Thanks to everyone who was able to make it
in this morning for the concert. I asked the kids yesterday which
families were planning to come and based on that conversation I was
expecting two or three visitors at most. Wow, I think we wound up with
about fourteen or fifteen! The kids really did work very hard on their
songs and were excited to have such a big audience between our families
and the visiting classes from second and fifth grades.
No
matter how their interests change and develop over the coming years I
hope many of the kids keep writing songs - as well as lots of other
types of writing. This short unit was such a great opportunity to read
carefully for both meaning and structure, identify patterns across
multiple sources of information, and model our own work after that of
others we value. We'll record these songs tomorrow afternoon using the
equipment you all purchased for the classroom last year.
In
regards to next year's loop, thank you so much to everyone for filling
out those sheets concerning the possibility of a four-year loop
together. Knowing this was a real possibility allowed us the flexibility
to interview not only teachers with experience and comfort teaching 4th
and 5th grades but 2nd and 3rd as well. In the end, however, we found
an amazingly strong teacher with lots of experience teaching 4th grade.
Her name is Emily and she is actually a classmate of mine at USC whom I
first met at a professional conference in Orlando a few years ago. We
have since met many times to talk about education, reading methods, and
how to take up issues relating to social justice in the classroom. I'm
so happy for our school to have found someone who can seamlessly step in
and not only fill a vacant spot but even challenge us all to think
beyond ourselves.
Because nearly all her experience is with
older students Emily will be stepping into Mrs. Vice's spot and
inheriting Mr. Foote's students (as Mrs. Vice would have done). This
means your kids will be moving on to Ms. Mahowald as originally planned.
While I'm happy we found a great candidate with lots of experience I am
also saddened to know this means the next few days will truly be the
last with this group. Today we created lists of songs, books, and recess
games we want to share together over the coming days as a way of
reflecting on the great experiences we've had together. Not
surprisingly, they picked some really good ones.
I want to
make sure to thank each of you as well for all you've done over these
two years. I hate cliches (and, thus, avoid them like the plague) but I
truly do appreciate the trust you have afforded me in working alongside
your children each and every day. Even on our worst days (which really
aren't that often, I promise! ) I love each and every one of them with
all my heart. Ten years from now I hope that's what they remember most
about second and third grade.
In our two years we have learned a
whole lot together and even tackled a few issues that are not always
comfortable for everyone yet I've never received anything but support
and honest feedback from you all. As a result of the stories you've
offered about conversations at home, your child's feelings and
experiences, and your own hopes for what we might accomplish together
here at school, I have reflected on and reshaped a number of my own
ideals about classroom practice and procedures. There was a time when I
believed that at some point teachers come to have figured it all out.
Now I realize that like parenting this is far from true because the
context keeps changing.
I'd love to invite the kids to
come play at some point during June (in batches). I've had some of them
over already (due to established friendships with my home kids) but
really want to make sure everyone who wants to has a chance to come hang
out with us for a day of games and swimming. I'll send something more
about this later on.
Thanks again,
Chris
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