Monday, August 28, 2017

A Great Start!



Big and small yellow buses began rolling in around 8:00 a.m. on the first day of school.  Favorite new shirts, colorful backpacks, and eager smiles were the order of the day as our students greeted one another and shared about their relaxing summer weeks at home and at various vacation spots. 


There are often mixed emotions when change is afoot, but overall the return to a regular schedule is a welcome transition for families!  








It feels good for all of us to be together again.  


As first days go, it was rather smooth sailing on the EC-8 campus of Dock Mennonite Academy!






Some first week observations:


     Our youngest classes toured the building like adorable rows of baby ducks.  Some of the teachers made the exploration into a classroom scavenger hunt, encouraging team building while the students learned where to find important landmarks on campus.





    There is something incredibly nostalgic about seeing little people with bus numbers and districts dangling from dismissal-time lanyards.  We try hard to make sure everyone gets where they are supposed to be!

           
                     

     

Our middle school students greeted old and new friends, found their lockers, and worked to become acquainted with new schedules and classrooms. 



Everyone in the 6th-8th grade end of the building grew about THREE FEET since departing for beaches and camps in June.  (Okay, 36 inches may be an exaggeration, but we're giving you fair warning for shopping purposes…their jeans will likely not reach their sneakers when the days turn chilly)!




     
      
 Mrs. Baker started Family and Consumer Science class with a bit of excitement on the first day, setting up mystery tasting stations for some unusual foods.  Let's just say some of the foods were tastier than others....



     




K-8 students were excited to discover a beautiful new salad bar, chosen by Food Services Director, Bill Lorah.  There are colorful, nutritious options to tempt even the most reluctant eaters!  







 Because the salad bar is sized for our students, our salad-loving staff and faculty need to perform some interesting contortions to reach under the protective shield.  But it is so delicious, we are not dissuaded!







      
     Over the summer months, the fiction section of the library was painstakingly rearranged by genre!  Thank you, Mrs. Thomas!  This will make book selection more efficient and fun for all of our readers.




     Parents may have noticed less paperwork at the start of this school year.  Efforts were made in the springtime to electronically process some of the emergency and permission forms in order to make things easier.  Some of our families are so accustomed to having mounds of paperwork, they forged ahead and filled out an extra!  We sincerely thank numerous efficient parents for such impressive diligence! 



     



        NEW FACES   







There are some wonderful new faces in our hallways. Please help us welcome approximately 50 new families to our school community this year! We look forward to learning and growing together. 



   We've got new faculty faces too!

New faculty members from both campuses.

     Our high school will be alternating blog posts with the PEEK this school year, so watch for a new posting from one of our campuses each month!

It promises to be a great year at Dock Mennonite Academy.  Click the link below the photo for a first day video- produced by photographer, Mike Landis.



                                                      CLICK HERE FOR FIRST DAY VIDEO LINK
                                             
                                                      CLICK HERE FOR SCHOOL WEBSITE



1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the interesting post. It was good to see the salad bar, it has gotten rave reviews from my middle schooler and his friends!

    ReplyDelete