Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Much Much More!

As I am preparing for the new school year, I've been reading A LOT.  One of my latest reads is Creating Cultures of Thinking by Ron Ritchhart. In this book, the author asks the question, "What do you want the children we are teaching in our schools to be like as adults?" I love children's literature and my mind immediately jumped some amazing books that have life lessons I want our students at LES to learn and carry into adulthood...

Oh, The Places You'll Go! Often given as a graduation gift, this children's book is jam-packed with concepts of grit, growth, and perseverance. "On and on you will hike, And I know you'll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are." Developing a growth mindset, challenging yourself, and knowing the power of the word YET, will help our students in the classroom and beyond the walls of LES.

Do Unto Otters  I always share this book with new teachers as it can really help to build your classroom community and help students identify their rules for life... "Doo-dee-doo unto otters as you would have otters doo-dee-doo unto you." The Golden Rule.

What Do You Do With An Idea  Embrace and nurture your ideas! This is the message of this beautifully illustrated book in which a boy gets an idea, is unsure of what to do with it, comes to the decision to nurture and develop it, and finally realizes what an idea can become. "And then, I realized what you do with an idea... You change the world."

Winnie-the-Pooh Everyone needs a little encouragement sometimes, that encouragement needs to come from within to sustain us in life.  Let's build that self-esteem in our school everyday. "Promise me you'll always remember: You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse Kevin Henkes, the author of this book, is one of my all-time favorite children's authors and Lilly is one of his most dynamic little characters.  Lilly has a tough day at school and her teacher packs her purse with a treat and a note that says, "Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow will be better."  I want all of our students to believe in second chances.  Making a mistake is okay.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets The wise headmaster, Dumbledore, has a lot of 'quotable quotes', but one of my favorites is, "It is our choices Harry, that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities." I want our students to learn how to become good decision makers.  I want them to have the opportunity to learn that they have options, how to weigh those options, and make the best decision-Decisions that will help them reach and exceed high expectations.

Oh, The Thinks You'll Think!  That Dr. Seuss...we could do a whole blog post dedicated to lessons learned in his books!  But this one is specific to school and this post.  I want all our students to be thoughtful, life-long learners.  "Think and wonder. Wonder and think."  Asking questions of interest, searching for answers, imagining the possibilities, and sharing what you have learned.  These are skills I want all our students to practice here at LES so they "Think and wonder" forever.

Rosie Revere, Engineer "The only true failure can come if you quit." Rosie is a little "engineer" who learns that not every invention will work, especially on the first try, but that doesn't mean you should stop trying.  Another book fostering that growth mindset.  I'm sensing a theme...

So I pose the question to those reading this blog-What do you want our LES students to be like as adults? Please feel free to respond below.

"No Matter Where the Bus Goes..."

This week's blog post was inspired by a brief but refreshing jaunt to the beach with my family and a lovely retirement dinner last night.  My feelings are best articulated by this message from the book Good to Great by Jim Collins.  

“For no matter what we achieve, if we don’t spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect, we cannot possibly have a great life. But if we spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect – people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us – then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes. The people we interviewed from the good-to-great companies clearly loved what they did, largely because they loved who they did it with.”

First Principal Blog Post

LES 2000

It seems fitting that my first official blog post as the LES principal is this picture of me from the year 2000.  This was the day I was offered a teaching position at Lawrenceville Elementary School.  As you can probably tell, I was so excited to begin my teaching career at LES.  Today, I feel the same excitement.  An amazing journey lies ahead and I look forward to navigating it with the teamwork and support of the families and staff of Lawrenceville Elementary School.