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From the moment students stepped off the bus at James Russell Lowell Montessori School 51, they were met with cheers from waiting adults.
School and district staff, along with others from the nearby Edna Martin Christian Center, lined the sidewalk to the doors, waiting for the students’ arrival.
“Come on down, get excited!”
“Hi sweetheart, have a great day!”
The cheers and well wishes were punctuated by barks from MJ, the school’s therapy dog, as students gave high fives and hugs on their way in the doors.
“The first day is always exciting, it’s great to be here,” said School 51 Principal Christine Rembert, adding that staff at the Martindale-Brightwood school had prepared all summer for the students’ return. Roughly 350 students are attending the prekindergarten to fifth grade Montessori school this year.
Students across central Indiana are returning to class this month, and Monday marked the first day of school for Indianapolis Public Schools. The new year marks one that will likely bring significant changes for schools within IPS boundaries as the new Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, a mayor-appointed board, begins overseeing buildings, facilities, and some finances. The board is also putting a tax increase to fund schools on the November ballot, while IPS faces budget cuts regardless of the outcome.
Rembert acknowledged that there is a lot happening in the city overall, as well in the personal lives of staff and students. Students pick up on adults’ emotions, she said. “When grown-ups feel unrest, kids feel it too.”
That’s why inside the school walls, she said, the focus is on creating a place of belonging.
Parents want to know that the school is filled with adults who care for their students and will help them develop the confidence and agency to choose who they want to be later in life, Rembert said.
School 51 focuses on literacy from first day
The first day of school also lands the day before state test scores for last year’s ILEARN and IREAD are expected to be released. At School 51, Rembert said she’s excited for the scores to be unveiled, and the school will use a $25,000 literacy grant from the United Way to maintain and expand its literacy focus, especially for the school’s youngest and oldest students.
The school’s literacy focus has been on students in first through third grade, but the grant will help expand that work to pre-K, kindergarten, and older grades, she said.
In the early learning classrooms, building community and literacy skills are at the top of the agenda for the first day.
Pre-K and kindergarten students in Melisa Alkire’s classroom started the day by spelling their names. Students matched letters written on clothespins to the letters in their names written on a card.
The activity helps students learn to spell their names while also strengthening the fingers they use to hold the pencil, Rembert said.
Next door, early childhood teacher Mary Haste said her students will practice writing their names to build literacy skills. She also wants to build a love of reading early with books in her classroom that students can see themselves represented in.
Haste said the first week of school is her favorite. It builds relationships with students that last all school year, she said, adding that hopefully means fewer tears too.
MJ Slaby oversees Chalkbeat Indiana’s coverage as bureau chief. Contact MJ at mslaby@chalkbeat.org.
