The first day of school on Wednesday for the sixth-graders moving from Lowther North Intermediate School to Emporia went smoothly, with a little confusion along the way.
EMS assistant principal Austin Entress said the familiarity from the tour the sixth-grade students took before the winter break helped to ease the first-day transition.
“All things considered, the students have done a pretty good job adjusting on this first day,” he said. “Everything is a little bit different. Classrooms are in a different space. Lunch runs a little bit different. The fact that they had come out for their tours, at least this is not the first time they had seen this building. They’re a little bit more familiar with their surroundings than if they hadn’t been able to come out on that tour.”
Unlike the rest of the middle school students, the sixth-graders are escorted from the buses to their classrooms, to lunch, back to the classrooms and back to the buses by teachers or EMS staff.
“Everything is a little bit different as far as their surroundings look,” said Entress. “For the most part they are escorted to classes by their teachers and they have the idea of where their teachers classrooms are. Where the gym is. Where there elective teachers are. Where the cafeteria is.”
More familiarity will come with time.
“Obviously it will get better as they go on the next couple of weeks, and this becomes home to them,” said Entress.
The most welcome changes for many sixth-graders occurred during lunch.
“I think what they have been most excited about is they get some more opportunities at lunch to get some different food,” said Entress. “Eat some different things.”
Once they got into the classroom, more familiarity occurred.
“They know their teachers so it’s really just the surroundings part,” said Entress. “Once they’re in the classroom, it’s the same teacher they have had for half the year so it’s not like they have to learn a teacher or learn the students around them. They don’t have to worry about it.”
For Entress the move back to EMS is a homecoming of sorts.
“This has been great,” said Entress. “This was my home when I was a teacher and then I was assistant principal here last year. This is just like coming back to the middle school just like I had every other year.”
All-in-all it was just another day back from break.
“Really to me it just kind of reminds me of a first day of school,” said Entress.