Our Back to School Story: Elementary School and Middle School at Great Hearts Academies
What's on my mind is our back to school story for 2018. My daughter, 1000.N., is starting third grade at Great Hearts Monte Vista South, and my son, F.T., is starting sixth course at Great Hearts Monte Vista N. Some things are familiar and consistent since last year, just other circumstances are changing, and I wanted to take time to reflect on the experience.
F.T.'s Transition to Middle School
The biggest change this year is that F.T. is going to a unlike campus and attention middle school. As you may know, Great Hearts Monte Vista has two campuses: the Lower School, at Temple Beth-El, serves grades K–5, and the Upper School, at Trinity Baptist Church building, serves grades 6–12. The other Great Hearts Texas campuses in San Antonio have all grades on i campus. F.T. started going to Corking Hearts Monte Vista Southward in 2d course in 2014; thank you to sibling preference, G.N. skipped the waiting list and enrolled in kindergarten in 2015.
Take yous ever had those bad dreams in which you are back in school, information technology's the concluding day of the semester, you find out you were registered for a class y'all have never heard of, the exam is today, yous can't find your locker, and things just keep getting worse? I know so many people who still have those dreams, fifty-fifty into middle age.
The persistence of those anxious dreams was on my mind as I helped F.T. ready upwardly his locker. All of the adults effectually him—including the special education squad—can try to fix him upwards for success, but he is the i who is going to have to remember which binder to pick up and which textbook to bring to class.
Before schoolhouse started, F.T. went to a one-half-day orientation with other new students, mostly fellow sixth graders. They learned most expectations, including wearing uniforms, following the academic honor lawmaking, participating in class discussions, and turning in homework. F.T. seemed circumspect but not anxious, which is just about correct. He needs to take it seriously but not stress out. Having friends with him who are in the same state of affairs is helping.
G.N. Adjusting to College Expectations
After the first day of schoolhouse, G.N. brought home her advice folder, and I noticed that the behavior chart looked different than terminal twelvemonth's. For grades K–2, the behavior chart is a continuum, and corresponds to the clip chart on the wall. On the beliefs chart, a clothespin with the child'due south proper noun starts the 24-hour interval on "Fix to Learn" and gets clipped upwardly or downwardly based on the kid's behavior that day. For grades 3–5, the clip chart is gone, and the communication folder has places for the instructor to mark downward infractions such equally "interfering with learning."
G.N. is the kind of student who is generally enlightened of her surroundings and what the teachers look of her, so I don't look to come across many infractions this year. Notwithstanding, the new chart reminded me that she is going into third grade and the standards are different. I call up F.T'due south 3rd course feel: the literature books got more than challenging, the poems to memorize were longer, the math problems were more than ambitious, and the independent study projects were more complex.
Planning for a Proficient School Year
We are making preparations now, at the get-go of the school year, to put the odds in our favor that information technology will exist a good school yr.
For F.T., the challenge is system. He now has six classes to continue track of. Each course meets in a dissimilar room, has its own syllabus, requires different supplies, and will accept different homework assignments to enter into his planner. My strategy is to give him room to try, and to brand mistakes, just to monitor his work and get him dorsum on rails earlier he gets likewise far behind. In the beginning calendar week of school, he had trouble remembering to bring home all the notebooks he needed to practice his homework over the weekend. However, over the weekend, nosotros spent some time re-organizing his binders, and he seemed more able to think his materials. Fortunately, there are caring adults on campus, as well as older students who serve as mentors, who tin help him stay calm, get what he needs, and then go to his next class in a good frame of mind.
For both kids, we are taking care of their wellness with plenty of sleep, exercise, and good food. Towards the end of summer, we moved bedtimes and wake upwardly times earlier. Even though the weather is notwithstanding summer-hot, we brand time to play outside every day. Sometimes nosotros go to a playground in the early morning or at dusk, or an indoor play place like Nosotros Rock the Spectrum, Hang, or Distance, or staying cool at the puddle or the Family Run a risk Garden at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. For food, the kids are learning to put together balanced meals with plenty of poly peptide. The school has a new dejeuner provider, and the kids are taking the initiative to look ahead at the menu and decide whether to buy luncheon at schoolhouse or pack their own lunches.
When I pick up F.T. from school, then drive over to G.N.'s school and pick her up, I detect that they seem tired, simply they are withal excited to tell me well-nigh their days at schoolhouse. Thou.N. is memorizing a poem, "Preparedness" by Edwin Markham, that has a timely message.
While Yard.N. was practicing her recitation in the automobile, on the manner to school, F.T. remembered learning that poem back when he was in third course. That reminded me that F.T. has the preparation for centre schoolhouse. Also, he has a group of friends who take been together for several years now, as well as some new students who are condign friends, as well. One thousand.N.'southward tales of her kickoff twenty-four hour period dorsum to school were nearly seeing her friends once again—they had missed each other over the summer.
The back-to-school fourth dimension has me reflecting on our experience at Keen Hearts since 2014 and thinking about our hopes for the 2018–xix school year. I re-watched the showtime address that Andrew Ellison, Executive Managing director of Slap-up Hearts San Antonio, delivered at the Great Hearts Monte Vista North graduation ceremony in 2018, for the first Great Hearts graduating form in Texas.
All of the small steps we take every mean solar day—packing lunches, checking planners, etc.—are building towards a brighter future for our children. I desire F.T. and Thousand.N. to keep to get more contained. I take loftier expectations for what they can learn this twelvemonth and how they can mature. Also, I hope they accept fun and make memories with their friends. Maybe they will start trading insults in Latin, too.
What are your hopes for the 2018–19 school yr? Leave a comment and share!
Read more:
- "Rethinking Cultural Competence at Corking Hearts Monte Vista," Inga Cotton wool, San Antonio Charter Moms, April 23, 2018
- "HIS Scientific discipline Off-white Project, Not OURS," Inga Cotton wool, Alamo Metropolis Moms Blog, Jan 17, 2018
- "School Tour with Great Hearts Western Hills Headmaster Robby Kuhlman," Inga Cotton, San Antonio Charter Moms, November 13, 2017
- "Space Male child Goes to Cotillion," Inga Cotton, Alamo City Moms Blog, March 1, 2017
- "Building a Schoolhouse Community: Notes from the Great Hearts Monte Vista Open House," Inga Cotton, San Antonio Lease Moms, April 13, 2014
Source: https://sachartermoms.com/back-to-school-story-great-hearts-academies/
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