HELENA — Back to school: a bundle of emotions for students, parents, and teachers alike. MTN spoke with parents as they dropped off their elementary-aged students and spoke with a first-grade teacher as she prepped for the students’ first day.
Stephanie Jolley dropped off her first and third graders, Tinley and Thomas, on Wednesday morning.
“It’s rather emotional actually. I feel excited for her, but it also feels like that baby bird leaving the nest. So, it kind of makes a mom feel a little emotional that both kids are actually at school. And I have a little more free time,” says Jolley.
Jolley says she’ll be using all that free time to head back to school herself and pursue a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Tinley will be joining Annie Tague’s first grade classroom. Tague has been teaching for nearly two decades and just rejoined Helena Public Schools after owning Mountainside Montessori.
She spent the summer months reviewing the curriculum, attending training, and prepping the classroom.
“I just spend a lot of time kind of thinking about the space, and where I wanted to put things, and how I wanted the classroom to run,” says Tague.
Tague says that key elements to keeping kids’ attention during a school day are setting expectations and creating a flow or the way in which the physical space of the classroom is set up to help spend less time on transitions and behavior management and more time on the actual lessons and collaboration.
“How are kids going to transition from the carpet to their seats? And how are we going to transition from the classroom to down the hall? And what kind of expectations do we need to set up? So that all, you know, takes a lot of just think time,” says Tague.
As the school year gets underway, Jolley and Tague both suggest getting involved in your school which can make the transition not only easier for your children but for yourself, as well.
“I would say get involved with the school. The more nervous you are about letting your kids go there, the more you should get to know the teachers and the administration. And that kind of warms you and your kids up to being at school more often,” says Jolley.
