Prepping the students
There are really four “Rs” to an elementary school year: reading, ’riting, ’rithmatic — and readying a child for the new semester.
Sarah Milford, a second-grade teacher at the Knoch Primary School, said that for the students themselves, getting into the school year routine is important, especially after the more relaxed schedules of summer vacation.
Parents need to have talks with their children about the upcoming school year and discuss any anxieties the children may have about school.
In prepping the students themselves for school, Jenna Koebler, a third-grade learning support teacher at Knoch Primary, said, “It’s taking the last couple of days of vacation before they go back to school to start getting them in a routine. Maybe they start going to bed earlier. Make sure they have their clothes, school shoes.”
As far as anxiety about the school year, Koebler said her third-grade students are old hands at starting the school year.
“The building is kindergarten through third grade, so they are still in the same building,” Koebler said.
Still, she added, it takes time for students to get into the swing of the school year, usually about two weeks.
“We really go over the rules in the classroom,” she said of the beginning of the fall semester.
Carly Miller, a second- and third-grade learning support teacher at Knoch Primary, said, “Parents should talk to their children to get them prepared mentally. Start by saying ‘In this many days, we will be going to school. In this many days, you will be getting on the bus.’”
Miller added that if parents have questions, the school will be having an open house on Aug. 19.
She will also get parents’ contact information to add to the Class Dojo app, which allows students, teachers and families to communicate and provides a feed for videos and photos from the school day.
Physically, Milford said, parents are also very helpful in providing extra items such as tissues, hand sanitizers and paper towels for the classroom.
“We ask on a volunteer basis. Parents want to be helpful,” Milford said. “We don’t force anyone, it’s only if they offer. We have had parents drop off a whole Sam’s Club pack or they send it in with the students. I appreciate the families that do that.”
Miller said that while the school district doesn’t skimp on school supplies, it helps if parents provide their students with extra pencils, crayons and glue sticks.
Miller agreed with Koebler that it takes students about two weeks to settle into the school year routine.
“The first week is the honeymoon. In the second week, the personalities start coming out,” she said.
