Where we live in the Twin Cities, for some reason they have a very unique system for how you find out who will be teaching your child each year. They post teacher assignments on the glass windows of the entry doors and have an Open House. No letter home with an annual class supply list and a "Welcome to 1st grade and Mrs. Blah Blah's class".. You have to find the supply list online, and come to the Open House to figure out who your teacher is.
This whole system.. I think it's impersonal and at best.. and most years feels like barely controlled chaos.
You wade through the sea of people to wait your turn to make it near the glass to look your kid's name up on the list, walk in the doors and surf the human tide on your way to the classroom to meet the teacher for the first time. You and.. about 3000 other people all at once.
See, it's the largest elementary school in the US (or so I've been told) with 1,370 students K - 5. So, imagine, 1370 kids, with their 2+ parents (step parents, siblings) all cramming into the building in a brief 2 hour window to find out who their teacher for the year is and picking up vital paperwork to be filled out, etc.
We've been doing this now for a few years..as this year we have a Kindergartner & a 4th grader. We've learned a few tips that other parents could use:
1. Get there EARLY. There will be no parking, legal or not, by the advertised start time.
2. Did I mention you should get there early? Because it starts at 4pm, that actually means "Thou shalt be parked by no later than 3:45pm, or else". Really. I always take this afternoon off early and make sure to get there well before 4. It's always almost full when I pull into the lot at 3:45. Also, even when I've arrived earlier than 4pm - the doors are always open and other people have already gone on in.. So, it actually starts earlier than they say.
3. After meeting the teacher (don't hog! A brief introduction will do, then move along please!) you MUST go into the gym and sign up for Fall parent-teacher conferences. Don't know what your schedule looks like in November yet? Well, woe unto you.
4. There are cookies in the cafeteria, and activities in the art rooms. Prepare the kids in advance that you will not be partaking - because it's not worth fighting the crowds. We promise other fun activities for afterwards (swimming at the Y, shopping for the older one) instead.
5. Because the Open House falls EXACTLY at the dinner hour any McDonalds or Subway within a 5 minute drive of the school will also be CHAOS. Avoid those at all costs. Drive the 10 minutes in any other direction to find a McDonalds in a different school district.
This post was inspired by reading Mary's post on her son's first grade letter from the teacher:
http://www.circuslunch.com/archives/2006/08/
How I wish they would just send a nice, simple, personal letter by mail to welcome each child.
1 comment:
It's funny that this is exactly how we did it in our lower grades- they'd post it up on the glass, along with the supply list and everyone would go to find your name. It was always great fun and I loved doing it, while it was always very crowded, it helped that our school system wasn't quite as big as yours and we didn't have any kind of open house (that I remember anyhow).
It was different in high school in that you'd go up and get your class schedule.
Oh the memories. :)
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