Middle School

Trevor and Bryce in the school courtyard

Today was a big day for The Ganns, Trevor in particular. We visited his new school, Francis Bradley Middle School. Yes, I said MIDDLE SCHOOL!!! He is entering upon a new period in his life, the preteens.

Bradley Middle School held their annual Open House today. Todd came home from work early so that he could keep James and Lilly while Trevor and I went to the school. Trevor's friend, Bryce, also went with us. The boys were so excited. First, we went into the Gym for a briefing by the principal. Next, we found Trevor's homeroom and met his teacher. Once we were in there, she gave us an entire folder of information including Trevor's schedule. He will be changing classes this year and has a locker and dresses out for gym and everything! I just can't believe that this is my baby that we are talking about! Anyway, after checking out his schedule and meeting a few teachers, we walked the school and located the cafeteria, office, library, etc. We also ran into several of Trevor's friends and their parents and had a little social time catching up with them and what they did for the summer.

I have to brag a little bit on Trevor and say that he really made me say "WOW" today. At the end of each school year, the students do "end of grade testing". This is a standardized test that every student in the state takes at the end of the school year to determine if they are performing at, above, or below their current grade level. At the end of the school year last year (5th grade), his teacher called me to say that he had received all of the test scores back and that Trevor had done very well. I was pleased and I congratulated Trevor on a job well done. However, I did not fully understand at the time exactly what that meant. Today when we received Trevor's schedule of classes, I was ecstatic to find out that he was put into HONORS classes!!! His highest grades came in Language Arts (which is what really amazed me) and math. This entire year, he will be in honors language arts and math. I am so proud of him. He has always been good at math. But there have been times when he has really struggled with his spelling, writing, grammar, and reading. I guess all of our (and his) persistence paid off. Trevor is just like Todd (in more ways than one!), in that he is very bright. I am glad that he is starting middle school off with these high academic expectations already being set. Trevor is one that must be challenged, otherwise he gets bored and is not interested. These classes should challenge him mentally and make him raise the bar. I think that it is very important to start with these expectations. Once you accept anything less, the precedent is set. These next few years will be critical to Trevor's development and play a huge role in the person that he will become.

One last thing to mention: He and Bryce also had a good time checking out all the girls at the middle school!!