It's All Smiles As Students Return to School

As much as youngsters look forward to summer vacation, it gets pretty old by late August.

And so, at least for a while, many students look forward to returning to the classroom to see old friends and make new ones.

“We had a wonderful start,” Dr. Claire Miller, Streams Elementary School principal, said as her students were getting settled Monday on their first day back. “It’s always a bit apprehensive to make sure that all the buses get here, all the cars unload safely and all the students come in the door.

“But it’s always my favorite day, because you see their smiles, and they’re coming back excited and ready to go.”

A clear morning didn’t hurt, as sunlight streamed through the Streams windows, helping to brighten everyone’s attitude.

 “We always have a quite a new family to our school,” Miller said. “We had over 40 new families come to our school this year, many of them with multiple children, so there were lots of new faces coming in the door.”

Streams, one of three elementary schools in Upper St. Clair School District, had a welcome event last week for new families, hosted by the PTA. First-grade teachers did a “sneak peak” for students who are making the adjustment from half a day of kindergarten.

“But it’s always still a first day, so the building looks a little different and it fills up quickly with people,” Miller said. “We have staff posted at various locations to try to minimize those concerns for kids and get everyone where they’re supposed to be and settled in.”

From an educational aspect, the school is implementing a new mathematics program for all students, after a pilot year for kindergartners and fourth-graders. The school plans training for parents with regard to the program.