Hats off to CLBES

Hats off to CLBES

By Allan Olson

It’s been an exciting, interesting and even challenging year, with two more school aged children in our family, as the twins finally started school at Cass Lake-Bena Elementary.

Exciting: It’s been exciting watching Abigail and Marcus come home day after day talking about what they did, who they played with and what they learned. Abigail measured her success each day by one simple parameter. Upon being asked how her school day went, she would reply: “I got only one take-a-break today,” with a beaming grin. Or occasionally she would say, “I got no take-a-breaks today.” I guess we have to measure her success by the fact that she never had more than two take-a-breaks (if she did, it never came up).

Then we have Marcus. If there is a line to cross, he won’t even contemplate crossing it – except at home. For the moment, anyway, he’s a stickler for the rules at school, and we hope he sticks with that. More often than not he would say, “I got no take-a-breaks today.”

Challenging: The biggest challenge this year was acclimating to a new routine for all of us. Instead of one kid to prepare for school, it was three. We had to make sure we had three of everything when we left for school. We did follow the No Child Left Behind guidelines – that is to say, we never left a child behind, either at home or school.

Nikolai faced the challenge of adapting to a new school, new teachers, new classmates and a new routine. The first month of school for him was – CHALLENGING. We heard many times in the first few weeks how he missed his old school and friends. Thankfully, after a couple of emotional meltdowns, homework frustrations and schedule changes, things finally started clicking. It helped a lot that the great staff at CLBES worked hard to win him over, and soon he was whistling a different tune. “My teacher is the best teacher ever,” he said one day last month after school.

For Abigail and Marcus, it wasn’t so much of a challenge, since they had no other school to compare it to, aside from pre-school. They were both excited just to finally go to real school.

Academically, it’s a different ball game with those two. Marcus shows his intellect and desire to learn. Abigail is just Abigail. Her thoughts on reading: “It’s boring. I don’t want to read. I want you to read to me.” She would rather spend time on music or art, or primping and playing with her dolls. That’s not any slight on her academic prowess, as we are well aware of how smart she is when she applies herself. While Marcus reads anything he lays his eyes on, including annoying his father by looking over his shoulder when he’s reading a book, or sitting next to him trying to read the same book. There are many differences and strengths they each carry – perhaps that’s part of what being twins is all about.

Interesting: There are many, many things that happen over the course of a school year, at every grade level. This year the kids participated in a host of activities, both in and out of school. The kindergarten classes visited a pumpkin patch in the fall, and went on a wagon ride and other fun activities while there. They made paper chains in the kindergarten wing of the building right before Christmas. If you listened closely in that wing of the building, you might still hear the laughter, excitement, and the snip, snip of scissors, the crinkling of paper, and the ten thousand questions that those staff members had to answer from the inquisitive minds of over 100 children all at the same time.

Springtime brought out different decorations in the halls and classrooms – one of more color and the promise of new life. The students planted flowers and nurtured them to give to someone special on Mother’s Day.

Another field trip was a trip to the fire station and library – two or three staff members per classroom of 20 plus students, and the kids were in perfect order. That’s a trick I have yet to figure out – how they can manage that many kids! My wife and I sometimes feel outnumbered with just four!

The third grade class kicked off the fall with a very unusual field trip, one on which they learned about teamwork, team-building and how it all leads to a stronger bond of friendship between classmates. This trip was to a ropes course, in which the students traveled over ropes to get from one stage of the course to another.

Students who had perfect attendance in the first two trimesters were rewarded with a swimming trip outing. The third grade put on an art project and a choir concert, and the students will end the school year with a bowling party. The students also had to endure the first year of state-mandated testing.

All in all, this was a successful school year, our first as parents of three school aged children. For our children, it was a success because of the dedication the staff at CLBES put into educating our children.

“True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis

Please be safe on the lakes this weekend – wear your life jacket, keep the kids safe, and remember to take a picture to preserve a lifetime of memories.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week. Remember – watch out for school buses on the road. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.