Saturday 10 December 2011

Kids, April 2036

Round 32: April 2036 (Autumn)
Principal: Tatiana Lachance

Teachers: Pamela Gray, Finn Romilly
Students: Matthew and Simon Lane are both 11, Sylvia Draper, Alice Jacobson and Aurora and Bianca Moretti are all 10, Gabriel Nott, Ruby Lane and Ramona Nihill are all 9, Marcus and Charlotte Lane are both 7, Jacinta Nihill and Everett and Grace Benton are all 6, Michael Gottlieb, Keira Romilly, Thomas Moretti, Daphne Kirby, Elmer Miguel and Felix Lane are all 5 and Will and Levi Draper, Ryan Moretti and Jude Clarke are all 4.
Narrated by Finn Romilly

This year, we have our highest enrollment ever at Sullivan Primary.

We have 24 students, so things are always very lively around here.

I was a bit worried about Keira being a little fish in such a big pond but she’s in kindergarten now and she seems to have adapted very well to school. She’s had her cousin Daphne with her all the way, so that’s made it easier for her.

She’s the most shy out of our three kids but she’d made some new friends at school as well, which is fantastic.

Due to our very large enrollment, Pamela's class consists of the pre-school and kindergarten children combined.

The kids always seem to adore Pamela, so she’s the perfect first teacher for most of them. None of them were complaining about having her two years in a row.

I have a very diverse class, as usual. Ruby came to my class last year and she didn’t waste any time making herself known.

She’s the kind of kid you need to keep a close eye on. She’s a little bit of a schemer and she knows which kids are most easily influenced.

Ruby certainly keeps my job interesting, that's for sure.

Aurora and Bianca are two of the more well-behaved students. They’ll be here at the primary school for one more year after this one and I think I’ll miss teaching them. I guess I’m a bit biased, being that they’re my nieces, but they really are sweet girls.

I know my students would love to spend as much time colouring in and playing as the little kids do but there’s just not enough time for that, plus all the curriculum work we have to do.

Most of them just get on with it, because they know there’s no point arguing. Then there’s Alice, who will not focus on anything, unless it's science.

Whenever she gets bored with English, it’s never long before she comes up the front and starts her daily “why do I have to do this stuff?” plea.

Alice is extremely bright; she just finds it hard to motivate herself unless she’s already interested. With some prodding from me, she can produce some very good work.

Then there are kids like Sylvia, who try to keep reading under their desks after the class has moved on to the next lesson.

One thing where I can always guarantee all the kids’ full participation is the new buddies program.

We usually run it in Pamela’s room and it’s a good opportunity for the youngest kids in the school to get to know the older ones, almost like mentors.

My kids love it as much as the younger ones. They get the chance to play, something we don’t get to do a lot of normally.

And for those who are the babies of their families at home, I think they enjoy having someone look up to them for a change.

It’s been generally positive for the school. I see the older kids voluntarily sitting with their “buddies” at lunch sometimes.

Some kids still have some things to learn. I saw Ruby pushing in in front of Will the other day, which is obviously not something we want to encourage.

Tatiana has the smallest class this year - just five kids.

In the next couple of years, her students will move on to my class so I try to keep up to date with who’s who. Fortunately, most of the kids are quite nice, according to Tatiana.

I’m a little terrified at the prospect of getting two more Lane children in my class next year. There will be Marcus, Ruby’s little brother.

And Charlotte, Ruby’s cousin. It’s always concerning when a kid’s teacher tells you she has a child seated and facing away from the other kids and she still has to hover over her to make sure the work gets done!

Still, I like a challenge, so I’m looking forward to getting to know these kids as well.

Notes:
  • Last round's primary school update was so heavily posed that I ended up doing a more gameplay-oriented post this time. Even the buddies program was prompted by me being unable to keep the big kids out of the pre-school room!
  • Buddies is something else I stole from my real life job. I've never worked in a school without a buddies program. It's generally school-wide, rather than just the oldest and youngest kids. Each class has a buddy class and the kids in the classes are paired up "buddies". The classes get together once a week for combined activities and all the kids tend to enjoy it.
  • Next round, enrollment at the primary school will go down to 22 and thank goodness for that! This was the first time I had to add extra student tokens to the lot so I could get everybody enrolled. 24 kids is insane!

