Friday 10 December 2010

Kids, June 2030

Round 29: June 2030 (Winter)

Principal Tatiana Lachance is 47, Pamela Gray is 45 and Finn Romilly is 29.
Students: Mitchell Carmody is 11, Emma Gottlieb, Jessica Royce-Nihill, Timothy Lane and Eddie and Louisa Gentry are all 10, Justin and Xavier Moretti, Declan Romilly and Austin and Lauren Carmody are all 9, Brendan Lachance and Caitlin Romilly are both 7, Annabel and Georgina Nott are both 6, Matthew and Simon Lane are both 5 and Alice Jacobson, Sylvia Draper and Aurora and Bianca Moretti are all 4.

When Tatiana took some time off after the death of her mother, Pamela agreed to deal with all of her principal duties while she was gone. She's due to return today and Pamela is just finishing up some paper work, so there's not too much for Tatiana to do first thing in the morning.

As soon as Tatiana enters the office, Pamela is ready to brief her on everything that's gone on while she's been gone.

It's a tad overwhelming.

But she takes it all in anyway, because really, she needs to.

And in general, Tatiana is glad to be back.

The kids in her class are glad to have their teacher again too.

They had fun with their substitute as well but Tatiana has missed important stuff while she's been gone.

Annabel isn't Tatiana's most conscientious student but she is pleased to hear that Annabel managed to write an excellent story for the sub.

Considering Annabel often won't work unless Tatiana is standing right over her, this is an achievement.

Annabel's twin sister Georgina is her polar opposite. While Annabel is loud and boisterous, Georgina is quiet and shy and keeps her head down and does her work.

Not that she is never distracted.

Not all of Tatiana's students work as well independently as Georgina. Some, like Caitlin, are very bright but sometimes a little reluctant to stay on task.

This will not fly in Tatiana's classroom. Everyone else has returned to their desk, so Caitlin will have to join them.

Caitlin doesn't actually mind school. She just likes being a bit cheeky and testing the boundaries every now and then.

Pamela is so relieved to be able to go back to being just a classroom teacher. She loves her job and after doing Tatiana's job for a while, she knows she has no desire to become principal any time soon.

All of the little girls in her class this year are quite attached to her.

Alice and Sylvia never had much trouble adjusting to pre-school. They met and became friends before they even started school, so it wasn't much of a trial for them.

At the beginning of the year, Pamela was concerned about how shy Aurora and Bianca were.

They barely even talked to her, let alone Alice or Sylvia.

They're still very shy but both girls have blossomed during their first half of pre-school.

Bianca and Aurora are still more likely to play with each other than with anyone else.

But sometimes, they'll get brave and branch out, which Pamela loves to see.

And at lunch time today, Bianca is being very brave indeed and is sitting with two older students, Caitlin and Brendan.

Brendan is reconsidering his choice of table.

But it's soon time to head out to the playground anyway.

Where there appears to be some kind of tournament going on.

It's a little cold but the kids never seem to notice that anyway.

Even Pamela gets in on the fun.

Someone has to demonstrate safety on the play equipment, after all!

Although she's a little too self-conscious to continue once the other teachers come outside.

Finn's class have been working hard, so after lunch, he takes them into the gym for some sport as a treat.

Most of the kids are having the time of their life in the gym.

Declan is enjoying the lesson too but he takes the punching bag about as seriously as he takes everything else.

Some of the kids are just not interested today. Emma has struck up a conversation with Louisa...

...though she is also an enthusiastic supporter of the game Lauren and Jessica are playing.

Austin can't even find it in him to show any interest in the other kids' games, let alone play himself. He's just planning on staying on the bench and waiting for the bell to ring. If he's quiet, maybe the teacher won't even notice he's not playing!

Notes:
  • I didn't end up trying to do this session with all the kids unselectable. I don't think it would have worked anyway, because it's a community lot and it's hard to keep Sims on a community lot unless they are selectable. If one of you tries it out though, I'd be interested to hear how you go.
  • This was the last primary school update for Mitchell, Emma, Jessica, Timothy, Eddie and Louisa. I can't believe it! So next round, it'll be six out and only three in. A slight reduction in enrollment!
  • Brendan had the want to hire Dominic as an employee, so apparently, he'd rather have his big brother as his teacher than his mother. Pity his brother doesn't have a degree!
  • I think it was funny that in this round's Draper 2 update, I wrote in that part about Sylvia idolising Mrs Gray and then I just happened to get that shot of her walking alongside her teacher, looking up at her with wide eyes. Too cute!
  • Austin's strategy was my PE strategy from kindergarten onwards. It doesn't really work that well, lol!

15 comments:

  1. I don't know about you, but Sylvia Draper might be my new favorite in Sullivan; she's such a doll! I agree with Pamela though, principals work WAY too hard. It's just a pity Tatiana's time off was for something sad :(

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  2. I'm glad Tatiana is back at work and that things are getting back to normal for her.

    LOL at Austin's strategy for avoiding actual movement in gym class. I must admit that was my strategy as well. :)

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  3. Renegade, I think Sylvia will be interesting to watch, personality-wise too. She's slightly serious, and I don't have too many serious Sims.

    I'm a teacher myself and I am just very thankful that our school is big enough that there are plenty of other teachers ready to step up to the plate and take over for the principal whenever it's needed! I'm definitely not interested in that kind of job!

