Post date: Sep 01, 2012 5:38:2 AM
Hi Parents (and kids via cc),
The first full week has come and gone, and things are getting better and better! The more I get to know the kids, the more I am impressed and pleased. They have been enthusiastic, attentive, participatory, and appreciative. Starting on the first day of school the kids answered some questions about themselves on their name tents, and then on Tuesday they wrote a question for me (previous examples), and as I've been reading their cards, I am really getting to know aspects of them that I might not otherwise know. What a great bunch of young people we have at DCS; I really can't imagine a better place to work and people to work with.
One fun (homeroom) activity that started off the week was playing the Jeopardy-style game that I created from the "Aspects of Us" collective biography. Luckily it was a bit less competitive than the boys vs. girls trivia game that we played at the end of last week.
The academics began with a research and reporting assignment about Interesting Careers in science. I'll take a good look at those over the weekend but at first glance, I think that most of the kids put sincere interest and effort into the process as well as the product. From there, we moved on to a discussion (and assignment) about the descriptions, definitions, and divisions of science (Tuesday), and a description of "Science Habits of the Mind" on Wednesday. Today (Friday) I lightened things up with a movie that showed how the activities of our daily lives are limited by our narrow perception of time, size, and wavelength -- much less heady than it sounds! Plus, today was the first of (hopefully many) "Feed Me Fridays" during which I enjoy cooking a snack for them.
The highlight of the week for me was the afternoon at the ropes course at Mount Hermon. Up in the beautiful and healthy redwood trees of Fleton I got to watch the kids challenge themselves, support each other, and deeply appreciate the experiences available to them. As I told the kids during the debrief, "this is only the beginning", meaning that we have the possibility for doing many such adventures together during this, their all-important last year at DCS.
Speaking of outdoor adventures, I'd like to move forward with the optional campout that I mentioned in last week's email. I've added a draft itinerary to the page on my site, and have heard back from some kids and parents about their interest in going. Please take a look at the page, talk it over, and let me know if I can add you to the "yup" list (student and/or parent).
For those parents in my homeroom, this weekend there is also an assignment that should involve you. The half-hour of after-lunch reading time on Fridays is spent on non-fiction material, and sometime this weekend, your student should engage you in a discussion about what they read and ask for your comments or signature on a sheet that they (hopefully) filled out today. The ones the kids did last week were great, and I think that this will be a weekly routine for us.
One Last Thing: There is much that goes on in our class and the pace requires some sustained attention and interaction. In order to make it easier for students to stay aware and organized, I've included quite a bit of information and support material on my website. There is a page for our daily schedule, a page for assignments (calendar, spreadsheets, etc) and a variety of other occasionally-useful pages. I have also subscribed to a web service called Remind101 that I can use to send text messages about homework to students who subscribe. If you browse the website and find it lacking in content, design, or organization, please let me know so that I can attempt to improve it.
As always, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me (please) and have a great three days off. I'll see you and/or the kids on Tuesday (or Wednesday, rm 23).
Sincerely,
Chris Heumann