Welcome to the 2016-2017 School Year

I want to extend a warm welcome to the 2016-2017 school year to all of our new and returning HPE families! I am so excited to work with your child this year. I view my job as partnering with you to ensure your child's success in school. Please take a moment to review the welcome letter under Parenting Forms on the right hand side of this blog entitled "2016 Letter to Parents", which outlines the many ways I work with children at Highland Park Elementary. You can also find this letter here.

I look forward to seeing you in the halls of HPE and seeing your child every day! I know we are going to have a great year.

Diversity Lessons

In the month of March I visited classrooms for lessons on Diversity. Please see the lesson below for how 1st graders evaluated how we are different and alike. Students then completed a worksheet all about them, to help them think about how they are unique and special, and would like to be included and accepted for who they are no matter what!

In 2nd grade students listened to the story Chrysanthemum. Every time the main character, Chrysanthemum, was made fun of in the book students took turns crumpling a large heart. Together we identified that Chrysanthemum was being made fun of due to her "funny" name. We discussed how she has no control over what her name is. At first Chrysanthemum's name is something that she absolutely loved about herself, but then she began to resent her name due to the other student's unkind actions towards her. We identified that this is similar to diversity--we are different in so many ways, many of those differences are out of our control. This diversity is something to celebrate, and accept, rather than make fun of and "wrinkle hearts" with our words and actions. After the book discussion, students placed band-aids on the wrinkled heart to symbolize that they will commit to helping heal any wrinkled hearts with their words and actions, as well as commit to not wrinkling hearts in the first place.

Check back soon to learn more about my Diversity lesson in 5th grade!

Pennies for Patients Fundraiser

I am so proud of what our school community has done to raise money to help find a cure for leukemia and lymphoma. The picture below is the "Wall of Hope." This is in a prominent area that all students walk by every day on the way to lunch. I am inspired by the pictures that many families have sent in to honor their loved ones who are battling or have battled the courageous fight against cancer.

This fund drive has really given students the opportunity to look beyond themselves and care for the needs and concerns of others. This is truly Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood: walking in someone else's shoes and trying to understand someone else, what they are going through or saying before we speak or act. The Wall of Hope shows just how many of our students have been inspired to care for kids with cancer.

We are entering our 4th week of fundraising, and our grand total raised so far is $5275.72. Way to go Highland Park Elementary!!!