The Murdock Mustang Kindergarten Class List

I signed-up to receive PTA notifications from Murdock Elementary, the school Ava will be attending in less than two weeks!  I received a notification for a "Class List Party" on Friday, August 4th from 5-7 p.m.  Wow, I didn't realize there were PARTIES to celebrate such postings?  It seems there is formality for things like this in our school district.  I welcome it and find it surpisingly comforting that there is such structure and encouragement of all things school-related!  Back in my day, we snuck up to / rode our bikes to the elementary during the late summer months and checked the outside window of our classroom, where a list was posted.  If our name wasn't on one classroom, we wouldn't be in that class that year.  We ran to the next classroom to see if our name was on that classroom's list.  Question answered.  Once we found our name on the list, we played a little on the playground and ventured back home. 

I must say I have been seriously impressed with Ava's school, to date.  We honestly lucked out in this category.  When Doug and I were looking for our first home, we weren't too familiar with this area.  Because Doug worked at Georgia Pacific on Powers Ferry (and I worked at Sprint near Cumberland Mall in Atlanta), we wanted to stay as close in as possible.  Young and naive, we landed at 2402 Hembree Station Court, not realizing the goldmine of a school system into which our future daughter would eventually enroll.  :)  The high school has had the top SAT scores for something like eight years running.  People actually move into houses in this area for the schools alone.  Wow.

The elementary definitely has their act together, too.  A few months back we went to a "Day in the life" type orientation, where the kids and parents actually walked the path the kids would take during a normal schoolday.  While being oriented around the school, if Ava saw a sign that had a similar symbol as one appearing on her Bingo card, she could place the sticker in the space on the card.  A neat way for the kids to familiarize themselves with the school. 

I am now officially enrolled in PTA text message distributions, PTA e-mails and even automated voicemails from the school principal.  I'm impressed.  So, fast forward to tonight.  We went to the outdoor covered area at the school, checked the "list" and learned that Ava will be in Ms. McKenzie's Kindergarten class.  Having perused the school Web site, her name was familiar...she is actually noted on the Web site as being "Teacher of the Year" during 2011.  A fellow mom who saw me looking at the list mentioned that Ms. McKenzie is AMAZING and kept going on and on about her.  :)  The same mom was also writing down her child's entire list of classmates, counting them to see how many students were in the classroom.  I asked why she was writing the names down and she replied "Because I'm neurotic."  LOL.  Glad to know there are others out there like me... I was wanting to do so, but thought someone might think I was a nut job for writing down their kid's name.  So I wrote down the list of students in Ava's classroom.  I'm sure the list below will prove handy for Valentine's Day, etc.  :)

The PTA was also there, providing cookies, lemonade and water.  While walking around, we met a little girl named Ansley White, who is one of Ava's future classmates.  She was a sweetie.  :)

Gal Amir
Christina Andreev
Milena Bihm
John Burwell
our very own AVA CAREY! :)
Hannah Green
Preston Haon
Ariana Hawkins
Riley Johnson (boy)
Isabelle Lacasella
Cullen McEarchern
Dayla Ortiz
Jun Park
Marek Pearson
Meila Reaves
Rodrecius Richard
Isla Waggoner
Cody Wang
Jack Weatherall
Ella Wheeler
Ansley White

I am sure some of these names will crop up on future classmate lists.  It will be interesting to see who her classmates will be in future years.  There are SIX Kindergarten classes at this elementary, so I will definitely be curious to see which names repeat themselves in Ava's class lists over the years. 

Peace, love and sharpened #2 pencils,
Shelly, Doug, the student and Liam

P.S. - Go Murdock Mustangs!