Next year's 5th and 6th grade team

Yesterday the school year ended.  How about the T-Shirts from the PTA!!!!!!  Now I feel like the Tampa Bay Rays with white, navy or light blue uniform shirts to choose.  The PTA has outdone anything expected of a first year group.  Thank You so much PTA.  What a great team of hard working ladies for our school.

Administration held an appreciation luncheon for the teachers.  The new teachers were invited.  I was in the upstairs hallway with the new 5th and 6th grade team.  The energy of these ladies was so exciting.  They are talking about things like research on our lake, an outdoor classroom, a greenhouse, an organic garden and engaging curriculum to take this talented group of kids to the next level.  Our new science teacher is already getting the science lab ready for active use next year.  Her husband was at LP yesterday looking at their children’s new school and helping his wife.  These ladies already know each other.  Their families do things together.  Many have worked together previously.  They want to teach for us and they want their own kids at Lutz Prep.

These ladies intend to spend a lot of their own summer time getting ready for the fall so they can hit the ground running.  This summer already feels so different than last summer.  It’s hard to believe that at this time last year we did not have a building, teachers or administration.  We are so far ahead of anything we did last year.

Our 5th and 6th grade will rotate to content areas like a middle school.  There will be five classrooms for these two grades.  We expect a lot of connecting the classroom to real life.  Our oldest kids will experience school as never before.

The work starts Monday to prepare for next August.  Classrooms need to be equipped.  Trips to the SDHC warehouse to find furniture are planned.  We’re buying more textbooks and deciding on 6th grade materials.

I have to tell you about a phone call I received late last week.  A senior administrator from SDHC called me on my cell.  She asked if she could talk to me briefly about Lutz Prep.  I said, “I love to talk about Lutz Prep.”  She bluntly said, “Tell me how you are getting the test scores you are getting.”  I said, “What exactly are you asking?”  She said, “Your FCAT scores are ridiculously high, especially fourth grade.  This is just not normal.  That fourth grade teacher is doing something very special.  What is happening there?”

We talked about the great kids in fourth grade and Ms. DeRosia.  We talked about the tremendous support that parents provide all of our students in every grade.  We basically talked about the very special nature of the Lutz Prep family.

Her final comment was, “As a Professional Educator, I’ve always dreamed of being part of something like that.  I hope my grandchildren get admitted there for next year.”

It’s a great day to be part of Lutz Prep and it’s just getting better and better.  We have a ton of work to do this summer.  Come join is and get your volunteer hours before school starts in a relaxed summer atmosphere.  I love Lutz Prep.

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