While the weather outside was cloudy and wet on the first day of school, it felt like a sunny day inside of our hallways and classrooms! The enthusiasm and positive energy were tangible as students greeted one another with smiles on their faces and met their new teachers, who led them in numerous ice breakers and team building activities.
As they became better acquainted with their fellow crew members and classmates, the students also delved into one of the most important tasks for any class at the beginning of the year— the process of building classroom norms. Together with their teachers, students in every grade worked as a crew to decide what they want their classroom culture to look and feel like. Using the 5 Crew Qualities (Cooperation, Empathy, Perseverance, Responsibility, and Reflection), they identified specific ways that everyone can apply these qualities inside the classroom in order to create the best possible learning environment. These norms become expectations that students will hold each other to for the rest of the year.
The first day is the start of something big. Learning expeditions, fieldwork, and musical concerts are all mountains students will soon climb. These are challenging feats, but not ones that they will have to conquer alone. At Conservatory Lab we are all crew members, and we work together to face challenges and accomplish great things.