Welcome to our new school (but no gum please)
Friday’s New Day newspaper in New London, Connecticut, has a heartwarming update on the first day of a new school in the community, the C.B. Jennings Elementary School.
The third grade class, taught by Michele Shannon (picured above with her students as they get ready for lunch on the first day of school), got acclimated to the new school, which had hallways shaped not unlike tennis rackets, new purple chairs for their classroom, and a projector, speakers, microwave and mini-fridge, all as features in the new classroom.
The class is also part of the new Foreign Language in the Elmentary School (FLES) program, where students will learn in both English and Spanish.
Ms. Shannon has a light touch to teaching, with bowls of Jolly Ranchers available for special treats (although in the comments connected with the article, you can read about residents arguing about whether or not Connecticut law allows teachers to give treats to their students). But there is one hard and fast guideline, familiar to elementary school students and readers of AndrewsGumWorld everywhere:
As the article notes:
In her 12th year teaching, Shannon was no pushover - while she kept the atmosphere light and engaging, she also let her students know she had rules and wouldn’t tolerate nonsense.
”You will learn cursive in third grade, so if you don’t know cursive, don’t try to fake it, I’ll know,” she said.
To two boys caught chewing gum: “First of all, don’t bring gum to school anymore.”