Monday, August 26, 2019

Here We Go


On Saturday morning the reality of summer coming to an end hit me: there was a chill in the air, College GameDay was on previewing the first weekend of College Football and we were talking about what we wanted to do for Labor Day Weekend. Where did the summer go?! As much as I LOVE summer, there is nothing like the excitement and energy associated with the start of a new school year. We are really looking forward to having this building come back to life with the arrival of our students next week.

Students and families are encouraged to stop in for Locker Night this Wednesday, August 28th from 3:00 to 6:00 PM. This is a great opportunity to practice opening your locker, put away school supplies and walk around the building.

In addition to stopping by Locker Night, here are our Top 5 suggestions for helping to prepare our kids for Back to School:
  1. Get back into a school sleep routine: To function best, adolescents need 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Most of them don’t even come close to that! With homeroom starting at 7:40 AM, there is no way our kids are getting the sleep they need if they are up after 10:00 or 11:00 PM night after night. Part of our job as parents is to stay on them and encourage, push and coerce them into going to bed at a reasonable hour.
  2. Establish School Routines: Start having conversations now about the morning routine. What are you going to eat for breakfast? Who is getting in the shower first? Is your backpack ready for the morning? Are you bringing or buying lunch? Do you know what you’re going to wear? Getting back into school mode is hard enough, but the lack of a plan for the morning can make it that much more stressful. Getting as much done the night before (not at 11:00 PM) will make the morning that much easier.
  3. Have an established place to work: Whether it is homework or reading for pleasure, we all need a spot that is comfortable, somewhat quiet and well-lit for us to work as efficiently and effectively as possible. Also, pick a time that works for you based on your afternoon and evening schedule. Again, don’t wait until 11:00 PM to think about what you need done for the next day!
  4. Turn off the TV and put away the device: For a lot of students summertime is filled with endless hours of TV, video games and screen time. A large percentage of them are addicted and will have an incredibly hard time going 6 hours a day without watching YouTube videos and snapchatting every 30 seconds. With that said, as parents we need to help them by putting limits on their use and absolutely not letting them have their devices in their rooms when it’s time to go to bed. Our expectation at school is that their devices are off and in their lockers throughout the day. Some limits at home isn’t a bad thing!
  5. Make school attendance a priority: Attendance is so important for success now in school and later in life for whatever job our kids have. Our expectation is that our students show up to school every day and that they show up on time. As parents we need to reinforce that expectation and only let our kids stay home if they are truly sick.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you at Locker Night on Wednesday and all of our students next Wednesday morning for the first day of school. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or email me.

Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms