School Visits

Today Hubs and I attended an information session for the elementary school we're hoping to send the kids to. We have to enter a lottery, and attending the information session is the first step in being eligible for the lottery.

It rocked. They follow the learning philosophies I followed while teaching preschool and special ed, they believe in meeting the kid where they are and then helping them stretch more to achieve more. The teachers teach in pods instead of to the whole class so everyone is learning at their own pace. There is incredible parent participation at each grade level. Each grade takes extra field trips and parents are encouraged to attend every field trip if they are able. There is an art teacher, each grade level still has full PE time, and many teachers that we heard from or spoke to individually sent their own children to this school and can't imagine teaching anywhere else.

The classroom walls are stuffed with the student's artwork or pictures from field trips. Most classrooms have lofts that the teachers have turned into free play areas or book corners. Each classroom was working in groups when we walked through and we didn't see a single classroom that had desks in rows. Many classrooms were full of live plants and multiple animal tanks.

All of the teachers looked excited to be there, and you could see their personalities shining through their classrooms. One teacher had a row of electric guitars along his wall because he loves the guitar and teaches the 6th graders how to play after school. A kindergarten teacher loves to sing so she had a bright yellow piano in her classroom and they do all class sing alongs. A 3rd grade teacher does yoga with her students every Thursday morning. It goes on and on.

Halfway through the tour Hubs looks over to me and says "You're going to cry if we don't get in here, aren't you?" My answer? "Yep, and I'm going to throw a pity party for a week too."

I seriously can't convey how totally awesome this school is. It alleviates ALL of my concerns about the current state of public schools while still meeting the state standards. Sending our children to this school would be setting them up to love school and to succeed for their entire education career.