I’ve had a bunch of folks ask me already to comment about how my first day at BCD went, and my initial reaction to everyone has been something erudite like, “It was WHOOSH!” How can it be that the clock distance from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. might seem so short?
But, in this relative after-school calm when I’ve had the chance really to pause and to reflect, I realize that there was much more to my first day than a blur of welcome back.
So, let’s play a typical after-school game of Q&A.
Q: What did you do on your first day of school, Dr. G.?
A: Nothin’.
Just kidding. Let’s try that again.
Q: What did you do on your first day of school, Dr. G.?
A: Oh my gosh, it was awesome! Wait ’til you hear all about it….
From students to parents, there simply could not have been warmer hellos than those I received first thing this morning. I was so impressed by the way that kids — little to big — offered me a firm handshake, looked me in the eye, and greeted me with a smile and an introduction. (Of course, moms and dads did all that, too.) The palpable sense of community welcome extended beyond Paul’s and my stance at car line to the rest of campus where kids were hugging kids, parents exuberantly reconnected after summer vacation, last year’s teachers connected former students to this year’s teachers, and everyone exuded genuine joy to be together again in this special place.
After car line, I stopped by the preschool (the vertical classrooms of PK3/PK4 and TK/K) to check in on our youngest students. That was enough time for me to meet a self-described “lego fan” and to assist him in a bit of Lego naval fleet maintenance, to admire the way a discarded paper towel roller might be cleverly fashioned into a “paper hiding game,” to get acquainted with a family of construction-paper pterodactyls, and to be enlightened about the fact that “later there was gonna be art with dots!” (And, as I found out when I really did stop by later, there was also gonna be wordless books and books with words and outside time and rest periods and learning what you were supposed to do when you heard the chime ring.)
Next the whole school and I were all off to opening assembly. It was poignant to see the marvelous PK-9 school continuum as ninth-grade students were celebrated as student leaders, and kids in the grades below looked admiringly on. All new students and faculty were introduced and then, with Mr. Lindenmaier’s loud clanging of the school bell and a loud cheer from the assembled crowd, the 2015-16 school year had officially begun!
As the day progressed, I made my way in and out of classrooms, around four-square courts and under basketball shots, on an off the playgrounds, through lunchrooms and libraries, and across fields. Everywhere I went there were happy (albeit sweaty!) faces, big smiles, enthusiastic hellos, and a sense that all was as it should be now that kids have returned to BCD.
A few more highlights of my first day at school include…
Eavesdropping as the eighth and ninth-grade kids reiterated recess protocol and initiated the seventh graders to the glory of the US playground and fields (heretofore off limits to them as mere middle schoolers). I overheard one seventh-grader sigh rapturously and declare, “Being on this playground makes me feel like I have a new maturity.” There also seemed to be much intense discussioin about a mysterious and, it seems, often rowdy place called “the Ga-Ga Pit” (A big thanks to Mrs. Benner who, seeing some serious perplexity written all over my face, took this newbie aside to explain the finer points of Ga-Ga Ball, something totally new to me!)
In the first and second grade vertical classroom, I sat in (literally) for circle time, during which we all had a serious conversation about jobs and vacations and how — to primary kids’ way of thinking at least — it is much more fun to work at a job (like door holder or line backer or messenger) than to be on — ugh! — vacation. But soon enough they’d had enough of both and raced away to explore the classroom and find one thing that had changed from last year (for returning grade 2) or one thing that looked very interesting (for the grade 1 students new to the space). I wonder what each of them chose to share? I never did make it back to grades 1/2 to find out, so I’ll have to ask tomorrow.
Fourth and fifth grade students exhibited much more enthusiasm about planners than I ever might have supposed! There was lots of animated conversation about where spelling lists should get glued each week, how things on the schedules were or were not the same as they had been the previous year, and how — since they were all so much older and more sophisticated this year than last — their daily amounts of reading would also increase. Lots of great questions were asked, plenty of time management and organizational strategies were offered, and it was evident that this is a group that takes work seriously… but is also not at all afraid to have fun while doing so!
Rhinos and lions and pythons, oh my! Third graders and I listened enraptured to a spirited reading of Jumanji, and afterwards, amidst great consternation about volcanoes and what would happen to the next set of kids in the book who picked up the game from under the tree, we all realized that the story represented what might happen to anyone who was heedless of rules. So, as I was leaving the classroom, the students were industriously setting to the task of determining what rules they, themselves, might need in their class to keep wild chimps and gorillas at bay!
I interrupted sixth grade finishing up an orientation question-and-answer session about school, procedures, and each other. Mr. Perkins commended them for listening in a way that was as outstanding as the manner in which they had talked, no mean feat for sixth-grade kids on day one. Bravo! I suspect that their conversation would have continued into and beyond the highly-anticipated distribution of planners, but water break and recess took their well-deserved places as priorities.
And there was more. So much more. Until… suddenly…
… it was already the last period of the day and time for the inaugural meeting of our BCD “Bigs” and “Littles.” Working together, the teachers had paired students in older grades (the “Bigs”) with students in the younger grades (the “Littles”), and the kids got the chance to meet and greet for the first time today. These partnerships will continue throughout the school year and on into the next and the next until, eventually, this year’s “Littles” will become “Bigs” themselves! (Stay tuned for more about our Bigs and Littles, especially since the next layer to this program will be BCD “Families.”) Bigs and Littles will do lots of things together this year, starting this Friday at our very first PK-9 All-School Asssembly when they sit together as buddies and celebrate our amazing BCD community!
Before I knew it, 3:00 had already arrived. Kids streamed out of classrooms to run to soccer practice, to find their way to Extended Day, or to wait for Paul or me to escort them across the parking lot to mom’s or dad’s car. From teachers to students, everyone glowed, hot but happy. And just like that, my first day at BCD had come to a close.
Thank goodness I have so many more to look forward to! I’ll keep you posted….
Warmly,
Susan (aka “Dr. G.”)
