Well, it’s only three days really, but teachers will tell you it felt like a very full, five-day week, retracing steps taken in September, thinking about Hopes and Dreams as New Year Resolutions, reviewing classroom and schoolwide rules, practicing lining-up; all the little details of school expectations that are the foundation of an elementary school learning community.

As I walk around school during these three days I see the routines the children have come to adore:

• In one third grade class the pattern of “partner reading” where partners face in opposite directions, side by side, taking turns, each with a copy of the same book in their hands, each set of partners with a different level book, knowing the exact reflection questions to ask when they are done reading a passage or chapter.
• In a fifth grade classroom I hear the teacher’s voice each of these three days urging her students into the new structure of math community she has worked so hard to create with her inclusion class in the fall. I see the children’s comfort with their use of their own “white boards,” their proof drawings,” the common vocabulary they are remembering.
• In other classes I see essays being written, classes switching for social studies and science.

Children are also happy to be back together as a whole school community during their before-school activity half-hour choices, whether that be exercise club, chess, reading help or math and science club. Children are happy to see each other in the lunchroom and are looking forward to the earned responsibility to sit with their friends without excluding anyone at lunch tables beginning next week. At recess they like being on seven-person teams for indoor soccer or returning to the routine of board games one day, gym games the next depending on available space.

The first All School Meeting our first Friday back is filled with the dedication to the details of respectful participation; the pledge of allegiance, moment of silence, our birthday songs, courage and academic “Happy Mail” all led this week by a third grade class. Happy New Year! Welcome back!