Amy has the most terrific fourth grade teachers – she really has hit the teacher lottery every single year so far, we are so fortunate. She has Mrs. Lowe for homeroom, language arts and Virginia studies. She has Ms. Pinkham for science and Mrs. Simmons for math. This year she's also in the FUTURA program, for which she travels each Tuesday by bus to Buffalo Trail Elementary where she has Mrs. Mapp. This is a lot to keep track of, especially since it's her first year of having different teachers. (She's going to be really prepared for middle school!) All of the teachers seem so kind and dedicated. She's got her friend Morgan in her class, right next to her (which also means she has the very best room mom, Valerie...score for everyone), and a few other pals as well. The teachers all said "Fourth grade really is the best grade" and I'm with them. Virginia Studies will make it different and fun and it's not quite the same intensity as fifth grade.
I am grateful for the opportunity to work from home two days a week (Wednesdays and Fridays) so that means that I can walk Amy to school still, and she can walk home...two days less of the CASA after school program, which she isn't crazy about. She still wants us to walk her to school, which is nice – especially when we think about the fact that there's only one more year after this where it'll even be an option.
The FUTURA program is the gifted and talented program. Unfortunately here in Loudoun, as I said, it's a one-day pullout program rather than having an entire dedicated class for these kids. I wish we lived in an area where that's available but I hope the program will be good for Amy. They'll be studying structures this year and systems next year. The program is all about thinking outside the box, thinking of things in their entirety, working as a team, "owning" your work, and figuring your place in relation to the world around you. We hope it'll be a great experience for Amy. I know she doesn't like that she's missing a music class on her FUTURA day (also a PE class, she's not so concerned about that!). I think that's especially important to her this year since it's her first opportunity to join the school choir, which she is very excited about.
Middle school. Reed is in middle school. Wasn't I just in middle school myself? (Don't answer that.) He's at J. Michael Lunsford Middle School, which he has to take the bus to, it's a bit less than two miles away. The good news on that is there are so many middle schoolers in the near vicinity, the bus only has to stop one other time on the way to school and it's full. Living where I did in Forest Ridge, it was a new-ish subdivision and the schools that were closest were already overcrowded, and we logged a lot of time on the bus in middle and high school. Reed's got his good pals Robbie and Harrison both on the bus and so far we haven't had any issues with that.
Middle school. Reed is in middle school. Wasn't I just in middle school myself? (Don't answer that.) He's at J. Michael Lunsford Middle School, which he has to take the bus to, it's a bit less than two miles away. The good news on that is there are so many middle schoolers in the near vicinity, the bus only has to stop one other time on the way to school and it's full. Living where I did in Forest Ridge, it was a new-ish subdivision and the schools that were closest were already overcrowded, and we logged a lot of time on the bus in middle and high school. Reed's got his good pals Robbie and Harrison both on the bus and so far we haven't had any issues with that.
Middle school starts later than elementary does (8:40 a.m. to Little River's 7:50 a.m. start) and so far that's leaving Reed with plenty of time in the morning to take it easy before he heads out – he's spent some time each day shooting hoops, I think. They say it's inevitable that he'll be sleeping in, but so far he remains an early riser.
Middle school is different now than it was in the olden days. They have an A schedule and a B schedule, which alternates. Language arts is the only subject that they have every day, the others (PE/Health, Math 6/7, Science, US History, Keyboarding, music [strings]/resource [study hall]) are all just every other day. This allows them to be in each class for longer stretches at a time and really get into each subject. He has a locker, which we know is already on the messy side and will likely only get a lot worse! He has to "dress out" (a term which strikes me as funny for some reason) for PE. It's all new! The school, which opened in 2011, has a capacity of 1,350 students and there are about 600 kids in Reed's sixth grade class. The school has a lot of different clubs that will ramp up in the next month or so and we're hoping Reed will find some that he's interested in.
We went to back to school night a couple of days ago. It was a really great event, so far we have been so impressed with the school. It was a whirlwind of an evening where we spent only 10 minutes visiting each of the classes (which was a challenge, navigating that two-story school!). He seems to have some fabulous teachers – his math teacher is in his 29th year of teaching but was as excited about the new year as a first year teacher would be. His science teacher was exactly what you think of when you think "middle school science teacher" – bow tie and all. His US History class will be his first "flipped" classroom, and is the first of the Lunsford classes to try this method where the students watch the lectures at home and then the teacher works on the "homework" with them in class. It seems to make a lot of sense, hopefully it will work well.
