THERE IS A SEASON

Residents of Kendal~Crosslands Communities, a life plan community located in Kennett Square, share their memories about this seasonal time of year — sharpening pencils for school and the change in the air that September brings.

Karen Halstead

As a retired teacher of gifted students in the Unionville School District, this was the season I focused on the new year with my students. During my career, I was fortunate to see the same students each year until they left elementary school. This is a season when I anticipated their return to re-connect and to hear their latest adventures. I worked over the summer preparing for September and at times I do miss it. I would read and gather books for the students, evaluate software programs, and determine which activities would best integrate into the year’s unit of study. Learning new technology was a highlight of the summer. Creating bulletin boards was always a challenge for me! I planned around a particular theme to be updated throughout the year. As school season approaches, I think of my former students and teaching peers. I follow many of them on Facebook. Many have achieved their dreams and I think of them all so often.

Juliet Lane

At this season of time, I would be looking forward to the new group of eager students. As a teacher of high school students at Westtown School, September is a season of wonder, anticipation, and thinking what will the new year bring. This time of year is really a teacher’s “New Year.” Although all summer long I would think of new ways to teach, I would consider various ways to improve upon how to instruct the students, it’s in September where all the attentive preparation would come to fruition. Later in my career, I worked in the daycare and managed that part of the school. Again, in September, you are starting with a new group of small children and babies, helping them to adjust, and also important, helping the new parents to adjust. Today I see these babies all grown up, graduating from college, and think

PHOTO BY SCOTT ROWAN William Heald

PHOTO BY SCOTT ROWAN David Leonard