The Newest Kindergartener

My niece, Marissa, is 5 years old and is the daughter of Matthew's sister and her husband.

Marissa is in Mrs. C.'s Kindergarten class. (Mrs. C. has also taught both my girls so she is very very important to our family.)

Mrs. C. has an intern, Miss T. of whom Hannah also had when she was in Kindergarten. She enjoys being with all the kids.

The first thing Mrs. C. said about Marissa to me (after the first day of school) was "She definitely is not like her cousins." Meaning that she is definitely more outgoing, friendly and warm to others while my girls take a while to warm up to others whether it's adults or children.

Yes, Marissa is definitely more extroverted than my girls. But Mrs. C. says that she is most like her cousins in the areas of academics: being on task, getting her work done on time and completing it neatly and correctly.

I am very proud of my niece. This is the first time she has been in school everyday for the whole day. That's a huge change from preschool. Plus this is a new school for her. She attended preschool elsewhere. I also worried about her being able to communicate effectively in English. You see, she is fluent in Chinese (Cantonese). That is her first language. But she expresses herself extremely well in English and Chinese. She has one over on her cousins. They are not bilingual.

She is also very active. Her teacher says she has great upper body strength.

She also loves seeing her Biu-Jehs (older cousins) every day too!

I am very blessed to be able to see her everyday at school. It's really nice to see family on a regular basis. Who knows.. I may even get the opportunity to be her substitute teacher. I wonder how that will be?