Fantastic First Week in Oz!

What a fantastic first week we've had!

Principal Phillips kicked off our year with an exciting surprise -- a hot air balloon! Bright and early on the first day of school, the entire student body and faculty headed out to the bus loop to watch Principal Phillips (and Dorothy) take a little ride in a hot air balloon, right here on our very own campus.  We all waited excitedly as the crew of men worked to inflate the enormous balloon.  Slowly, it came to life, lifting off the ground, eventually swinging and swaying in the breeze.  Most of us agreed, we wish we could climb in and float away on an adventure!

On Wednesday, the Fundrunner team got us all pumped up for our September 2nd Fundrun.  Students loved getting an overview of all the prizes available.  Many went home the first night and started phoning family and friends for pledges right away!  In our classrooms, we look forward to the Fundrunner team visits, and we're working on our team names and plans for our entries in the Fundrunner bag decoration contest.

On Friday, we gathered again as a school for our first Flag Raising.  Watching the new group of 5th grade Safety Patrols often inspires fourth graders to dream of the day when they might finally get their own chance to wear the coveted neon belt.  Fourth grade is the year to work hard all year, building the habits of respectful, responsible students.  Fourth grade teachers watch their students all year for:  daily preparedness, respectful interactions (with peers and adults), following directions, hallway conduct, motivation and leadership.

All of these big events were the icing on the cake this week!  The rest of our hours together were spent learning all about our new classrooms, classmates, and routines for fourth grade.  We jumped right into our studies from the very beginning, and we are already seeing growth and improvement from our students, day by day, as we all push past "summer brain" and warm up to the new challenges and rigor of fourth grade.

Thank you all, students and families, for such a wonderful week in Oz!  We can't wait for more fun this week!