we received very little information from her aside from the fact that she really liked the school. She talked with Grandma on Skype and a little more at dinner and here is what we have pieced together:

- Assembly is every morning and they sing hymns and have some sort of worship (It is a Church of England school)
- There are three break times (recess), one in the morning, one with lunch and one in the afternoon. This seems to have really impressed Alexa.
- They eat their lunch outside and then play.
- The "Big Field" is only open once a day and when it is, everyone runs with their hands in the air to get there.
- Alexa is teaching some of the girls a new tag game that involves sharks, fish, minnows, octopus and rock/paper/scissors
- She played American Idol in the first break with some girls and went first with a dance routine.
- She played America's Got Talent in the second break and also found the secret club of some of the other Year 4 girls.
- She played Britain's Got Talent in the third break.
- In the first and second breaks, some Year 6 girls kept following her around and asking her to say something. So she said, "Hi." Then they would ask her to say something else and she said, "Bye." Then she and her friends ran away.
- There is homework only once a week (we will see about that)
- She will be learning French on Mondays
- In class, she had to introduce herself and tell where she is from. She told them she was from America, from Texas and from Houston. All of the kids had a collective intake of breath after each announcement.
- During one of the breaks, Alexa and her friends were seeing how far out they could pull their skin by their hairline when one of the girls noticed that Alexa had a red bump on her forehead. No one seems to know where it came from, but Alexa had to go to the office and put ice on it.
- Alexa is trying out for Football (Soccer) tomorrow, but it is really only for boys. She is trying out anyway - but not gonna be on the team.
-Although she has made 5 friends, she only knows Lily's name.