The other thing I'm finding fascinating about middle school is how much they focus on college and career planning. I feel pretty certain that we didn't talk about those things in middle school – heck, I don't remember much conversation about it in high school, either! The school talks to the kids a lot about how you figure out what you want to do with your life, setting them up for paths that will get them there (once they figure out where 'there' is). A friend whose 7th grade daughter is maybe not someone who will want to go to college has gotten a lot of advice about how she can choose classes, including vocational school in her high school years, that will have her not too far short of a veterinary tech license when she graduates. The sixth graders will take a field trip to a nearby college (Shepherd University in West Virginia) next month – they'll tour the campus, learn about college life and studies – in their second month of middle school! I've heard that toward the end of the school year, the kids will map out their courses all through til graduation (of course this is preliminary plan, not something they have to stick to). And the fact is that this will be here sooner than we think – for example, since Reed is taking an accelerated math class this year, he will complete both sixth and seventh grade math this school year. So in seventh grade, he will take Algebra, which will give him a high school credit. High school class, in seventh grade! This is really a potentially long-term affecting thing. I think it's terrific that they're giving the kids a well-rounded view of what their life choices can be. It makes me wonder how I might have benefitted from a similar program – it's really a difference-maker.
Many parents of middle schoolers in our area are really involved with all the details of their kids' school life. As I've written before recently, that just isn't us. They've worked with their kids on how best to set up their school binders, color coding systems for folders and notebooks, different backpacks for their A and B days. Well that's not just us. We are so fortunate to have kids who organize themselves and succeed. Is Reed going to do as neat and as organized a job as I'd like? Well no (partly because I'm a bit OCD), but how he sets things up works for him, and that is the only thing that actually matters. Last year in fifth grade they had to have this ridiculous big zippered binder with a shoulder strap, where they were to keep their papers. His was consistently messy, with papers going every which way, but he never lost or forgot to turn in an assignment, he knew where everything was. Can't ask for more than that. We are so lucky.
So we're off to a great start. Excited to see how the year develops for both kids – can't wait to see them grow!
I feel like I have to defend the fact that what I wrote about Reed is so much longer than what I wrote about Amy...it's just the whole middle school thing – there's so much that's new!! It is in no way an indication of anything except newness. Trust me, sweet girl, I am a second child myself and I know that "second rate" feeling – but that's not the case at all!
We went to back to school night a couple of days ago. It was a really great event, so far we have been so impressed with the school. It was a whirlwind of an evening where we spent only 10 minutes visiting each of the classes (which was a challenge, navigating that two-story school!). He seems to have some fabulous teachers – his math teacher is in his 29th year of teaching but was as excited about the new year as a first year teacher would be. His science teacher was exactly what you think of when you think "middle school science teacher" – bow tie and all. His US History class will be his first "flipped" classroom, and is the first of the Lunsford classes to try this method where the students watch the lectures at home and then the teacher works on the "homework" with them in class. It seems to make a lot of sense, hopefully it will work well.
The other thing I'm finding fascinating about middle school is how much they focus on college and career planning. I feel pretty certain that we didn't talk about those things in middle school – heck, I don't remember much conversation about it in high school, either! The school talks to the kids a lot about how you figure out what you want to do with your life, setting them up for paths that will get them there (once they figure out where 'there' is). A friend whose 7th grade daughter is maybe not someone who will want to go to college has gotten a lot of advice about how she can choose classes, including vocational school in her high school years, that will have her not too far short of a veterinary tech license when she graduates. The sixth graders will take a field trip to a nearby college (Shepherd University in West Virginia) next month – they'll tour the campus, learn about college life and studies – in their second month of middle school! I've heard that toward the end of the school year, the kids will map out their courses all through til graduation (of course this is preliminary plan, not something they have to stick to). And the fact is that this will be here sooner than we think – for example, since Reed is taking an accelerated math class this year, he will complete both sixth and seventh grade math this school year. So in seventh grade, he will take Algebra, which will give him a high school credit. High school class, in seventh grade! This is really a potentially long-term affecting thing. I think it's terrific that they're giving the kids a well-rounded view of what their life choices can be. It makes me wonder how I might have benefitted from a similar program – it's really a difference-maker.
Many parents of middle schoolers in our area are really involved with all the details of their kids' school life. As I've written before recently, that just isn't us. They've worked with their kids on how best to set up their school binders, color coding systems for folders and notebooks, different backpacks for their A and B days. Well that's not just us. We are so fortunate to have kids who organize themselves and succeed. Is Reed going to do as neat and as organized a job as I'd like? Well no (partly because I'm a bit OCD), but how he sets things up works for him, and that is the only thing that actually matters. Last year in fifth grade they had to have this ridiculous big zippered binder with a shoulder strap, where they were to keep their papers. His was consistently messy, with papers going every which way, but he never lost or forgot to turn in an assignment, he knew where everything was. Can't ask for more than that. We are so lucky.
So we're off to a great start. Excited to see how the year develops for both kids – can't wait to see them grow!
I feel like I have to defend the fact that what I wrote about Reed is so much longer than what I wrote about Amy...it's just the whole middle school thing – there's so much that's new!! It is in no way an indication of anything except newness. Trust me, sweet girl, I am a second child myself and I know that "second rate" feeling – but that's not the case at all!
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