For any child, moving to a new school can be difficult. But thanks to new orientation programs in the Oneonta City School District, Sophia, Nicholas and dozens of other students are getting a head start easing into unfamiliar learning environments. A pilot program at Riverside Elementary School for kindergartners and a similar one at the middle school are introducing students to new teachers, new classrooms and new friends. By many accounts, summer orientation is a success. Teachers say it's helped them identify potential problems before school starts.
Parents report their anxiety levels are lower, and students seem to like it, too.
It's taken the curse off the first day of school. It gets people familiar with the school. The program is a first for the district, and teachers said they hope it will spread to the other three elementary schools. We have to do something to get kids interested in learning before we start shoving standards at them. Having done this, we realize how much it's helped and how good it's been.