“So many were excited about math,” she said.

Second grade teacher Rebecca Munsterman is looking forward to the year with her six second-graders.

“I’m really excited to be able to pour into the students and really get to know them,” she said.

Munsterman is in her fourth year teaching at CCS. Her first year she taught second grade, but for the last two years, she’s taught a combined first and second grade class.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Students in Hannah Barton’s seventh and eighth grade class at Community Christian School check out their tank of classroom goldfish on Friday.

Munsterman said her new second graders already know her classroom expectations, since she was their first grade teacher last year, so they’ll be able to jump into the academics quicker.

“The kids have been so excited to be back in school,” she said. “There’s just such an excitement and buzz to be back in school and just the interaction with each other — we’ve already established such a great class community.”

This year, CCS has 66 students in kindergarten through eighth grades, Coble-Day said. The four-year-old preschool program has an additional 22 students, and the 3-year-old preschool program has 23.

Nearly all of the teachers this year took advantage of a state STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) grant, Coble-Day said. The kindergarten class, taught by Rachel Butler, will be raising an aquaponics system from Ioponics. The students will grow plants like lettuce, tomato and spinach, using a combination of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil).

“They’ll be starting to grow the plants from seeds, and then the teacher will get the fish,” Coble-Day explained. “The kindergartners will see the fish grow and the plants grow, and they’ll get to eat the plants, too.”

This fall, CCS students will also be building a raised garden bed for students to plant vegetables that they will care for and harvest for their classmates to enjoy.

“It’ll be super exciting because they’re going to build a raised garden and get their hands dirty,” Coble-Day said.

Tuesday also marked the first “normal” first day of school since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With pandemic recommendations eased up, CCS will be allowing classes to intermingle outside of their “pods” — something that hasn’t happened in two years.

“They’re outside for recess, they’re hanging out with each other this year,” Coble-Day said. “There’s just a lot of excitement. Everybody’s really happy to be back and to be here.”

The school will also give more focus to family and community engagement this year.

“We’re going to hope to expand more of the family opportunities that we’ve had in the past,” Coble-Day said.

Overall, Coble-Day is optimistic about this school year.

“We’re super excited about our staff and our kids and our families, and we’re just really hopeful for an amazing year and we just feel really blessed,” she said.