First week of school!
Friday, May 02, 2014
There is so much effort that our team puts in to make sure the first week of school gets off to a great start. For team Kopila, the first week of school marks a time for a fresh start, a new beginning, and a time to turn things up a notch.
The week began with us scrambling to get the classrooms and school ready. Fresh paint, carpenters making repairs, white boards being hung, and decorating. Orders and orders of text books arriving by the truck load. By 2:00 the day before school was supposed to begin, by the looks of things, no one would have any idea that school was going to be in session the next day. Yet magically in a matter of hours we pulled it all together, and sure enough, come the first morning of school, we were ready to go.
The first few days of school for us are exactly what you would expect. We have our morning assembly, welcome our students back, go over scheduling, rules and classroom behavior and expectations, our code of conduct, Attendance procedures, student files and all the other tedious things that go into running and managing a school. We distribute books, uniforms, and backpacks.
We hold expectations for our students extremely high. The kids sign an honor code and a “Kopila” pledge that they are each asked to commit to in exchange for their scholarship. They pledge to take care of one another; practice kindness, compassion, and honesty; take care of the things that are given to them; and come regularly & promptly to school. It’s a pretty extensive contract actually and we take their accountability to it very serious.
Orientation is a series of stations lead by our teaching and admin team, bus and road safety, library, school lunch, etc. etc. It’s a couple of days with A TON of information and procedures. We were so proud of the Kopila kids for sticking through the first few days of boring stuff that we decided to plan a really fun Friday for them. Today was all about the house families (Sky, Moon, Sun, and Star.) We made a “magical” sorting hat “Harry Potter style.” Luke, who does the most incredible impersonations, hid back stage and acted out the voice of the hat as it decided which house to place the kids in. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more believable or hilarious. For the first couple of sortings Kelly, the teachers, and I could not control our laughter. It was the best best best. The magic sorting hat would deliberate on which house the new student should be placed in, make its decision and then everyone would cheer.
Next each new house broke up into groups for their first ever team meetings to practice their cheers, design their new house/family banners, get to know each other, and elect leaders. The energy in each of the rooms after the sorting hat was so awesome.
Then each of the houses marched back out to the stage to sat in their designated corners, and skills challenges began. Before the kids knew what the 7 skills challenges were, they had to write down who would be competing.
We introduced a panel of judges who helped decide who would win each competition.
Each house then competed in the specific challenge. Kelly and I emceed and had just as much fun as the kids.
1) Skill 1… A cheer off. Moon house wins!
2) Nominate one nursery or kindergarten student to compete in a donut eating contest. (No hands allowed!) Donuts were hanging on a string. So great. Sun house won!
3) One girl and one boy from each house for an egg toss.
4) Make our chairman laugh. Two students had one minute to do a stand up act and try to make Top laugh. He didn’t crack until the end but we were all laughing so hard we almost peed our pants. We have some serious future comedians. Sky house wins!
5) Corn hole! A timed competition with bean bags. Every single member of the team had to get a bean bag through the hole. Star house wins!
6) Blindfolded water challenge! A blindfolded Sun house wins ☺
7) Protect your balloon. We tied balloons to two members from each house’s ankles and enclosed them in an area where they had to try to stomp and pop the other houses balloon while trying to protect their own. Please try this at home. It’s hilarious.
By the end of the seventh challenge, it was seriously a 4 way tie! 10-10-10-10
The final tie-breaking challenge:
8) Make a formation with using every single member in your house to represent your house family. (Sun house wins and starts the new school year in the lead!)
The competition was more intense than a quidditch match. There was belly laughter, screaming, and cheering. As you can see by the faces here, we had a lot of fun. Best way to end a very amazing first week of school.