Back to School Night at Valley Elem.

JOURNEY into the 3rd grade:

1. Here is the entrance to the 3rd grade pod. It was pretty comical having the parents sit in the child sized chairs while listening to the 2 teachers drone on about the too easy curriculum and hear the gasps of horror as they revealed the change to a new social studies curriculum which means they will be studying The History of Bensalem and the Leni Lenape Indians. I have already started my own home enrichment plan for Shayna to include ancient history, world cultures and current events (she will be getting national geographic for kids). The science curriculum (1st 2 marking periods) sounds more promising- they will be learning the scientific method, doing experiments, and studying water.

2. Shayna's classroom. Shayna's desk is on the bottom right, the one with the paper on top. They all left papers with "clues" and you had to guess which desk belonged to your child. I was just about to read Shayna's when Mrs. Olivar (Joaquin's mother, who I know from Shayna's preschool days) said "Oh, this must be Shayna's desk, she sits next to Joaquin." As I was leaving the school I found a basket of free chocolates the PTO was giving out so I grabbed two and ran back and put them inside Shayna's desk. On the bottom of the note I wrote on her paper, I said "Look inside for a surprise."

3. Shayna's photo on the AR (Accelerated Reader) board. They get points for the books they read based on the difficulty level and how well they do on the test. Shayna and Annamarie are at 10 points (Shayna actually has around 12-13 but it goes by increments of 5). Annamarie is one of the other 2 kids with Shayna in gifted/talented. I discovered tonight that I graduated the same year from Bensalem high school as her mom! Small world!!! Only one child is ahead of them, Eric, at 15 points. It happens that Eric sits next to Shayna. Another "small world" discovery: about 2 weeks ago Shayna brought home a school library book which happened to be VERY old, and when I checked the little card you sign when you take out the book, I knew someone who had taken out the book in 1978!! It was Jennifer Leiter, who graduated with my brother.