    Rachel, the routine has helped Tatiana and she really loves her job as well. They do say you have to keep busy, at times like these.

    LOL! You too, huh? Who'd have thought that kids so disinclined towards PE would be later drawn to such sedentary pursuits, like Simming and blogging? ;)

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  4. I can't wait to see Caitlin grow up; she's one of my favs.

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  5. Wow, the last primary school update for Mitchell, Emma, Jessica!? Time does fly. I can't wait to see them as teens, though.

    This was a cute update. I'm going to be doing my first primary school update next so I'm glad to see yours to get some ideas. This is my first school update ever and I was a little worried what to write about since they're not high schoolers with raging hormones and drama :). And that is great how that shot with Sylvia following Mrs. Gray worked out. She's as cute as a button.

    Austin's strategy was similar to mine in PE class, too LOL. We had warm-ups at the beginning of our classes and since our class was so huge, I'd hang out in the back so they couldn't really see me. Then I would kneel down to "tie my shoe" for a while and take a break lol. I learned that in high school so maybe Austin will too :).

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  6. Wow, your kids are growing up so fast. I'm not surprised at Caitlin, was her grandmother a little spitfire when she was younger?

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  7. LaurelCrossing, Caitlin is one that I'll be a bit sad to age up! I love her so much as a child. But I'm very curious at the same time.

    Danielle, yep, those six kids are all growing up next round! Time flies indeed!

    Can't wait to see your primary kids. I admit, the primary school updates are the hardest to write for me. There's never too much drama. I need another Josie, kicking kids in the head, LOL.

    Ha, another master of PE avoidance! Once I worked out hiding didn't work (small classes at my school), I moved on to faking illnesses. This should be Austin's next move, lol.

    Apple Valley, ha, Megan?Probably! I didn't pay as much attention to things like that back then. I think Caitlin has the same tendency towards know-it-all-ism and she says whatever she thinks, just like Megan. I don't see her turning out as conservative as Megan though.

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  8. I always love your school updates, there's always so much going on! When I sw the ages of some of the stundents, I couldn't believe they were that age already!

    I can see that it was hard on Pamela taking over temporarly. On the other hand it's good she got the chance this way before she ever became a principal, and didn't liked it all!

    Sylvia looking up to Pamela is a great picture!
    Lol at the tournament on the playground!!

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  9. This is just wonderful! Every little detail is perfect, and the kids are really growing up so fast.

    Have to admit I know nothing about how a school is run and certainly don't envy a teacher's job. It has to be extremely difficult.

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  10. Awww at all the kids! Have we seen Pamela before? I forgot to ask that last entry. Because I don't remember her?

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  11. Tanja, thanks Tanja! Those ages just creep up on you, don't they?

    Very true! If Pamela ever had any aspirations of becoming principal, this would have cured her of them.

    The monkey bars showdown makes me laugh. I have never seen real kids do that. Real kids start complaining to the teacher that someone is crossing from "the wrong side"!

    S.B., thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's a good way for me to get to know the kids, because in my regular updates, they often get forgotten among their parents' and older siblings' stories.

    Teaching is definitely tough, even if you get lucky with a great bunch of kids and supportive colleagues. But it's very rewarding as well. :)

    Lunar, yes, we've seen Pamela before. She started in 2020, when the new school opened. But she's had a haircut, so you might not recognise her. She's Corbin's wife and mother of Julia and Lucy. :)

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  12. I always enjoy reading your school updates very much!

    I think it's adorable how the pre-schoolers follow Pamela around. My niece is in pre-school now and she seems to think that her teacher is the coolest person ever.

    Oh, I remember trying to avoid PE too but my school was so small that the teachers would always notice if there were any students slacking off.

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  13. Sari, thanks, I'm happy to hear that.

    I've been on the receiving end of adoration from the little ones and it's really quite sweet. It doesn't take long at all for them to warm to you. I'm actually a substitute, so yeah...it really doesn't take long.

    LOL, been there! Our school was under 500 students and my class was the smallest in the school. There was no hiding, not that I still didn't try!

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  14. Aww lots of cute little kids! I can't wait til Caitlyn is in her Dad's class! That's going to be fun!

    My kids personally would love their Dad to work at their school (all cause of the Ramona and Beezus movie, which was totally great.)

    Somehow I don't know if Caitlyn will think it's that great though. ;)

    Love the pictures of Tatiana in her office, with her purse. She does look a little bit overwhelmed coming back into everything. I'm glad she was able to get the time off.

    I too was a gym avoider. In high school I took full class load to avoid PE until junior year, when I wanted early release. Then I forced myself to do the one week of four square. ;)

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  15. Maisie, LOL, I don't think Caitlin is looking forward to it half as much as you are. She's a goof off and her dad won't put up with that.

    Neither of my parents are teachers but I used to think I'd want them working at my school. I was cured of that notion well before I started high school though, lol!

    I had to Google four square - we call that handball here. Man, I would have totally done a week of handball to miss out on PE! Here though, there's not as much freedom in class choice. You choose a foreign language for Year 7 and 8, some electives for Year 9 and 10 (with English, Maths, PE and Science still being compulsory) and then it's all electives for Year 11 and 12 (plus religion for me, because I went to a Catholic school).

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