School’s return presents opportunity, new challenges in Summit
kfixler@summitdaily.com
Silverthorne Elementary fifth grade student Kyah Quam, right, reaches out to hug staff member Susan Maar upon arriving for the first day of in front of the school on Thursday morning, Aug. 24.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary literacy teacher Corina Kaskey, right, sets up welcoming decorations for the students arriving for their first day in front of the school on Thursday morning, Aug. 24.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary fifth-grade teacher Liz McFarland leads a class on their first day Thursday morning, Aug. 24.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Kyah Quam enjoys swing set with her classmates Thursday, Aug. 24, at Silverthorne Elementary School during the first day.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary principal Joel Rivera looks in on a class of fifth graders from the background on their first day of school on Thursday morning, Aug. 24.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Snack time followed gym class Thursday morning at Silverthorne Elementary School for a class of fifth graders on their first day. Here, Wildernest resident Kyah Quam eats a sliced radish from her cat-themed lunch pail.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Kyah Quam looks for her proper seat during her first day of school at Silverthorne Elementary on Thursday. Students in Mrs. Liz McFarland's class employ an innovative flexible seating model.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary students Jesse Wiono, right, and Kyah Quam share a book Thursday, Aug. 24.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary student Jesse Wiono takes part of his flexible seating choice in "the boat" during class Thursday.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary student Kyah Quam paws through a book during class Thursday, Aug. 24.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Kyah Quam participates in a game of tag with other students during morning gym class in Silverthorne.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary fifth-grade students line up to head to their next class during the first day of school on Thursday.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary students Kyah Quam, left, and Grace Gardner chat as they arrive to the school's playground on Thursday, Aug. 24, as part of before-school festivities to commemorate the first day.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary teacher Liz McFarland talks with students as Kyah Quam listens in.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary fifth-grade students listen to music teacher Chloe David, in background, during a brief class session Thursday during the first day of school.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Fifth grader Kyah Quam's shoes give away her affection for cats to new peers in Liz McFarland's class at Silverthorne Elementary.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Kyah Quam participates in a game rock-paper-scissors with other students during gym class Thursday, Aug. 24, in Silverthorne.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary physical education teacher Tyler Bunnelle, right, high-fives student Kyah Quam as she arrives for first day of school Thursday, Aug. 24, in Silverthorne.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary fifth graders Ailyn Quinonez-Saenz, right, and Kyah Quam chat on the playground before classes. The first day for Summit School District elementary students was Thursday, Aug. 24.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Kyah Quam in class Thursday, Aug. 24, in Silverthorne.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary physical education teacher Tyler Bunnelle leads their first gym class, directing students to reposition themselves into girl-boy format.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |In class Thursday morning, Aug. 24, at Silverthorne Elementary during the first day.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |Silverthorne Elementary teacher Liz McFarland high-fives a student during her new fifth-grade class's first day Thursday, Aug. 24.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |
Strands of party balloons fluttered in a light breeze Thursday morning as the first school bus pulled in at about a quarter after 8. Blue-and-green adorned staff stood out front to greet Silverthorne Elementary students with smiles and high-fives.
A crowd of youngsters, first through fifth grade, began to form at the main entrance that displays a banner welcoming students back with the slogan “Bear Strong,” a reference to the school mascot. Parents snapped photos for their scrapbooks and Facebook walls to commemorate the start of school in Summit County.
Fifth-grader Kyah Quam, only days from turning 10, arrives a few minutes later with her mother Shawn. Like many of her peers, she’s donning a new outfit — a feline-print, rainbow-colored dress given as a gift by her grandmother — to go along with her fresh hairdo. The black kitten-ear headband and cat-themed kicks complete the look.
Some students are fending off yawns — one even complains of having had too much coffee — but not Kyah. The Summit County native and Wildernest resident is primed and ready to take on the day, skipping from location to location as children are ushered around the grounds before arriving to the first class.
“I’m really excited, but I’m really scared for the year, too. Because it’s starting to get harder and I’m going to be in middle school next year, so it will be a whole different school. I’m ready for that, but Silverthorne is a good school and I don’t want to leave.”Kyah QuamSilverthorne fifth-grader
While others happily play foursquare and tetherball out on the blacktop, or hit the swing sets, Kyah drops her oversized blue hiking pack with its multiple patches and other plush ornaments in the line where kids will meet their homeroom teacher. She spends her time chasing friends and jumping in place with unrestrained anticipation — even if she’ll admit later the presence of some mild nerves.
“I’m really excited, but I’m really scared for the year, too,” she said. “Because it’s starting to get harder and I’m going to be in middle school next year, so it will be a whole different school. I’m ready for that, but Silverthorne is a good school and I don’t want to leave.”
Ignoring ongoing construction, students line up and march through a hallway. They’re greeted by a chorus of staff applause as they head upstairs, where classrooms for fourth- and fifth-graders are situated. Single file, before entering the doorway to their scholastic home for the new academic year, each newly christened fifth-grader repeats after their new teacher: “Good morning, Mrs. McFarland, I’m ready to learn.”
Almost as fast as they hang up their book bags and deliver their tissue boxes to the back of the room, the class returns downstairs to attend their first elective, physical education, in this whirlwind first day. Other so-called “specials” include music, art, French, International Baccalaureate and a collaborative setting called makers space. For now, though, the rain keeps the students in the gym playing tag and variations on rock-paper-scissors.
Next, with the full class properly energized, Liz McFarland broaches a concept to her students: Starting today, they’re the big kids on campus. With that responsibility comes the duty of leadership. Over a pre-lunch snack — Kyah enjoys a baggie of sliced radishes, pulled from her cat-themed lunch pail — the class learns the democratic process they’ll undergo in order to produce classroom rules, a constitution and each day’s seating arrangement.
Gone are the days of the traditional desk and cubby — no need for much storage for each pupil’s personal laptop — and below the day’s dry-erase schedule, the whiteboard poses the contemplative prompt, “Where will you sit today?”
Options range from inflatable exercise balls, padded milk crates at tables, a classroom beanbag chair and standing desk with high chairs. A plastic storage bin that McFarland used to keep her summer wardrobes, converted to include a writing surface, is nicknamed “the boat.”
With a three-branches-of-government mobile hanging from the ceiling overhead, the kids appear tickled over the newfound freedom granted by a more flexible seating model. The innovative concept of different chair stations for different preferences is reinforced through a Sesame Street sing-along streamed via YouTube and a reading of the children’s book “You Be You.”
The lecture on leadership was buttressed with McFarland’s plea that her student’s commit to being silly and goofy, but also to be kind and supportive of each other and to never be afraid of making mistakes. In other words, being Bear Strong.
“Bear Strong means three things to me: Being respectful, being responsible and being safe,” principal Joel Rivera said during a short classroom visit. “You have the chance right now as fifth-graders to be that role model for the people around you.
“That’s what being a leader is about, making people feel welcome and making people feel accepted.”
Lesson plans and science experiments awaits these fifth-graders, as does the eventual transition to the middle school. The daily musical chairs of the classroom will suffice for now.
“I feel like that’s really good, but also kind of intimidating since we’re all like the oldest in the school,” said Kyah. “And it’s also just nice to be the one the younger kids look up to because you get to be a hero for a littler kid, and that’s pretty cool.”
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