The beginning of a new school year has always been my favorite time of year. As a teacher and a mother, it was the clean slate-fresh start of late August that shouted Happy New Year to me, much more so than January 1 ever did. I still feel a twinge of nostalgia when I see the yellow buses begin to roll, and I will never lose my love of blank notebooks and an unopened package of sharpies.
Sure there are things I don't miss...making lunches first thing every.single.morning springs immediately to mind, but mostly I feel a little wistful this time of year. How about 13 Things on a Thursday-old school style?
1. Meet the teacher. My daughter is teaching school in South Carolina and her district holds a one hour meet and greet a couple of days before school begins. Parents and students are invited to stop by the school, find their classroom, lug in their tissues and their Clorox wipes and their hand sanitizer so they have less to lug on Day 1, and best of all, meet their teacher.
When my girls were in elementary school they didn't know who their teacher would be until they heard their names called on that very first day. So much unnecessary anxiety! Parents didn't meet the teacher until Back to School Night, which was a couple of weeks in to the year.
2. Our front porch-the rules stated that a photo had to be snapped here on the first day of school. Whose rules? Mine of course.
This little outfit came from Gymboree. Do moms still shop at Gymboree? Does she look too little to be going to school? I think this was PK, but even for that she seems teeny tiny.
This one is wishing we had a meet the teacher day before school started-
I can almost feel the happy scary nerves.
2. Backpacks-bigger than my children.
Ridunkulous!
3. Lunchboxes-such a monumental decision. I remember standing in the store for hours (or at least for what
felt like hours) before settling on a lunchbox. We started school most often with Disney themed lunchboxes, then graduated to canvas bags and finally in the high school years, a brown paper sack. We had to remember to buy those when we were in the US, because at the time, there were none to be found in the UK.
4. The bus-my least favorite thing about sending my girls off to school. When Daughter1 started kindergarten we lived atop a mountain in a little town in New Jersey. The idea of that bus making its way down those winding roads, particularly in the wintertime, could keep me awake at night.
When we moved to Maryland, my girls had a short ride to school. Their first driver was, to put it kindly, ancient. I'm serious...he was a nice man and seemed capable so I didn't worry. Much. Then one day we were driving over to the school for something and my daughter casually points to a stop sign and says, 'That's the sign the bus driver hits every single day when we make the turn.' WHAT???!!!
p.s. They got a new bus driver.
5. The bus stop photo-Except for that one year in NJ, my girls attended elementary school in Maryland. While I wasn't excited about the bus
ride, I did always look forward to the bus
stop on that first day of school. We all did. The parents all walked over too, and there was a sense of anticipation and excitement in the air. We loved our little cul-de-sac and the friends, big and little, made there.
6. First grade-This was the year Daughter2 fell off her desk. This was also the year Daughter2 cut her hair.
During math. It was her sweet teacher's first year on the job, so bless her. I've reminded Daughter2 of of these little episodes as she begins
her first year on the job.
Sometimes it's the cute ones you can't turn your back on.
7. Third grade-Daughter1 had a teacher who attended our church, and there was another third grade teacher there who also attended our church, and who organized the children's productions there. Such a blessing to have teachers you know are praying their way through the school year.
My daughter is teaching third grade.
She is praying for her students.
So is her mama.
And her sister.
And her grandmamas too.
8. Fourth grade -the year I thought I might die from something called the Mad Minute. So did Daughter1, and honestly she left there with some battle scars. Every single day Daughter1's teacher had the class do a mad minute, which essentially required you to solve a certain number of problems in a minute. If you didn't meet the deadline, this particular teacher kept you in at recess and made you take it again and again and again, until you did meet the deadline, which was sometimes never.
These mad minutes were usually simple problems, mostly multiplication and division facts I think, which Daughter1 knew like the back of her hand when quizzed at home, but then absolutely blanked on under the pressure and tone in the classroom. Instead of improving with each drill, she'd make more and more mistakes.
For the record, I do believe kids need to memorize basic math facts, but I still don't really understand why you have to do a certain number in a single minute. Does it matter if it takes you a minute and a half? Many tears were shed over the Mad Minute and many conferences were held.
This was the year Daughter1 decided she couldn't do math.
9. Fifth grade was the year the teacher convinced her she could. Never underestimate the power of a great teacher.
10. My girls both had the same fifth grade teacher, and they adored her.
She had the gift of teaching, and she just might read my blog. Hi Miss S. who is now Mrs. S., but who will always be Miss S. to us.
11. Promotion-our primary school made a big deal out of promoting students to the middle school. Parent volunteers helped by decorating the cafeteritorium, and planning and supervising an after school party at the local bowling alley. They also had some special days and treats leading up to the event, including an ice cream sundae/yearbook signing hour. Fifth graders left feeling important and confident and ready to take on the world.
12. Middle school cuts you back down to size.
13. We all think back on those primary years with great fondness. The school environment was warm and friendly, and for the most part felt like a great big family. We've moved a lot, and my girls have friends scattered all over the world, but once upon a time we did lay down some roots in a small town beside the Bay.
Those were happy years, full to overflowing years, fun years...
...years that made us ready for the ones that came after.
