Madalyn

I know many of you have heard this story... but I still must document it.  Sadie needs to read it when she's older.  Of course Sadie wouldn't be Sadie if she didn't keep things interesting.  Sure enough we didn't make it too far into the school year before I got my first call from the principal--day #8 to be exact.

I walked Sadie to school in the morning and dropped her off as usual.  We made it back home.  Around 9:45 my phone rang and it showed up as the school.  I answered and the secretary said she was calling to find out why Sadie was absent.  I replied "I brought her to school this morning" (probably with a note of panic in my voice).  She quickly replied, "It's probably just a mistake, stay calm while I check and I'll get right back to you."  She put me on hold.

At first I thought, "That makes sense.  She's probably been in her room the whole time."  I waited... and waited... and waited... after about 3 or 4 minutes I started to get more panicked.  By that point I figured they must be looking for her or trying to figure out what to tell me.  I was trying to stay calm but my mind was racing with possibilities.  After 5 minutes of being on hold she came back and assured me that Sadie was in fact at school and safe.  I promptly thanked her and hung up before letting out all the tears I had been fighting back.

After I was able to pull it together I started wondering what had happened--if she had indeed been in her room the whole time.  I grabbed the iPad to e-mail her teacher but before I could get started the phone rang again.  Once again the school's name showed up.  This time it was the school's principal calling to explain what had happened.

When students come in first thing in the morning they sit down in the cafeteria in a line with their classmates.  Apparently Sadie had been trying to get into other lines but had always been put back into the correct line.  On this particular day she got into the line of a new Kindergarten teacher--I believe it was her 2nd or 3rd day.  (Sadie's school started with 4 K classes of 25 students each and the district decided to add an additional class to lower the numbers.  They pulled kids from each class to create a 5th class).  The teacher didn't notice that Sadie did not belong in her class when she picked up her kids and walked them to her room.  Apparently Sadie followed along with the other kids and hung her book bag up.  There was a little girl absent from this class so Sadie sat down in her seat.  She then proceeded to copy the name off the desk and write "Madalyn" on her papers.  She hung out in the class for over an hour as Madalyn!

When the school called and I told them Sadie should be there, they immediately buzzed her teacher who told them that Sadie had not been in the room all morning.  They then alerted the principal who did an all-call over the intercom.  At that point Sadie looked at the new teacher and said "I'm Sadie Gorsch."  They returned her to the correct classroom and said she didn't have too much to say.  When I picked her up that day she admitted that she knew it wasn't a good choice and that she just "wanted to check out the other class."  She also told me that she really likes the name "Maddie" (which is true).  As we continued to talk about her day I asked her if she had received a "key" that day (a school-wide incentive for good behavior).  Her reply, "Not in my real class but in the classroom I visited I did."  The teacher had rewarded her for good behavior when lining up to use the bathroom.

Not a dull moment with Sadie... I know she will keep us on our toes always!