Stewart Elementary School – Photo by Sally Y. Hart

Warm summer nights, stargazing, lightning bugs, and campfires will soon be replaced by regular bedtimes before alarm clocks ring to get ready for school in the morning.

Classes for the new school year are a couple weeks away. Stewart Elementary School Principal Adam Miller shares some advice for parents getting their kids ready to go back to school, “Continue to help read before bedtime or read during the day to them. Help get those sleep schedules going. I know my kids, we stay up a little later and sleep in a little bit in the summer, so trying to get those routines back in place here in the next three weeks is really important.” Also, remember to grab school supplies.

Miller advises there some good ways to help nervous children transition into the school year, “We do have a free summer lunch program here from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Stewart every single day Monday through Friday, so that’s one good step to kind of get them going in the front doors of the school and getting used to things again. And then also, just trying to focus about the exciting things that school does have to offer to try to help maybe ease the tension a little bit.”

He adds, enjoy the last few weeks of summer as a family. Meet the teacher night in the Washington School District is August 21st. The first day of classes is Wednesday, August 23rd. Registration can be completed online now.