New Year, New School, New Challenges, New Rewards

A new school year can be challenging, a new school…intimidating, but add in a brand new school building with a newly formed school and it can become downright daunting.  Yet about 50 other brave souls, along with myself, have accepted the mission to open a new charter school in our city and we’re excited as all get out.

Along with the usual beginning of the year decor challenges, book labeling, and student names to learn, we are building a school from the ground up.  In fact the paint is still drying and the carpet is still being laid, but our determination and hearts are strong for the decisions we make and the training we undergo to make our school what we want it to be…a beacon for parents, a place for learning, and a spot where students will know they are loved.  It’s why we are all so committed.

Just a few weeks ago, a blueprint and a targeted building list was as close as I could get to my classroom.

Now, with just a few weeks left of summer vacation, I can peek in my room and see the potential that all our work is driving towards.

 We learn about Capturing Kid’s Hearts so we can build relationships with our youngsters and have them learn to be leaders in our communities.

We dive into Singapore Math and CKLA training so we can grow minds with great curriculum.

But we also build schedules that will let all sides of our students thrive.

• We create a schoolwide DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time so that not just kids read but everyone from the principal, to the teachers, to the campus security reads and sets an example for the youth in our building.  
• We include character education blocks so it’s not just something we say, but it’s something we walk.  
• We have science and social studies in every schedule, every day so that every student, from kindergarten to sixth grade, is getting a well-rounded education.  
• And we include the specials, which for us right now, in our first years, are PE, music, art, and Spanish.    

We also work as a team to create a school vision, lay the building blocks of how we will function as a team through our social contract, and work with our administration and literacy coaches on how to best serve our students.

It’s an incredibly daunting and exhausting process, but it’s so rewarding and enriching as well.  In the end, all this hard work will be worth it, as we create our new school and especially our successful students.

Let me know in the comments if you have ever opened a brand new school, and what were your favorite parts about the process.