“What’s Your Sentence”

A Parting Email to Parents:

Dear Grade 5 Parents,

Words cannot express how much I have enjoyed working with, teaching and learning from your children this year.
They are an exceptional and (as you will see from the attached video) inspirational group of young individuals.

The attached video is our parting gift to you from your children.
The idea was inspired by Daniel H. Pink’s “Two simple questions that can change your life in 2010” (http://www.danpink.com/archives/2010/01/2questionsvideo).

Allow me to provide some background information:
In Second Term the students were required to read and report on a biography of their choice. They were required to create a poster that included a picture and the necessary biographical information. They were also required to distill the individual’s entire life into one sentence — no easy feat. These projects have been posted on the bulletin board outside our classroom, and they are amazing.

In our third term, the students were required to come up with their own life sentence, and the results were very powerful.

Please note that when they wrote their sentences they did not have any additional input from me or from their peers. These are their “sentences” and I simply couldn’t be more proud.

I will be burning a disk for everyone and sending them home in the mail over the summer holidays. I did however, want you to have an opportunity to view the video as soon as possible, and so I have attached it here.

Have a wonderful summer!

Note:
As I cannot post a video of my students I wanted share some of their sentences here:

“He made a difference in the lives of others.”
“She made the world a better place when she found a cure for cancer.”
“He learned to like…but then he learned something better: to love.”
“She made the lives of others better one laugh at a time.”
“A girl who likes to be where the fun is.”
“A friend to all.”
“He’s always there for others.”

Our Children: Expose, Encourage, Give Permission, Have …

Our Children: Expose, Encourage, Give Permission, Have … 

The other day a parent asked me what more she could do to raise a “great kid”! Now that was an open ended question!

We talked about her child in particular and her family in general. We talked about all of the great things that she was doing already  (and there were many!) and we took it from there. Together we created the following list … so I just thought I’d share what we came up with.


… & of course we discussed that fact that all that follows would come to be in a perfect world … we agreed that she would check off those things that they already did as a family (which made her feel great!) and then start to introduce those areas that she was most comfortable with …

I hope that you find this list to be of some use as well.

Cheers,
Ally

(A) Expose your child to:
– Books – read a lot & be seen reading
– Art – visit a gallery; explore books, movies & play
– Music – all types of music
– Cooking/Baking – this is a great family activity & develops both math and organizational skills
– Math – encourage her to see math as practical; as useful & part of our every day world
– Science – it’s all around us
– Accomplished, interesting people
… in short – & in a perfect world – the world 😉

(B) Give your child permission to:
… discover his passions, his own interests
… ask, wonder & explore the world around her … to ask questions
… daydream
… consider cause and effect
… make a mess 😉
… make mistakes

(C) Have:
… high, realistic expectations
… a sensory rich environment – encourage him to see, hear, smell, taste, touch
… a special creative work space for her – a place with paper, pencils, colours, glitter, stickers, clay, puppets, instruments, games, etc.
… opened-ended activity time – who knows where this will lead you
… family time: a walk in the park, game night, etc.