Dear Parents,
This is it: the last Monday of J3! In the spirit of the Happiness Habit: Reflect on Happy Memories, I took a moment to read through some of our old morning messages as well as old blog posts. What a year we've had! We welcomed new friends, wrote poems with an award winning poet, explored the zoo, mourned the loss of a fish, enjoyed the arts, and learned a whole lot in-between. In all of that, we learned to become a very blended family of global citizens. It has been a great joy to get to know each of you, so if I don't have a chance to say it before the year ends, THANK YOU for all of your support, for trusting me with your child, and for giving us all the space to learn and grow together. It takes a village to raise a child, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this collective village. This week, though short, is still very exciting. Today we had a great visit from Jazz Reach, an organization that brings in jazz musicians to schools across the US. on Wednesday, we will go to JFK to see the Solar Impulse land, and Thursday is our class party, with dismissal at 11:45. We will leave the school at 8:30 on Wednesday, so please ensure your child is here in class at 8:20. MATH FOR THE SUMMER: Ms. Murry collated great resources for summer Math support. I am adding them to the Math page of our blog. There you will also find a reminder for getting into Dreambox at home- remember that this year's link is different from last year's! I suggest that you also give your child as much opportunity for real world application as possible- and no, I am not making a case for increased allowance so they can learn to budget, as the children requested I do. I am suggesting that they measure, and add, and multiply, and calculate time just as you do in your day to day. :-) READING AND WRITING FOR THE SUMMER: The best thing to do to avoid summer slide is READ! and of course, WRITE! I suggest keeping a summer journal. Here are more ideas on ways to avoid summer slide. SOCIAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT: Get outside and play as much as possible!!! There is a great deal of increasing research on the importance of connecting with nature to nurture happiness. That said, we also know that there will be times when your child is connected to technology. During those times, it is important that they are kept safe and remain kind. Before I depart, I wanted to take a quick moment to talk about an important developmental topic: the use of technology with the children. In this ever-increasing technology driven world, it can be hard to monitor everything our children do online, and to ensure that they are following safe use protocols. Even though it is challenging, it is important that we do monitor their usage as much as possible, which includes monitoring what they watch, checking in on their email accounts (if they have shown you that they are ready to have one) and ensuring that they do not yet have social media accounts that are intended for children ages 13 and up. While we monitor to ensure that the children are safe, we also monitor to ensure that they are being kind, and not engaging in cyber-bullying behaviors. Here are a few articles that I would suggest you check out as you create a safe user plan for your home:
I have had a lot of "lasts" over the past few weeks, the last time I will write report cards, (I wrote about it in my blog at that link) the last time I will give a math test, the last Monday in the homeroom. The completion of this marks another: the last blog post I will write to parents as a classroom teacher. You will hear a lot from me next year as Service Learning Coordinator, a role I am thrilled to develop here at UNIS. Thank you for making my last year as a classroom teacher so wonderful. With Much Love and Gratitude, Erin M. Threlfall
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
SnapshotsA peek at life inside of J3T , curated by Ms. Erin M. Threlfall Archives
June 2016
Categories |