Mo’ Mobility

This has been the most topsy-turvy year that I’ve had in a long time. Since the beginning of the year I’ve lost 5 kids and gained 4; one of my kids is both a gain and a loss, as he came in November and left last week after 50 days of school. Two more kids have indicated that they probably won’t be here to the end of the year and at least two are moving over the summer, so I won’t be sending very many kids on to the 2nd grade rooms at all.

Our mobility is sort of different from that you see at other schools. I teach at an air force base, so as they are transferred around the military they come and go. We don’t have the migrant population, like Yakima, or the poverty, like parts of Spokane and Seattle, because if you come to our school at least one of your parents has a job—in the military. Given that, I can’t complain.

One of the projects that I’ve always meant to do was to make a checklist for when new kids come during the year; right now I typically spend that morning scrambling to get ready, and the next couple days remembering things they need. I’d better get that done before my student teacher leaves.