By Tere Dunlap
tdunlap@themonroetimes.com
MONROE - The first day of school each year can be emotional for elementary school students, bringing joy, dread or confusion - sometimes all three. But students don't all agree that going to school year-round is a solution.
Some of the students waiting to start the first day of school Wednesday at Northside Elementary School in Monroe were excited. Others were not so jubilant.
Fifth-graders Cheyenne Kraft and Mackenzee Menehan were looking forward to starting classes this year, but neither wanted to attend school year-round.
"It's fun to see friends again," Kraft said Wednesday as she waited with other fifth-grade girls outside before the first bell rang.
"I miss learning; it's boring during the summer," she said. "But we would need a summer break to settle our brains down."
Menehan agreed.
"I have a nice teacher, and learning is fun," she said. "(But) we need a little break in between (during the summer) to hang out with friends and have fun."
Fourth-grade boys were not in agreement, with the girls or with each other.
Quinn Schultz said he "sort of" liked coming back to school.
"I like recess; I don't like music," he said.
Schultz would "not really" like going all year round.
"We like to have a break sometimes," he said.
"School's boring," Aiden Roesslein said, "because you learn."
Roesslein doesn't like reading especially, but as for going to school year-round, he said he is willing to give it a try before deciding whether he liked it.
Spencer Brunton wasn't sure why he was happy to be back at school Wednesday, but he was all for going to school all the time.
"Because school is a place where we learn and have fun and become smart," he said.
Some first-grade girls were not willing to speak on the record about starting school, but first-grade boys Alvin Buholzer and Chase Storp said they were excited to be in school again - and would go year-round.
"Because I learn to read," Buholzer said.
Storp had other motivation.
"Yeah, because you can play with friends," he said.
tdunlap@themonroetimes.com
MONROE - The first day of school each year can be emotional for elementary school students, bringing joy, dread or confusion - sometimes all three. But students don't all agree that going to school year-round is a solution.
Some of the students waiting to start the first day of school Wednesday at Northside Elementary School in Monroe were excited. Others were not so jubilant.
Fifth-graders Cheyenne Kraft and Mackenzee Menehan were looking forward to starting classes this year, but neither wanted to attend school year-round.
"It's fun to see friends again," Kraft said Wednesday as she waited with other fifth-grade girls outside before the first bell rang.
"I miss learning; it's boring during the summer," she said. "But we would need a summer break to settle our brains down."
Menehan agreed.
"I have a nice teacher, and learning is fun," she said. "(But) we need a little break in between (during the summer) to hang out with friends and have fun."
Fourth-grade boys were not in agreement, with the girls or with each other.
Quinn Schultz said he "sort of" liked coming back to school.
"I like recess; I don't like music," he said.
Schultz would "not really" like going all year round.
"We like to have a break sometimes," he said.
"School's boring," Aiden Roesslein said, "because you learn."
Roesslein doesn't like reading especially, but as for going to school year-round, he said he is willing to give it a try before deciding whether he liked it.
Spencer Brunton wasn't sure why he was happy to be back at school Wednesday, but he was all for going to school all the time.
"Because school is a place where we learn and have fun and become smart," he said.
Some first-grade girls were not willing to speak on the record about starting school, but first-grade boys Alvin Buholzer and Chase Storp said they were excited to be in school again - and would go year-round.
"Because I learn to read," Buholzer said.
Storp had other motivation.
"Yeah, because you can play with friends," he said.