Back To School Night

We had barely gotten back to school when our school held it's back to school night. In the past (before Governor Hogan changed the law saying our schools had to begin after Labor Day) our back to school nights were a few weeks into the school year. This year though, it was on the third day of school and I nearly overlooked it thinking it wouldn't be for a bit longer.

Fortunately I remembered before it was too late and Tony, the kids and I headed to the elementary school to see their class rooms and meet their teachers. After a brief welcome from the principal and a brief introduction of all of the staff by the vice principal we were herded out of the cafeteria to find our kids' classrooms. Since we passed the third grade hallway first, we stopped in Harper's room to hear all about third grade and get a look at his room.

His teacher seems very well put together and we loved her room. It was arranged really nicely and even had a small cozy couch for the kids to sit on. There were positive messages all around that made the room feel very welcoming. Harper had written us a little letter and left it on his desk for us to find and I just love when the kids do this! When we flipped the paper over there was room for us to leave him a note in return!

His letter reads:  Third grade is the best. Mrs. Zak shakes her maraca so we will come to the carper and at the carpet we do our community circle. I'm so happy I got Mrs. Zak. Love, Harper

After hearing all about what to expect in third grade we headed down to the first grade area. Dakota is beginning her year with a long term sub as the teacher she was assigned recently had a baby and will be out until December sometime. I was assured that Dakota was going to be in good hands with her sub but upon walking into her room, I wasn't so sure. Since we stopped in Harper's room first we only caught the tail end of her spiel about what to expect in first grade and I couldn't help but notice the lack of color and charm that Harper's room had had. The room was a bit of a mess, honestly, and when we found Dakota's desk we also saw that her supply kit was sitting on the floor next to it opened and askew. Now, this was the third day of school and I was a little upset to see that the supplies I had purchased were just lying in a box on the floor.

I was going to ask the teacher what was going on with that when she walked over and introduced herself. We kind of looked at the box and she said that she had asked the kids to use the labels they got with their supplies to label all of their materials and that some of the kids, Dakota included, hadn't finished. But, as soon as they had everything labeled she was going to sort through it and take care of things. I didn't love it that things were in such disarray but sympathized with her knowing that it couldn't be easy getting all the kids and their supplies handled. I'm a mom, I get it. After talking about the supply box she went on to let us know how great she thought Dakota was and told me that Dakota was extremely smart. She said that Dakota gives terrific feedback when asked questions and thinks outside the box when answering. She said she's very helpful and a good listener...all this on day three has me thinking this will be a good year for her! :)

Dakota too had a little note for us on her desk. Kind of a funny note since this was left for us to find IN her classroom, but cute nonetheless.