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ARMONK, N.Y. - It was a gloomy weather day in Westchester Tuesday but that didnt ruin the first day of school at Coman Hill Elementary School or Valhalla Middle/High School.
Although it was cloudy and rainy outside it was sunny inside Coman Hill, Principal Carol Fisher said. Its been wonderful and weve really had an excellent first day.
Accommodating kindergartners in their transition to elementary school sounds like a tough task but Fisher said its not a problem at Coman Hill thanks to a special group of parents.
The kindergartners did really well, we had no criers, Fisher said. We are very fortunate to have a group of parents called Happy Parents who come the first few days of school and help bring the kindergartners to their classes.
The transition for kids entering middle school and high school in Valhalla was also made easier thanks to help from peer leaders and two ice cream socials at the end of the day for sixth and ninth graders.
We wanted to make sure that our sixth graders and our ninth graders were comfortable and prepared, said Angela Aguilar, assistant principal. Especially as little ones coming from elementary to middle school can be very intimidating. The ice cream social at the end of the day kind of loosens things up for them and so does having the 11 and 12 graders paired up with them as peer leaders.
Valhalla Middle/High School sixth grade social studies teacher Brett Erenberg said there are youngsters who come prepared for the transition to middle school and others who take a little longer to adjust.
You see a lot of kids who are very ready for this and theres also a pretty good chunk of kids whore nervous because theyve never followed a daily schedule quite like this before so theres a lot of anxiety, Erenberg said. Theyre very happy to hear that we [teachers] help them out for the first couple of weeks. The bottom line is, after three weeks, theres not on kid that doesnt get it.
How did your child's first day of school go? Comment below or on Facebook.
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