A new year, new goals
The beginning of the school year has always been an exciting time for me. My family likes to tell the story of my older sister’s first day of kindergarten. My parents made sure to get me a backpack and lunchbox so that I didn’t feel left out. Teaching allows me to enjoy that “back-to-school” feeling over and over again.
When most people think about starting school, they imagine teachers giving hours of lectures about rules and regulations. To be honest, we spend a fair amount of time setting high expectations for the year, but that’s certainly not all.
At City Neighbors, we embrace the fact that much of the students are reuniting for the first time in months. September is a very social time during which students have the opportunity to share about their summers, play team building games, create art together, focus on social and emotional learning, and transition back into school routines. There is special time set aside for making new connections and strengthening old ones. Some teachers and students are getting to know one another for the first time and other teachers and students are getting to know one another in new and deeper ways.
Something that I hear from a lot of parents is, “Whenever I ask my child about their day, they say ‘It was good’ or ‘It was fine.’” My colleagues and I usually laugh and feel the need to fill everyone in on all of the acting, singing, painting, dancing, reading, and writing that happens all over the building. There are many great articles online about questions that families can ask their children after school. Here is a list of ten conversation starters from Scholastic.com:
Tell me about the best part of your day.
What was the hardest thing you had to do today?
Did any of your classmates do anything funny?
Tell me about what you read in class.
Who did you play with today? What did you play?
Do you think math [or any subject] is too easy or too hard?
What’s the biggest difference between this year and last year?
What rules are different at school than our rules at home? Do you think they’re fair?
Who do you sit with at lunch?
Can you show me something you learned [or did] today at school?
Going back to school can bring up many different emotions for different people, but teachers and staff work together to help students start strong. The beauty of a new year is a chance to start fresh and set new goals. It’s been a long time since I was that toddler standing in the front yard, clutching my school supplies. But I’ve managed to hold onto that same feeling of joy and anticipation. It is my deep hope that the City Neighbors community will continue to be a place that sparks that same joy in the students who walk through our doors.
Written by: Kim Spears, 4th and 5th Grade Literacy and Social Studies Teacher, City Neighbors Charter School