I hope everyone had a great weekend. It has been nice to have such great weather to enjoy the outdoors. My wife and I are training for a half marathon and went for a nice long run in Stowe on Saturday morning. We also got to try out our new pizza oven (that we built) for the first time. I think my youngest daughter has found a new passion in pizza making.
As I had mentioned in one of my summer letters to you, I use the Responsive Classroom approach in managing the students and building our classroom culture and expectations. If you would like to read more about it, I highly recommend The First Six Weeks of School by Paula Denton. I spent some time reflecting on this approach this summer and thinking about some of the social issues we face as a school, community, state and even country. I read a few pieces on the shortcomings of our high school graduates (as a whole). Many of our students graduate with incredible academic skills and abilities. However, some lack the interpersonal skills to work with others. Many don't know how to read other people or understand their feelings. It all kept pointing to the concept of empathy. Students must learn to be empathetic and have the ability to work with and think of others. It is with this in mind that I spend the first 6 weeks of school focused more on the social curriculum. Although we will slowly start to dive into the academic curriculum, the full on academic load won't really be in place until the end of September. You will find that your children have a greater connection to their class, with me, and will be more vested in their learning. Please let me know if you have any questions about this approach.
Today the students shared their Hopes and Dreams for the year. Their Hopes and Dreams will be the cornerstone for building classroom expectations. These goals will be displayed on a bulletin board in the classroom. I also spent the morning assessing a variety of Language Arts skills. These screenings will allow me to differentiate your child's learning t meet their specific needs.
Notes:
*Your children will be bringing home a plastic Ziploc bag with their name on it. It will contain a couple of books. For now these will be books that they choose. Eventually reading groups will be added to the mix too. The books that your child brings home now may be ones that they can read or they may be ones that they want read to them. They should be returned each day with the books inside them I suggest packing them up becomes part of your child's nightly routine. The bags are also for any notes that I may need to get to you or that you may need to get to me.
*We will have a new student joining us tomorrow. Mariah Wright, a first grader, will be joining our class. She stopped by for a quick visit today. It was great to meet her and to allow the students to introduce themselves.
*Our supervisory union is undergoing a structural change in the way we view goals, expectations, and standards in which we want all students to achieve upon graduation. It is called Proficiency Based Learning and it will change they way we teach our students. There is a supervisory union wide committee that has ben formed to guide us in this process. Kaiya has asked that I serve on this team. There are meeting once a month and a few during the summer. Therefore, I will be out of the building on Thursday afternoon. I just wanted to give each of you a heads up.
*Canvas/Cloth grocery bag: I only have had 9 (of the 17) students bring in a bag. Please make sure to send one this week. I would like them all in by Friday.
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I hope you all have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
