Sleepy and Gray Day

Today my whole class seems to have SAD. They are low, slow, and sleepy, and it is not just an excuse to avoid work. Part of it definitely has to do with it being Monday. Another piece is certainly the gray, gloomy skies outside. However, I think the biggest impact on their mood is the time of morning they are forced to arrive. Because we are the second of three in bus order (High-schooler get transported first, then they come for us, and lastly they come for the little kids) most kids have to be up and out the door well before 7:00am. I think this is really early for a bunch of pre-adolescents to be getting up. Most of the research says that teens are "off" by about one hour in their Circadian Rhythms, so 7:00am feels more like 6:00am to them. I'm sure this will come as a huge shock, but the research also says that kids perform better on tests and at problem solving later in the morning. With all this research floating around about later starts, you might be wondering why we don't have them here. The answer, of course, is money. We would need more busses for a later start, so never mind what it does to the kids, we have to start early.