The First Day of School! 9/01/2014

While our counterparts back in the states are taking the day off to celebrate Labor Day today, Justin and I are headed back to school. We got to school an hour early (because, of course we did, we’re running on Mr. Muenker time now) and we brought our lunches from home – leftover chicken tacos from last night. I made Justin take some obligatory First Day of School photos, and then I left him to his final preparations.

Our school is Pre-K through 12^th grade and this morning they set up a lovely welcome banner and hospitality tent for the parents with warm pastries, fresh fruit, coffee, and hot tea. Today is what’s called a “Visit Day’ for Pre-K and Kindergarten, which means the parents come (and stay) with their little ones, helping them get acquainted with the school, the classroom, the teacher, and the other students. It was an adorable swarming of tiny children, dwarfed by their enormous backpacks (do Kindergartener’s even need backpacks?), clinging for dear life onto their mother’s hand or father’s belt loops. The expressions these wee ones wore on their faces was an even mix of smiles and wide eyes, but also tears and little whimpers as they took in the unfamiliar atmosphere. There is nothing that will quite melt your heart like a little three-year old with a furrow in his brow and a serious grimace of uncertainty as he reluctantly drags his racecar backpack behind him on his way, (at his mother’s gentle prodding and cooing) to his new Pre-K classroom.

I think the welcome breakfast was a wonderful idea. It allowed parents to socialize with one another and gave the young children a little more comfort as they eased their way back into school. I busied myself in the middle of the courtyard with a homeroom class list, directing students and parents to their morning classes.

My own schedule remains nebulous at the moment so until I acquire my own case load of reading interventions I’m busying myself with brainstorming possible projects for myself. One idea is to form a literacy committee on campus and to undertake monthly literacy events that can involve our entire school, parents included. Another one is to get Howie the dog some volunteer hours spending time with struggling readers. One of my graduate professors trained her greyhounds to come into the public library and read with students. The idea, apart from the emotional support that animals can provide humans, is that if a child is too shy to read to an adult, they can read to a nice, happy dog. I see this being a mutually beneficial arrangement, since Howie himself is a struggling reader.

I immediately notice that students (and teachers for that matter) have a lot more freedom at this school. Students all the way up to high school get a 15-minute “break” mid-morning where they’re allowed to roam the campus like free-range chickens. Lunch is almost 40 minutes long, and again they can sit inside or outside the cafeteria, at whatever table they choose. And there doesn’t seem to be much adult supervision during these break times. This is how riots break out in public schools. But, maybe they know something here that we don’t back home. Maybe affording kids a few freedoms here and there teach them to be more responsible and less likely to skip class and break rules. The public school teacher in me is twitching at the thought, but it will be interesting to see how young people can cope with added freedoms. Coming from an environment that is so micromanaged into one that encourages daily breaks for rest and play is going to be a hard adjustment for us pair of workaholics. Maybe that will translate into more time for blog writing!