About School

Everybody has to go to school to learn new things, become intelligent and be wise. This is what my parents told me. I think it is a good idea to go to school.

Around April this year, my mother went to the public school education board office to enquire about my admission. I have always stayed home and never went to any pre-school or play school so I had mixed feelings about school. Few days later, education board office invited all kids with parents to explain about the admission procedure. They gave us a few forms to fill in. Told about many things and answered lot of questions from parents. I had nothing to ask. They said, they will allocate a school depending on my address. I can use School bus service if my house is at least 2 miles from school. They also gave a few forms to be filled by my pediatrician and dentist.

I had to go to my pediatrician for physical examination, to get few shots (I don’t like shots) and blood test. Doctor took my weight, height and examined my mouth, ear etc. My pediatrician is a nice lady, except that I don’t like shots and the blood test.

Dentist examination was easier than expected, since I was scared that there might be more shots waiting for me. He only cleaned my teeth, took few (I think 5) small x-rays of my teeth and explained to my dad about them. He gave me a tooth brush, a paste and few stickers, which I accepted smilingly. He said I need to brush my teeth everyday. He liked it when my dad said that we brush every night before we go to bed.

Then one day, all kids and parents were called to one of the school for screening. They decided that I will need to go to summer classes for 3 hours, 4 days a week in the month of July. Summer classes are medium to make new students feel comfortable about school and train some students in subjects they lack. Summer classes were the first introduction of schooling to me and helped me in socializing with other kids. We all used to sing poems, draw pictures, play in the play area. My mom used to drop me in the morning and pick up in the afternoon. I made good friends and learnt lots of things.

Schools in my area open in the month of September. The back-to-school fever starts in August. As it was my first year in school, my parents had to figure out nitty-gritty of schooling. In August, we got a letter from my primary school inviting us for an open-house. All parents and kids went to school and we met Principal, teachers, nurse, etc. and saw the classrooms, library, gym, cafeteria, restrooms. Teachers explained the curriculum and the daily routine at school. I liked my classroom as it was colorful and had lots of activities within itself, like story-board, science, math, dramatic, board, tools to learning reading, etc. Other classrooms where I would go are Arts for drawing activities, Library to get books and Gym.

In short, we got the following information in the back-to-school fever:

1. School schedule. Each student is assigned to a class number, for example #115 and each class has one teacher and one assistant assigned to it. Many activities like story reading, math, science, dramatic, etc. take place in my class itself. For some activities like outside play area, gym, arts, library, we have to go to other classrooms.
2. Home-work: I have a folder which has two sections. One section is used to put papers to be kept at home and other to put papers to be returned to school. Teacher can also put a note in this folder to communicate with my parents. My parents can also call or email my teacher anytime for better communication.
3. Food: I need to take one snack and one lunch to my school. I also take water-bottle. We are not allowed to bring food which contains peanuts for distribution into school (on birthdays etc.) as some students might be allergic to peanuts.
4. Other things I need for school: like glue, paper-towel, wipes, one pair of sneakers. Our teacher requests paper-towels and wipes supply from parents by sending notes. Otherwise she can also get it from school.
5. Details from transportation department about my bus schedule.
6. Emergency: In case of emergency (like heavy snow, rain, others.) my school broadcasts info on a local radio for people to listen to. Parents can also call a number to listen to a recorded message which tells if there is any emergency or change in school or bus schedule.

Enough for now. I will write more on school activities later.