14 comments:

  1. LOL! I thought I had a lot of kids, but 24, wow! The buddies program looks like a lot of fun and Finn seems to have his work cut out for him with his class and especially little Ruby.

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  2. Apple Valley, I know, it's nuts! That's why I'm trying to take it easy on the babies. ;)

    Finn definitely has some difficult children in his class but he's very capable. He can whip them all into shape, at least for the time he has them in his class!

    Thanks for reading!

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  3. Wowww lots of kids, my mouth dropped when i seen the first picture. Amazing.

    Great update as always.

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  4. Nicky, this is the result of me not being able to say no to my Sims! I'm working on that. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

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  5. Ruby is so cute!!! I loved all these kids and their different personalities. Love the buddy program!! We had that in grade school too, only when I was in the upper grades and I thought it was so cool. It wasn't as awesome as yours though. O my select student got to, aka top achievers. I got to of course, being rather studious.

    Finns such a good teacher, I always like his view point. Not that your other teachers are bad ether. Pamela is perfect for the little ones, they just adore her and I think that so sweet.

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  6. Maisie, Ruby is adorable. An adorable handful but adorable nonetheless.

    We never had a buddy program when I was at school but we did do Peer Support, which the older kids led. Every Year 6 kid was assigned a group of younger kids and you'd get them together and do social skills activities every Friday afternoon. I loved it but my Year 5 co-leader was a dud. ;) But that was okay, because it just let me be more bossy!

    I love Finn as a teacher. I remember when he aged to teen, his first LTW was "Become Icon"! SO not him - I'm very glad I rerolled that, as I can't picture him as anything else now. I should let Pamela narrate one of these days, seeing Tatiana and Finn have both had a couple of turns.

    Thanks for reading!

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  7. I always love seeing all these kids together! It's so much fun! :)
    You do have a lot of kids! I have 22 next round, if I counted correctly, and I'm not looking forward to having to play them all at once!

    I never heard of a buddies program, but it sounds like fun :)

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  8. Tanja, they're a good bunch, these kids! I like them a lot.

    22 is a lot, I'm not going to lie! Just let most of them do their own thing, until you want pics. ;) I'd go nuts if I tried to do this by any other philosophy.

    Thanks for reading!

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  9. I have 12 kids and some days that feel like a lot. Whew at 24! Good luck with that. Even more so since your game didn't crash.

    The buddies program is adorable. Definitely a good idea in terms of socializing. Has anyone picked fights with anyone else yet?

    Oh man, Charlotte and Ruby are going to grow up to be even more interesting characters, I can see it.

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  10. Choco, I was amazed I didn't crash! I turned my lot distance down to Small and I think that helped a lot.

    No fights among this group yet, amazingly! I have a lot of mean kids but they're mostly well-behaved. Apart from the pushing in, the kids are mostly just boisterous!

    Ruby and Charlotte will be ones to watch as they get older. Ruby has all of her dad's confidence and boldness and Charlotte is just incredibly spoiled. It's going to be fun to see them when they're older!

    Thanks for reading!

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  11. Those Lane children, LOL. Poor little Will looks so wounded in that picture of Ruby pushing in front of him.

    I can't imagine putting so many Sims on one lot!!

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    Replies
    1. Ha, these Lane kids will be the death of me. They're ALL brats but Eliot and Cordy's kids are a little better reined in than Luc and Asha's. Ruby's such a bully, lol.

      Oh man, every round, I count up my kids to see if I'm going to have more or less than last time. Somehow I manage to hold roughly steady with the amount of kids, so fingers crossed I can maintain that. Large groups of kids are the hardest to handle and this is about as many as I can deal with!

      Thanks for reading!

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  12. Oh YEEEEES, a school update!!!! My, 24 kids, that must be something to handle (or to not handle!!!) What I adore with your school update is that they're insanely living! There's always stuff happening in every single picture. That's too cute.
    I like the Buddies program. We don't have anything similar in France... as far as I know.

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad you enjoy the school updates - they're often not that fun to play, because it gets a little stressful with so many Sims on the lot! Less handling is the way to go. I keep doing them though, because I'm always happy with the end result - lots of cute pics - even if I pulled my hair out trying to get them!

      The Buddies program is lots of fun in real life too. The kids all adore it!

      Thanks for reading!

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