Bob had his first real day with his fifth graders today. He is worn out from carrying boxes up the stairs in the heat, rearranging rooms and getting the second grade's grades in for the first six weeks. But he says he has neat fifth graders and he is having fun encouraging them to think with Dr. Seuss stories and rigged mistakes - a silly hat and a turtle on his shoulder. He is getting lots of support, especially from the assistant principal, a very experienced teacher who is in charge of the technology lab, and the long term sub. We are learning a few things about his students - the young man who had a stroke in first grade and still has seizures and struggles to read, the well behaved young woman whose father was killed in a gang shooting in August, his body thrown in the city dump. I know there will be more stories. Math test scores fro his students range from first grade (the kid who had the stroke) through eleventh (don't have a face with that score yet). This change was sudden and jolting, but it does seem to be working out.