First week of school full of ups and downs

Audrey Ray helps to raise the flag at Westerly as part of her safety patrol duties.

What have you learned during your first week back to school? Have you enjoyed coming back? I have learned lots of things in the first week of school, but there have been some big bumps in the road for me.

In Miss McMaugh and Mrs. Robinson’s classes, we have a two-inch binder that has folders for all of our subjects, notebook paper, a weekly planner and a pencil case full of stuff we might need during our day. One day, I forgot my binder at home. I realized it when I was biking to school for morning safety patrol. I was worried and thought about biking back home to get it. But instead I decided to go to school because for safety patrol you have to be at school before the other kids arrive. 

After safety patrol, I walked into my classroom and told Miss McMaugh that I had forgotten my binder and asked her if I should call home. (I have never had to do this before in my whole life.) She said that I could. I called my mom twice, but she didn’t answer. Then Miss McMaugh told me to try one more time before art class. Finally my mom answered, and I told her that I forgot my binder and she said she would drop it off. After art, I came back into the room and saw my binder on my desk. I felt relieved to know I had my binder. That was my first big bump in the road.

Then the next big bump was a mistake with my homework. My homework was a paper called "Spelling Survival." I did all the questions but when it came to the last one it looked like an extra question that I didn’t have an obvious answer to so I left it blank. (This was the same day I left my binder at home, so I think you can guess what happened next.) Yeah, you guessed right. I was expected to answer the question. You see, only four people had the whole paper right, and that did not include me. 

Not everything has gone badly for me during this first week. One thing that has gone well is that my friends have not had a single fight. Another thing that has gone well is safety patrol. I have had flag duty and so far we haven’t put the flag upside down yet. Also, my teachers are really nice, and I’m enjoying their classes because we don’t just sit around. We are more active than a regular classroom.   

This first week hasn’t been my best but it’s been a pretty good first week of school. I know one thing is for sure. For the rest of the year, I am going to make sure my binder is in my backpack and answer all of Miss McMaugh and Mrs. Robinson’s questions.

Audrey Ray

Audrey Ray is a fourth-grader at Westerly Elementary School.

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Volume 3, Issue 18, Posted 4:15 PM, 09.07.2011