Maya Chugh Singh: Grade 5

Just like for all fifth graders, the jump from the Lower School to the Upper School is a big change. Of course, the academics are a big jump, but the amount of free and transition time we get is also a big adjustment, especially on Fridays. On Fridays, all Upper Schoolers have no recess, longer classes, more classes in a row, no transition time, and most importantly, no snack. I wanted to learn more about why Fridays were like this, so I went to the person who would know most about this: Mrs. Linda Bernard.

Mrs. Bernard said that she understands that we can’t travel all the way across the school on Fridays and get to class on time with no transition time. She also said that Upper Schoolers have no transition time in general, and because of this, the teachers from the class before should let us out a minute or two before class ends, so we will get to our next course at the time class is supposed to start. Mrs. Bernard would rather have a definite start time for a class, instead of a definite end time.

Concerning recess, Mrs. Bernard said that they decided to continue having no recess on Fridays, because it would mess up the schedule otherwise. If we had recess in the morning, we would have 45-minute classes, but in the afternoon right after assembly, we would have a 50-minute class, which is unfair to the teachers in the morning. She said that they went through 83 drafts of schedules to make sure everything would work this year.

Since the Upper School students have snack during recess, we, therefore, have no snack on Fridays. Because there is no snack, everybody gets hungry, which also affects our performance in class and our behavior. For example, my third class is English, which starts while we would normally be in recess. Because of this, I am always tired and less focused, which is also unfair to our teacher because we aren’t our full selves.

Mrs. Bernard said this is something she would try to work on, and now it is happening. Starting in January, we now have snack on Fridays. Snack is now either at the end of second period or the beginning of the third period. So it won’t get too messy, Mrs. Bernard said that yogurt and/or fruit would be good snack for Fridays.

I am excited that this interview with Mrs. Bernard actually led to a change and that we will now get snack. I am now looking forward to not being hungry on Friday mornings anymore.