Cameron's first day of school

Our son, Cameron's first day at Judith Jasmin, a French school 5 blocks from our Montreal apartment, was on August 29 and it was a good day.  Here are some photos I took that day.

Rear playground where you drop off and pick up kids.

Cameron wearing his new tie-dye shirt for his first day of school.  We didn't see any other kids wearing tie-dyes.
I wasn't sure if tie-dyes exist in Canada (other than in Cameron's drawers, which are packed with them!), but a Canadian friend who read this entry assures me that Canadians do indeed wear tie-dyes!  

Cameron's class is the small group on the right in the back.

 I was a little worried at first about how Cameron would handle being in a French school when he didn't speak French, but he managed just fine. He's in what they call a Welcoming Class, which means a class of kids from all over the world who have come to Montreal and don't yet speak French.  Normally kids stay in the welcoming class for two years then they transition to the regular classroom where only French is spoken.  In Welcoming Classes, there is some English spoken here and there in the beginning.

There were 17 kids in Cameron's class initially, with a couple more added the next month. Cameron is the only American in his class.  Initially, there was a boy from India, Andrew, who spoke English so Cameron was happy to have someone to talk to, but on day 3, Cameron sadly told me that Andrew had moved to a different school.  But he made other friends.  A couple of the kids speak a few words of English and kids can figure out ways to communicate without language (... soccer is helpful for that!).

Now (in early October) Cameron's main friends at school are Mia (a little girl from China), Namkyu (a boy from South Korea), Iskander (from Tunisia), and Adelin (from Algeria).

Cameron's class.  Iskander is in the front on the right, Mia is next in line with the pink shirt, Namkyu is wearing the baseball cap next to Cameron and Andrew is facing Cameron and looking at the camera.

The front of Cameron's school.

I pick up Cameron at 4:05pm every day.  The buses are lined up, the bell rings, and the kids pour out.   Cameron and I ride bikes to school when the weather is nice.  The school is only 5 blocks from our apartment.