Claire and Courtney Kelley are set. Decked out in back-to-school clothes that color coordinate their flip-flops with their shirts and watches, the North Hall County girls were ready to tackle new classes and new challenges Monday.

They’re going to two different schools this year, with Claire moving on to middle school, but they’re excited about each other’s next steps.

At Mount Vernon Elementary School, where Courtney arrived Monday morning, the fifth-grade class will experiment with more hands-on projects that include several academic areas in one unit. At the end of each unit, students will create digital portfolios for presentation.

Technology is the key component, as modeled after several middle school programs around the state, including the Da Vinci Academy at South Hall Middle School where Claire started school Monday.

“They’re going to let loose with technology, which is something we’ve never really done before,” said Funmi Oke, Courtney’s fifth-grade math and reading teacher. “It’s been a great way to get teachers involved with the kids because they’re getting used to lessons with technology, and it certainly keeps the teachers on their toes.”

Although Monday was like other first days of school for the fifth-graders, hints of upcoming projects already began to show. After outlining class rules and doing an icebreaker game, Oke took her students to the media center to introduce herself. She showed them a video on her teacher website about her hobbies, family and likes and dislikes.

“I did this using Animoto in about 20 minutes last night,” she said. “You’ll be creating your own videos in my class. You also need to check your homework online every day.”

Courtney smiled as she listened to the project ideas. She’s falling into the footsteps of her sister, who took Oke’s class last year.

“I’m excited because Claire really seemed to enjoy fifth grade,” Courtney said. “I really liked art at the end of the day today because we started creating the folders that hold our projects. Every year we get to do something different.”
She’s particularly excited about taking Mandarin Chinese classes.

“I haven’t learned any languages yet, and it looks cool,” she said. “You never know when you’ll need to know it and use it.”

While Courtney shows excitement, Claire is a bit more nervous. She’s starting middle school and, on top of that, she’s taking on the Da Vinci Academy with only a few friends by her side.

“We mostly went over guidelines and procedures today, but I’m looking forward to when we’re going to use the laptops and get into some of the projects,” Claire said. “I really enjoy PowerPoint, and I’m excited about learning new programs, too. Today was pretty good, but there were some classes where I knew nobody.”

When Claire applied to the academy, she was excited. Teachers at Mount Vernon suggested she apply based on her learning style and previous work with project-based learning.

“I thought it would be more rigorous and an actual challenge instead of being the same thing I already know how to do,” she said.

When she got the acceptance letter, she was at first excited, then sad when she realized she would say goodbye to friends in northern Hall County she’s known since kindergarten. In a few days, however, she learned that other friends also were admitted. Several parents in the area then met to talk about how to carpool the students to a school about 20 minutes from home.

“Being as far away as it is, we took a leap of faith,” said David Houston, Claire and Courtney’s dad. “If she was accepted, we’d figure out the transportation.”

Transportation wasn’t a problem Monday, and Houston was excited to hear about his daughters’ first-day adventures. Like other parents with students moving into specialized programs and charter schools, he’s looking forward to what the school year has in store for his children.

“It’s exciting and interesting to see how they’re going into similar programs,” Houston said. “It’s also interesting to look at the different ways they’re excited, thrilled and apprehensive. I’m encouraged that parents are required to get involved, too, because that’s part of what makes this school work.”