Get Your Kids Ready To Go Back To School

The first day of school is right around the corner – Aug. 25 – and kids will soon be riding the bus, taking tests, and doing homework.

Principals at want to make sure students have a successful start to the school year.

So they took a few minutes to share what they thought parents could do in these last few days to help transition their kids from summertime freedom into the classroom routine:

• Pick up school supplies. principal Sherry Szczepanski wanted to remind parents to pick up their school supplies at the school (unless they had them delivered to their home) if they ordered them last school year through the PTA program. She also added, “(Children) need their names on all their stuff.”  principal Jason Call encouraged parents to make sure their kids are prepared when they arrive on the first day. “It's helpful to review the third and fourth-grade supply lists before the first day of school and bring these items to school on the 25th, if possible,” he said.
• Check bus routes. Call also reminded parents to check their kids' before the first day so their kids know which bus to ride and where they'll be picked up and dropped off before and after school. The routes are posted on the Avon Patch and on the school district's Web site.
• Sign up for e-news. Szczepanski said parents need to sign up for the schools' e-news letter on the district's website: “We no longer send out hard copies of letters, so it's really important,” she said.
• Attend Open House. Open House for will be Aug. 24. Heritage South will have Open House from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., on Tuesday, Aug. 23. Open House will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. for first graders and 7 to 8 p.m. for second graders at East Elementary on Wednesday, Aug. 24, and from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 for students. A New Student Orientation for incoming seventh-graders and other new students will take place Tuesday, Aug. 23 from 9 to 10:15 a.m. in the gym. The middle school's Open House, when parents can meet teachers, is scheduled for Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. Call said students knowing where their classrooms and lockers are, and getting to meet new teachers and classmates, help quiet first-day nerves. Avon Middle School principal Dr. Craig Koehler added that parents should meet teachers because they can establish an open line of communication and better supervise their child's progress. 

• Check class lists. Call encouraged parents to check the class lists posted outside the school if they aren't able to attend an Open House. Class lists also were emailed to parents who signed up for the school's e-news, he said. “By referring to these lists, your child will know where to go on the first day of school,” he said.
• Establish a routine. Szczepanski said children who are starting first grade will be in school all day for the first time and will not have a naptime during the day. “The first days, they're tired. I recommend putting them to bed early and getting them up early, getting a routine down,” she said. Koehler also made some suggestions to help parents set up a routine: “For example, set specific times for your child to do his or her homework, watch television, play games, eat dinner and go to bed each night.”
• Set goals for the school year. Koehler encouraged parents to make a list of goals with their kids. “Post the goals in a place where they will be seen as a daily reminder and periodically review them. Studies show that children will more than likely accomplish goals when they are set for them.” He added that these goals should be “realistic” and “measurable” and that parents should “verbally affirm that your child can succeed.”
• Relax. Some parents have mixed emotions about leaving their kids for the first day of school, but principals say, just relax. “Parents are welcome to walk into the building on the first morning of school, but with all of the staff members present in the hallways to help students locate their classrooms, it certainly is not necessary,” Call said. Szczepanski said moms often get nervous leaving their first-graders at school for a full day for the first time. “Relax,” she said. “We take good care of them.”