Back-to-School Road Trip.

It's probably not a secret anymore. I'm in love. I love it. I love Key Middle School. It is organized, the people are friendly, and it is a middle school named after the writer of the Star Spangled Banner? That's impossible not to love.

Today was my first day with the whole staff. We had staff development for less than three hours today, and every minute was used wisely. I met lots of new people, checked out assessment data from last year and started to figure out who was who. I'm still a little fuzzy on what I am going to do on Tuesday when the students arrive, but one day at a time.

The theme for the day was "Road Trip," and we all had to bring an artifact from summer road trips. I brought the t-shirt that Abbey and Erica made for our big move. At the end of our meeting, they announced we had a ten minute break, and then we had to be outside for our road trip.


Our entire staff filled up two school buses for a tour of the six elementary schools that feed into our school. We also got to see the various neighborhoods and the differences in housing for some of our students. About 50% of our students receive free or reduced-price lunch, and they come from all over the world before Fairfax County.

The bus tour was great, but it is only fair to mention that last year, Rachel got to ride in a limo.


Do you remember what it was like to ride the bus? When you tried to figure out where to sit and where the cool kids would be? I sat with Rachel. But I don't want you to think that we don't talk to anybody else and just sit the seat and whisper in our code language. I am making lots of friends. And trying to steal some of Rachel's too.

Fifteen buses will bring students to our school on Tuesday. It was nice to see where they live. Now I can't wait to see their faces. I am in love with Key MS.