[LIT] How to respond to the age old question....

[macwendy at cox.net]

I too, would love to be able to send postcards to all 5 of my 36+ classes, but, alas, I cannot.  Our school does have pre-printed postcards to send out to students that are doing a good job in managing behavior or working hard in their academics.  

The first 2 weeks are crucial to getting the students on board after being off all summer.  I like the idea of each teacher teaching a particular study skill while all the pretesting BS is going on.  Last year was our first year in a new middle school.  150 more students showed up on the first day of school than was projected by our district (they wouldn't lilsten to us) so I had classes with 45 and 55 students for 5 weeks before we could even consider beginning the curriculum.  We did try to attempt some sort of skill building in the areas of their planners and study skills.  Opening new schools is exciting, but there were 'bugs' all through the school year.  Hopefully we will have projected a more accurate enrollment, though I doubt it.