Principal's Newsletter -- February 13, 2011

This last week was a busy one, and one that gave plenty of opportunity for me to show off the wonderful things that are happening at our school.

At our Open House on Wednesday night I spoke with parents of prospective students about the things I believe make this a special place for learning.

• Relationships -- the capacity of relationship-building here is as strong as at any school I've ever seen. Teacher-parent-student relationships are at the core of everything that makes us successful.
  
• Purpose -- Injecting socially-relevant purpose into the curricula (both explicit and implicit) helps us extend the dialogue past content and into the wider world.
  
• Arts Integration -- The arts are connected, not just available. As innovation and concept-development become even more important than they are today, this approach is hugely beneficial.
  

Here are a few examples from the week, each of which exemplifies exactly the spirit of these respective aspects of our school community.

Relationships




The third graders in Ms. G's room shared their progress in their Egyptian unit of study with the kinders. They proudly displayed cat mummies and personal artifacts, relating the curricular learning to the younger students.







Purpose

Two assemblies on Friday focused on teaching students strategies for identifying, reporting, and avoiding bullying. The actors were from a troupe called "The Power of One," but the most effective actors were our students.









Arts Integration

Second grade parents volunteered to help Ms. Helmsworth with fitting and applying facial masks, which students will use to further their Native American study in the coming weeks.

















Here's what's on tap for the coming week.