First day of school

As the kids continue to get older, there is no longer the over excitement of going school supply shopping, finding out their schedules, and thinking about the first day of school. While they like to see their friends, they know the academic load and expectations are more the focus of what "starting school" is all about.

My daughter started her Freshman Year - but she is not on the High School Campus. That will happen next year for her. Instead, our district has a 2-year Junior High school, and her class is now the top-peeps on campus.

She is taking Advanced Math Algebra II, and got the teacher she was hoping for. I think she will find this class to be challenging, but enjoyable because the teacher seems like he is fair and easy to understand (finally).  She is also taking Pre-AP Lit and her reading/writing assignment during the summer was a good fresh start. I am confident she will thrive in this class; this has always been an interest of hers. The other classes are standard core classes of Science, State History, Health, Aerobics, and a class called Choices for Life. Stayed tuned about that one.

My son started his 7th grade year, and our District has a 2-year Middle School, so he too is a top-peep at his campus. Our Middle School does a Team Approach to dividing up the students per grade level. The theory is that there is a Team of teachers that teach the same Team of kids and everyone will learn better as the Teachers can collaborate their classes to fit into each other in scheduling tests/assignments/curriculum, and they can discuss each student. Each Team has approximately 120 students that rotate through the same Teachers during the day (but not at the same time; one student may have the English teacher first, while their friend may have that same English teacher third).

During the summer I had hoped that my son would not be on the Team with just 2-core teachers, compared to the standard 4-core teachers (gym and electives are not part of any Team, they end up teaching everyone in the building). I thought it would be limiting and feel more like Elementary School. Not only that, he would also only have 60-peers on his Team, and what if they were not good influences (I wasn't worried about him making new friends if his friends did not get on the same Team).

Guess what? My son got on the 2-core teacher Team. It was only about a two minute delay from disappointment to happy when the volume of his close peers came up to him at orientation to say that they too were on the same Team. And then, during Open House this week (I know!! So early, but yet so smart!! Start the year off quickly with the knowledge from the Teachers. I LOVE our fairly new Principal - he has done so many positive and smart changes), we heard from the 2-core teachers and this will be a fantastic year. Stay tuned about that ...

Although the first day of school was cloudy and rainy, and my pictures look like they were taken before the sun rose (they were), and my students were forcing their smiles and dragging themselves to the car to head to their respective school buildings - they honestly had a great first day, and their following days have continued to get better and better.

This is going to be a great school year!