The First Week of School

AJ and Jules have completed their first week at their new schools in Keller ISD (Independent School District).

AJ attends Trinity Meadows Intermediate School which has 5th and 6th grades. Their mascot is the Mustang. The school itself is a two-story building, and they separate the kids – 5th grade on the upper level and 6th grade on the lower level. She typically rides her bike to school (as do most of the kids in the neighborhood). AJ was tested before school started and has been accepted into the gifted program (we are not really sure what that means yet). She is in a team teaching situation. Her homeroom teacher is Mr. Cook (her first male teacher). He is a total technology geek who instructs the kids in math and science. Next week they are going to do a project that they will record on cell phone video. When asked how they were going to download it, she responded “Bluetooth, of course!”. As a direct influence, the requests for her own cell phone have increased 50-fold in the last week (thanks Mr. Cook!). She also has Ms. Varela who teaches language arts and social studies. When we attended “meet the teacher night”, we met the art teacher. She is a very gung-ho and vibrant personality. It seems like she has a lot of exciting opportunities for the kids to utilize their talents beyond the typical art curriculum, so we are eager to see what develops on that front. And, the most important thing from AJ’s perspective – she has a locker!

Jules attends Independence Elementary School. The school mascot is the Maverick (defined as: an unbranded range animal, or an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party). She walks to school and keeps trying to convince us that she should be able to walk on her own or ride her bike. We can see the school from our house, but there are a couple lots that have not been built on yet, so the sidewalks are not continuous. Jules also has a team teaching situation. Ms. Caldwell is her homeroom teacher who teaches math and science. Ms. Parker teaches language arts and social studies. There is no Spanish immersion program available in this school district, so Jules will not be able to continue with that (but maybe she can meet some Spanish-speaking friends). Gifted testing for the elementary school has not been done yet, but we have little doubt as to the outcome there.

All in all, a good start to the new school year!