Teachers have been making the final touches on their prep work and lesson plans to make sure students in Harrisonburg City Schools are ready to go back to class on Aug. 21.

Jana Wenger found out she got her dream job as a teacher two weeks before the first day of school, and will be teaching first graders at Smithland Elementary.

Wenger has a lot of hands-on lessons planned for the week to get her students excited about learning.

For the first day, the kids will work on classroom rules and do interactive read-alouds where they will talk to each other about what it means to follow the rules.

Wenger spent hours preparing for the year, and has certainly learned some things she would like to do differently next year - like budgeting her time more.

"Being a new teacher is a lot of work, but being excited and willing to learn are things that I've taken with me. You just kind of don't sweat the small stuff," said Wenger.

As the new school year kicks off, Wenger advises parents to get involved with children at home and make that home and school connection.

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