Back to School Night

Tonight Red and I got to meet Ali's teacher, Mrs. Menzel, for the first time during "Back to School Night." We sat with the other parents in Mrs. Menzel's class and Mrs. Menzel told us about what the kids do during the day and about the things they're learning.

Before I met her I already liked Mrs. Menzel. Now I love Mrs. Menzel. The classroom is bright and there are so many clever things that they are doing. Just like in kindergarten, they are counting the first 100 days of school. But in addition to counting the number of the day on a chart, they are also keeping track of how many days have passed using pennies and dimes, and using tick marks, and straws. It seems as though everything they learn has multiple aspects to it. They are learning about graphing and reading and counting by tallying up things like their favorite breakfasts (tonight Mrs. Menzel asked us to add tick marks to a breakfast chart so that the children could see how their favorite breakfasts compare with ours). They have a group story time where Mrs. Menzel reads a book to them, the book on the easel today was a huge oversized book. And they sent the same book home for a night to read at home as part of homework!

One more note about homework -- it seems really valuable and I'm so pleased it's not just busy-work. The homework always seems to be designed to reinforce something that they've learned in school that day. It's never too tough, though Mrs. Menzel said today that we don't need to be perfectionists with homework and that homework shouldn't turn into a chore.

Oh, I forgot to mention. When we arrived at the school we were heading in what we thought was the direction of Alison's classroom when Mr. Feldman, the principal, turned us around and pointed us in the right direction. As he walked down the hall with us, he told us how he saw Alison every afternoon as she was waiting for the JCC bus, and how she had been nervous on the first day, but Mrs. Menzel had introduced her to some of the bigger kids who took that bus too, and now Alison sits with those kids quite happily to wait for the bus. I was not only pleased that they had made the effort to make Alison comfortable in this way, but also thrilled that Mr. Feldman actually recognized us and associated us with Alison. Admittedly before we enrolled Alison at MES I had met with Mr. Feldman for half an hour to talk about what happens in the school, etc., and he'd seen Red, Alison, and me again during orientation. But still, I think it's fantastic that the principal cares so much for his students that he remembers them and their parents (OK, I don't think he remembered her name, but she's only had 8 days of school so far and it was clear from the conversation that he knew exactly who she was).

I asked Alison when we got home about seeing Mr. Feldman every day and she said yes, she sees him every morning because he greets all the students at the front door as they arrive. What a caring principal! After a little more questioning, she said that yes, she often sees him in the afternoon too.

Yay Mr. Feldman. Yay Mrs. Menzel. Yay MES!!