Expressing our Dreams

This week has been a very exciting week indeed.  I would like to thank all of the parents who came out to back-to-school night.  It was wonderful to have the opportunity to connect with you on Thursday night.  I look forward to getting to know each and everyone of you more throughout the year.

As part of our social emotional program, we have started down our path on the 8-to Great highway.  Our first highway is "get the picture."  The activity that we did during morning meeting was looking at Dreams vs. goals.  Goals are specific and measurable while dreams are more bold, grand, and imaginative.  I was amazed at how thoughtful  and attentive the students were during this particular share-out.  Ask you child what their dream is, you might be surprised by their answer.

This week in writing, we worked on writing friendly letters to ourselves.  At the end of the year, students will open their letters to see how much they have grown.  Each student measured themselves with yarn and then placed the cut string in the envelope with the letters.  It will be amazing to open these at the end of the year and see our growth.  Also this week we have started "Bill's Bodacious Bookworm Club." Each student will be choosing an appropriate leveled reading book. As a class, we generated a list of possible end products that suit each child's learning style preference.

We also began looking at the use of figurative language for our writing.  We will be analyzing lyrics of songs the children are interested in and looking for examples of metaphors, personification, alliteration, etc.  It could be a great opportunity to stay connected with what music your child is listening to. Ask your child what one of their favorite songs are and read the lyrics together!