School days (continued)

Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post. Hyattsville, MD: Nicholas Orem Middle School, principal Kenneth Calvin and students who remade the campus with murals and gardens over the summer. For more on this story, see "At Md. School, Back to Class Isn't a Return to the Past."

In poking around the Louisville Courier-Journal website last night, I came across their special section on preparing for school. Like the "First Day Festival," publication of a special section such as this is an acknowledgement about the importance of education to the community.

Setting objectives.

The special section is entitled "Survive & Thrive: A guide to school success for parents and students."

Elementary School

Early years map skills for success
Your children will spend at least 13 years in school, learning everything from long division and short essays to frog dissection and Civil War reconstruction. But before they're old enough to study any of those things, they'll do perhaps their most intense learning in the first six years.
• Mentors, lessons teach students proper behavior
• Kindergarten drop-offs don't have to hurt
• Kindergarten 101: Tips to help prepare your child
• What your child should be able to do before starting kindergarten
• Ways to be active in your child's education
• Parents' advice: Sasha K. and Troy Harbin
• Parents' advice: Jolie Ayn Yockey
• Tips on the Web

Roosevelt-Perry teacher Chris Connelly worked with student Elexis Heyn while DeShawn Edwards held his hand up. (Keith Williams, The Courier-Journal)

Middle School
Middle school: Navigating a new world
Some national experts have viewed the middle years as a weak link in education for a mix of reasons -- insufficient teacher preparation in subject areas, different standards among schools for high school readiness, declining parent involvement and the belief among some educators that adolescents can't deal with challenging work.
• Middle school a crucial time for building skills
• Bullying can take many forms, cause variety of harm
• Sex-education lessons lessons vary by school, grade

Sharonda O'Bannon-Morton taught math at Meyzeek Middle School in May. Math courses are sequential. (By Michael Hayman, The Courier-Journal)

High School
High schoolers on 4-year ride to reality
It is a time when students go from scared freshmen trying to master their locker combinations to young adults ready to take on the world.
• Applying for college? Start early, students and counselors advise
• Do homework to pay for college
• Service learning grows more common
• High schoolers need support facing pressures
• Warning signs that your child may be using drugs or alcohol
• Work: Holding down a job takes organization and planning
• Extracurricular activities part of high school experience

Other topics (edited)
• Homework: A necessary evil
• Jargon buser: Glossary of words educators use
• Finding child's learning style called called key

Daria Taubin, 6, a first-grader at the Driscoll School in Brookline, during a Chinese lesson. ‘‘I teach my mom every word I really know,’’ she said. (Globe Staff Photo / Suzanne Kreiter)

Theresa Tizedes encourages the children through song about out of home activities such as visit the fire house and/or the post office. The library hosts a program called Great Parents Great Star for parents to how to teach their children by using story telling. Photo taken on Wednesday, June, 22, 2005 , Lincoln Park, Mi. (Velvet S. McNeil / The Detroit News