A Good Beginning

As you know, we've now been in school for about two weeks, and last week was the Neary School Curriculum Night. We had an excellent turnout for that, as we did for the Welcome Back Ice Cream Social during the first week of school -- thank you to all of you who attended, and a huge thank you to the Neary SOS for their work on making both events go so well! It seems to me that we've had a good beginning of school, both in terms of the work that our teachers are doing with our students and in terms of the home-school partnership between parents and teachers. I truly do think, as I said on Curriculum Night, that there is no problem that we can't solve if we work together. Whatever the issue, if we talk to each other, and listen with the intent of understanding, we can find a solution.

Along these lines, one of our goals this year is to work on helping students treat each other well, and we have a variety of approaches that we are using to help them learn good communication skills, treat each other well, and stand up for what they know is right. One new project this year that I'm sure you have heard about is our "One School, One Read" project in which all students and teachers are reading Andrew Clement's book The Jacket. We began this project last Thursday (September 10th) with a "reader's theatre" presentation of the first chapter for the whole school, which I think the students enjoyed. Every student received a copy of the book, and teachers are continuing to read the book in their classes. On September 30th, we have another special event, Community Read Day, during which readers from the community come into classrooms and read to our students -- this year, they will be reading a portion of The Jacket. If you haven't yet talked to your child about the book and asked his/her opinion, I would encourage you to do so. One important theme in the book is standing up for what one believes is right, and students will be discussing this theme in their classes. Finally, on October 14th, Andrew Clements is going to be visiting both our school and Woodward (Woodward students are reading Frindle this fall), and our students will have a chance to hear his thoughts about the book. This is an exciting project, and one which I think will further our students' growth in many different ways. As an aside, I have been reading many of Andrew Clements' books recently, and two others that I have particularly enjoyed and would recommend are No Talking and Extra Credit.

Finally, speaking of our students, I have to note that this past Friday (Sept. 18th) I did congratulate them on their before-school behavior on the playground. I have seen our students playing and having fun, but in an appropriate manner, including others and playing in a way that's safe. That has certainly contributed to our good beginning, and I hope it continues.